Yesterday, Philadelphia dealt 1B-R Nate Espy to St. Louis for a player to be named later. The Phillies drafted Espy out of junior college with an 18th round pick in the 1998 draft. While he's demonstrated impressive patience throughout the minors, his contact rate has hurt his productivity. Philadelphia has moved him slowly through their system, making him repeat both the A South Atlantic League and the AA Eastern League. In 2003 in his second season at AA Reading, he hit .242 with a .350 OBP and .360 SLG on 84 H, 14 2B, and 9 HR with a 54:78 BB:K and 10/16 SB% in 347 AB. The 25-year-old offers modest speed and power skills, but without an improvement in his contact rate, I doubt he'll ever make it out of AAA.