2015 Phillies WAR Projections Maikel Franco Phungo #7

Now that we have  almost reached the 15th of May Maikel Franco can start his rookie year.

2015 Phungo #7 Maikel Franco

Do to MLBs weird rules involving rookie status and free agency Franco will soon join a group that includes Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Austin Hedges, AJ Cole, Carlos Rodon and others. They are all making their Major League debuts this season or being held up an extra few weeks because they debuted in September of 2014.

After a hot start The Phillies opening day 3rd baseman, Cody Asche has gone cold. It appears Franco will become the everyday player and Asche will join the sketchy group of Phillies outfielders. 

2015 WAR 
Maikel Franco has been hitting well at AAA this season but he struggled in 58 plate appearances last year. When he does get called up he will be one of the 10 youngest players in the NL. I am thinking Franco will get enough playing time to get a glimpse at who he will be as a major leaguer and I think he will make positive contributions. Mark him down to +1.5 WAR in 2015.

Sources and Links
2015+ Phillies WAR Projections  
2015 Phungo Cards

Baseball-ref

WAR Stories 2015 Phillies Projections: Ken Giles

Ken Giles had an impressive Rookie Campaign in 2014. He became a valuable set up man, pitching 45+ innings with a very efficient 1.18 ERA (336 ERA+). Giles performance was recognized with a 4th place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting.

2015 Phungo #53 Ken Giles

Regardless of Giles success the Phillies would likley looking at ways to move Jonathan Papelbon, and if that does happen GIles would inherit the Closer role.

But who is Ken Giles? 

Prior to 2014 Giles had struggled throwing strikes and had some health issues. His control issues seem to have resurfaced during the early spring (5 Walks in 5 2/3 Innings).

During 2014 Giles was good enough for +2.0 WAR, however that was with a 5.8 K/BB rate. He is nowhere near that in his 5 spring training outings so far. 

I am hopeful that we see something great from Ken Giles but based off his inexperience and uneven performance at lower levels I am projecting a 0.8 WAR season for Giles

2015 Phungo 

This pix is from a Beautiful Sunday Day Game versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. Giles showed all parts of his game, He struck out a batter and gave up a four pitch walk prior to inducing fellow RoY Candidate Ender Incarte to ground into a double play. It was one of only 3 DPs that Incante hit into in 447 PAs. 

Sources and Links
Phillies 2015+
2015 Phungo Checklist
Baseball-ref

2015 Phungo #21 Jimmy Rollins with VARIATIONS

Today our look at 2015 Phungo checks in with Jimmy Rollins

2015 Phungo #21 Jimmy Rollins

This year I elected to continue a feature introduced last year - Hardware. That is how I refer to awards won by different players - For each award card the hardware title is placed above the player name and backlit in bright yellow or gold as I choose to think of it.

The Roberto Clemente award is presented to an MLB player who is noted for their sportsmanship and contributions both on and off the field. The process involves nominations from each team, fan voting, and a select MLB panel which includes Bud Selig, Rob Manfred, and Vera Clemente - Widow of Roberto. This year the vote resulted in a tie between Jimmy Rollins and Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko.

I have made an additional nod to Roberto Clemente here by placing Rollins on card #21 - The number worn by Clemente. I would like to see Topps honor card #21 and #42 (Jackie Robinson) in the same way. Rather than retiring the card number (#7 Mantle) why not give it each year to a deserving player. It would give collectors another discussion point in the hero number conversation.

Unfortunately there is an error on the card. The date on the card is August 19, 2014 - unfortunately this photo was taken on May 18 of 2013. This leads us to....

2015 Phungo #21 Jimmy Rollins (Dodgers Variation)


I originally had a totally different Phils card for Rollins. The Picture was from a game versus Seattle on 8/19/2014. But the photo featured Jimmy in a cap and wasn't really suitable for a traded type card. Once he was traded I found this non-cap pix and quickly made up the above Dodgers card.

