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Franco, image- Jay Floyd In a contest that ended in a 6-6 tie on Thursday, third baseman Maikel Franco continued his hot spring for the Phillies with a pair of home runs and four RBI against the Tigers in Clearwater. Franco got the scoring started in the bottom of the 1st inning when he launched a two-run blast off of starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann . With Zimmermann still on the mound in the 4th, the 23-year-old did more damage with another two-run big fly. A 2-for-2 day put Franco's pre-season batting average at .350 through eight games while the two dingers gives him four in the young exhibition season. Starting pitcher Aaron Nola wasn't very sharp as he gave up two earned runs on four hits in 2 2/3 innings of work. He notched four strike outs and issued one walk. Ernesto Frieri pitched the 9th inning for the Phillies, but blew a 5-4 lead, surrendering two earned runs in his lone inning of work.

In the second of our writers' roundtable posts on Phillies Nation this week, we ran through some questions predicting what to expect of the upcoming big league season.  Among the topics were impact prospects, how the Phils will finish the 2016 campaign, roster surprises and more. Read ahead for my thoughts... Which prospect makes the biggest impact this year? Reliever Jimmy Cordero will be that guy, simply based on the amount of time I expect him to get at the big league level. Sure, the Phils have some great prospects in J.P. Crawford and Nick Williams , but both guys are at positions where there isn't an immediate need for them at the big league level. The bullpen will have need and Cordero, who can reach triple digits with his fastball, will be the youngster that contributes the most this year. What in-season trades do you anticipate the Phillies making? The Phillies should continue to be sellers. They should move forward, trying to clean out the leftovers of the...