“Since the wild-card era stretched the postseason into the three-tiered adventure it has become, repeating has gotten harder than ever. True, those Yankees did it. But other than the Yankees, just two defending World Series winners since 1995 have even won a postseason game the next October: the 1996 Braves and the 2008 Red Sox.”   (Thanks for the encouragement Jason, right?)

“Before the Phillies signed Ryan Howard to a three-year, $54 million extension, the two sides talked seriously about a five-year deal in the neighborhood of $110 million.”  (I’m happier with the 3-year deal we inked Howard to.)

“Cole Hamels — he was very stunned when this happened,” Romero said, “because he and his wife buy stuff from GNC all the time.”  (Thanks a lot J.C., that’s very helpful.  Any other potential team destroying secrets you feel like divulging?  Remember, what happens in the clubhouse satys in the clubhouse!)

Regarding Myers, I’m really thinking that the Phils asking him to go back to the rotation dealt a blow to his fragile psyche.  He said many times how much he loved being a closer.  I think he really felt like he found where he wanted to be.  Then the Phils took it away from him when they got Lidge.  I’m sure he was bummed out and/or ticked off, which led to him sulking, not doing the necessary offseason stuff (he did come into last season noticeably heavier), and coming into last season unprepared (physically as well as mentally).  I am not excusing his lack of preparation (That’s why it’s called professional baseball.  You are paid to do a job and you must put all the personal stuff aside and do it.), merely stating my sense of how it played out. 

Thank God for contract years, right? Hopefully we get a lot out of Myers this year.  Then someone else can overpay for him to be their headache. (In the back of my brain there’s even a scenario where Carrasco dominates in AAA to the point where the Phils decide they can afford to move Myers at the trade deadline and get something more in return for him rather than just draft picks if he leaves after becoming a free agent.)

About Howard, it seems like his slide could be the result of him thinking, as a result of his ROY and MVP seasons, that he’s got it all figured out and not staying after it as much as he needs to.  The weight loss and the quotes about working hard with Perlozzo on his defense makes it seem like he is sincere in his efforts to improve.  We will see.

On Myers, (who has reportedly lost 30 pounds):

“Winning the World Series was great, but personally I had a bad taste in my mouth this winter because of how badly I pitched in the first half of the season,” the righthander said. “I needed to get in better shape so we don’t have to fight to get into the playoffs the last three weeks.
“I wanted to feel like I was in better shape and show my dedication to this team so I can go out and pitch better. I need to start stronger. I lost nine games in the first half. It would have made a big difference if I had pitched better.”
“I’m not going to worry about it. I’d like to stay in Philadelphia, but ultimately it’s going to come down to how I pitch. If I end up staying here, that will be good for me and my family, because the organization has been great to me and we like living there.”

Good attitude and a good work ethic (that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he is in a contract year….RIGHT) that will hopefully yield good results.

On Howard (who has reportedly lost 20 pounds):

“I show up in Tampa on Jan. 5 after we won a World Series, drop 20 pounds, and come out here and just work,” Howard said yesterday after a workout at Bright House Field.

Again, good attitude and a good work ethic hopefully resulting in good results.

First off, I’m glad he won’t even be considered for the 5th spot.  It’s about damn time we stopped giving this guy any more opportunities to hurt the club.

Second, while I can understand how it must feel to be where he is now, especially after being in the league for several years, he has been sucking ass big time since he came here.  Since we had to deal with that for the better part of two seasons, he’s got to deal with the ramifications of that now and in the future.  Besides, he’s the one who put himself in this position in the first place.  Had he pitched reasonably well, he’d still be in the rotation and there would be no issue over accepting a minor league assignment or anything else.

My last thought is that the Phils should do everything they can, even if it means paying his entire salary for 2009 and buyout for 2010–hell, I’d even go so far as to include another player in the deal, to trade Eaton to another club in the division.  We will get much more for our money if he’s pitching for a division rival.  Think about it.  We can get some easy wins when he pitches against us and he will continue to hurt whoever he pitches for as he piles up losses to the rest of the league.  We will get a much better ROI.