Dec. 9 -- HELLO, MY NAME IS SIMON (I THINK)

Here's a scouting report on Alfredo Simon, the hard-throwing reliever acquired by the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft. It comes from good friend, Doug Greenwald, the radio play-by-play announcer for Class AAA Fresno, where Simon pitched last season.

Simon had been the closer for the Giants at [Class AA] Norwich in 2005 for the first half, then made a starter. He started for Fresno in the early part of 2006, and went 0-6, never really had any sort of good game. He injured his right elbow in late May, and got put on the disabed list. Eventually when he was healthy enough to pitch, gets sent to [Class A] San Jose on rehab but remained there the rest of the season and didn't fare too well. His fastball can top in the mid-90's but he gave up too many hits, and had I think one 8-strikeout performance but that was it. He never really developed any sort of off-speed pitch.

It's worth noting Simon used to be in the Phils organization. Back then, he was believed to be 21 months younger than his real age and known as Carlos Cabrera (Alfredo Simon is his real name). The name/age discrepancies were discovered before he got traded to the Giants in 2004 for reliever Felix Rodriguez.