I then took the pix and inserted it into the Phillies template, but I forgot to change the date. Beyond the border differences the cards are still slightly different in the way the photo is framed. Check Jimmy's left ear. It touches the frame on the Phillies card but does not on the Dodgers card.


Parallels

For some reason I am still a sucker for parallels. Target is my desired pickup point for retail largely because they have the red border parallels, which match up better for the Phils team colors than Walmart Blue.

However, creating cards for the Phungo Sets makes me realize how flooding a set with parallels is just plain lazy. It is pretty much as simple as taking the A card and point and clicking on the boarder - make less of the B card and call it a hit.

Regardless I am a sucker for parallel cards and trading cards and two weeks from now when 2015 S1 debuts I will come up with some excuse to go to Target and I will seek out the package with the extra Red parallel cards. sigh

Sources and Links
2015 Phungo Checker
Jimmy Rollins Player Collection Index 
MLB
Cardboard Connection

2015 Phungo #2 Derek Jeter

On Tuesday Topps announced their 2015 S1 Checker and atop that list was Derek Jeter

2015 Phungo #2 Derek Jeter

Rather than give Jeter #1 (which went to Cole Hamels). We did give the Captain his uniform number - which is pretty common in Phungo. This is an idea which Topps went with in in 2013, many collectors disagreed with the approach.

Putting together Yankees cards can give me trouble. The black/blue team color is pretty dark and can really hurt the look of a card. When I did the fade for the 2015 borders I elected to put the bulk of the card in a team color with a 2nd team color blended a third of the way from the bottom. Opposite the bottom fade I did something similar at the top third mark, using white this time. This brightens up the card regardless of team color. The top 1/3 mark also pulls a focal to the players face on most cards. The focus for the lower fade becomes the player name plate.

So yes there is some thought that goes into what the cards look like. I put together a couple designs between now and April and try and settle on something early in the season. When actual games start being played all my attention turns to stockpiling photographs to be used on cards.

The photo on this card was taken on August 22 of last year, which is noted on the bottom left of the card. Team Phungo made a special trip to Yankee Stadium to see Jeter in front of his home crowd one last time. His game was uneventful, regardless it was worth the trek. I heard a lot of hate-buzz circling the Jeter Retirement Hype, however, I don't think it was significantly greater than the Ripken Hype I had seen in Baltimore a decade ago. For a full game report from our Final Jeter Game click here

2015 Topps
Some folks on Twitter took shots at Topps for making Derek Jeter the #1 card in the set. I don't see it, so what if he is retired. It is not unprecedented to see retired players in the flagship set and If they are great payers I have no problem placing them on the sets first card.

Sources and Links
2015 Phungo Checker
Cardboard Connection

Introducing 2015 Phungo Cards

Hello 2015 Phungo

2015 Phungo #1 Cole Hamels

Team Phungo is very happy to announce the release of 2015 Phungo Cards. This is our 7th release, At 70 cards, the checklist is our largest ever.

I am happy with this years design. The team colors are featured on the border, Player name and position are prominently displayed via a banner near the bottom. Below that we have the game date and card number. The Players team is repeated scroll line style at the top of the photo.

The shot on this card is just a tad dark, The photo was taken while Hamels was being interviewed by Scott Palmer for a Sunday Broadcast. Overall I am happy with the sets photo quality. My zoom skills have gotten better and I have become more conscience of the affects of the lighting source for my shots. This has allowed for the doubling of resolution for the photographs. Hopefully the difference can be noticed in the final product.   

Cole Hamels earned the #1 spot in this year set, This is his second turn in the top spot. He previously batted led off in 2013. The Phillies really had not other good option for this season - My discussion on Hamels 2014 and projected 2015 can be found here.

Hopefully Hamels stays with the Phils but I do understand that the Phillies are trying to move on, This makes #1 a precarious spot in 2016.

