Odds And Ends: Hollins, Prospects, Zolecki

A few items that got lost in the shuffle:

The Phillies signed outfielder Damon Hollins to a minor league contract worth $450K.

Hollins, 34, hasn’t played in the majors since 2006, when he hit .228 with 13 HR and 33 RBI in a platoon role for the Rays. He’ll likely get an opportunity to prove himself in Spring Training, and end up in Lehigh Valley.

Keith Law of ESPN.com rated his top 100 prospects. He had four Phils on his list, including Jason Donald (48), Carlos Carrasco (60), Dominic Brown (84) and Michael Taylor (100).

I’m surprised he rated Donald over Carrasco, who he has said hasn’t proved himself post injury (I beg to differ). He also loves Brown and Taylor. And he doesn’t have Lou Marson here, though he was rated on MiLB.com’s Top 100. Law has said to be more of a Travis d’Arnaud fan. Frankly, I disagree with Marson — his power will come; the rest of the game is there.

Todd Zolecki is reportedly moving to MLB.com in February, leaving his post at the Inquirer as beat writer.

Zolecki has covered the Phillies since 2003 and has been one of my favorites. With MLB.com he’ll take the Ken Mandel post (I don’t get how they laid off Mandel and others, only to bring someone new in for his post), writing and blogging about the Phils. So he’ll still be around.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.