As noted above, we put together a 70 card set, plus a pair of inserts. Overall 24 of the 30 MLB teams are represented - much appreciation to Fergie Jenkins who I used to rep four teams. In addition to Jenkins, the 2015 Phungo Hall of Famers include Jim Bunning, Brooks and Jackie Robinson - oh and a cameo by Steve Carlton. The complete checklist can be found here

As per usual we will flood you with Phungo Card for the next couple of weeks and then move on to other projects. 
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Sources and Links
2015 Phungo Cards Checker

Checklist 2015 Phungo

2015 Phungo #1 Cole Hamels



if you hover over a players name a link may appear that will take you to a posting related to the card,

Card	Subject	Team
1	Cole Hamels	Phillies
2	Derek Jeter	Yankees
3	Marlon Byrd 7215 (4/9)	Phillies
4	Josh Hamilton - Lou Gehrig Awd	Angels
5	Brooks Robinson	Orioles
6	Steve Garvey	Dodgers
7	Maikel Franco	Phillies
8	Hunter Pence	Giants
9	Domonic Brown 7203 (4/9)	Phillies
10	Darren Daulton	Phillies
11	Jim Fregosi	Phillies
12	Robinson Cano	Mariners
13	Omar Vizquel	Tigers
14	Martin Prado NoCap	Yankees
15	David Wright	Mets
16	Aramis Ramirez	Brewers
17	Chris Iannetta	Angels
18	Johnny Damon	Royals
19	Garry Maddox/Jayson Werth	Nationals
20	Jonathan Lucroy	Brewers
21	Jimmy Rollins - Clemente Awd	Phillies
22	Kershaw	Mariners
23	Nori Aoki	Royals
24	Grady Sizemore	Phillies
25	Andrew McCutchen	Pirates
26	Chase Utley	Phillies
27	Mike Trout (2013)	Angels
28	Buster Posey	Giants
29	Tommy Hunter 2014 0904 1399	Orioles
30	Yordano Ventura	Royals
31	Fergie Jenkins	Cubs
32	Brandon Phillips 2013 05 18 - 152	Reds
33	Daniel Descalso	Cardinals
34	Felix Hernandez	mariners
35	Eric Hosmer	Royals
36	Mike Adams 2013 05 18	Phillies
37	Stephan Strasburg 2014 05 02 Stephen Strasburg IMG_7396	Nationals
38	Curt Schilling	Phillies
39	Terry Pendleton	Braves
40	Madison bumgarner 2014 07 27	Giants
41	Victor Martinez	Tigers
42	Ben Revere	Phillies
43	A J Burnett	pirates
44	Paul Goldschmidt	D-Backs
45	Dee Gordon	Dodgers
46	Jose Abreu	White Sox
47	Shin-Soo Choo 2013 05 18 057 Reds	Rangers
48	Pablo Sandoval	Red Sox
49	Ryan Braun 7198	Brewers
50	Corey Kluber	Indians
51	Carlos Ruiz 2013 05 05 047 TO	Phillies
52	Adam Jones	Orioles
53	Ken Giles	Phillies
54	Don Hasenmayer	Phillies
55	Nick Markakis	Braves
56	Davey Johnson	Nationals
57	Will Venable	Padres
58	Joey Terdoslavich	Braves
59	Ben Lively	Actor
60	Tom Clancy 2014 0904 1399	Orioles
61	Dave Roberts	Red Sox
62	Michael Brantley	Indians
63	Josh Harrison	Pirates
64	Jamie Moyer	Phillies
65	Erik Karros	Dodgers
66	Jason Heyward / Cano	Rays
67	Kolten Wong	Cardinals
68	Jonathan Schoop 140904 1314	Orioles
69	Wilin Rosario	Rockies
70	Albert Pujols	Angels

Jackie Robinson Retired Number Series
#42 Jackie Robinson
#42-PHI14 Jim Bunning

Sources & Links
Phungo Card Master Checklist Page