Brotherly Glove beat me to it here, and I'm sure others will do similar stories, but here is my take on today's winter meeting development that the Phillies have balked at J-Roll's insistence on a 5-year deal and have turned their attention to 3B Aramis Ramirez while exploring trades for Placido Polanco. The basic question I want to answer (ignoring the implications of a long-term deal for Aramis or J-Roll for the moment) is, which tandem makes us better in 2012: Ramirez/Galvis or … [Read more...]

In a saavy move (did Gillick lock Ruben in the closet and make the call?), the Phillies acquired Ty Wigginton, and his giant head, from the Rockies for a player-to-be-named or cash. Wigginton will give the Phillies 70% of what Michael Cuddyer might have, but at a fraction of the cost ($4 million, with a $4 million option for next year) and risk. Though he's not a great defensive player, Wigginton can play 1B, 2B, 3B and the corner OF spots. He hasn't been a great hitter the last couple … [Read more...]

With player movement in full swing, I'll try to get this updated (it's always available on the right side-bar) as often as I can. First, let's take a look at our payroll situation post-Papelbon. The players are in order of team control (oh, hey Ryan Howard), and in secondary order by salary amount. And it goes out as far as we have salary obligations. Some comments: Hmm...so we will be paying a 35-year-old Ryan Howard, 36-year-old Cliff Lee and a 34-year-old Jonathan Papelbon … [Read more...]

Jim Salisbury is reporting on Twitter that... The Phils and Papelbon have reached agreement sources tell CSNPhilly.com. Pending physical. My initial reaction is... it better be for less than 4 years, $44 million, because I would have greatly preferred to retain Madson. Papelbon was extremely dominant his first 4 years as a closer, but somewhat shaky the last two. On the plus side, he had excellent K/9 and BB/9 numbers last year and actually had the best FIP (1.53) of his career, meaning … [Read more...]

Update: Deal not done yet, and Papelpon still in play?  Source close to Madson said Tues night there was no deal and talks were ongoing. Still believe Papelbon in picture. Sorry for the long title. Trying to get a bunch of Phillies updates into one post. The first order of business is that multiple outlets are reporting that Ryan Madson has re-signed with the Phillies for 4 years, $44 million. It's certainly a hefty contract for a relief pitcher, and as with all Ruben Amaro contracts, … [Read more...]

My Internet is broken so this will be short as I'm doing this on my phone. Anyway, Twitter is telling me that the Phillies have signed Jim Thome to a 1-year contract to presumably help at 1b until Howard gets back and then play a bench role after that. Thome can certainly still swing the bat - but it's curious that he would choose to come back to the NL, where there is no DH. Discuss amongst yourselves. … [Read more...]

There are tons of top-50 free agents lists out there. MLBTR is as good as any to look at. This post will take a look at all of them, and who (if any) I think should fit into the Phillies' plans. About that Ryan Howard contract... 1. Albert Pujols - I would be surprised if he left St. Louis. They've got some more cash to play with after the playoff run 2. Prince Fielder - I think his best fit is Texas, if he wants to win. Cubs are also a possible landing spot, with Epstein maybe making … [Read more...]

I'm still not quite ready to go into full off-season mode, but this will at least provide a place to talk about the Phillies without having to stare at the post written about us losing. Below you will find a breakdown of the Phillies payroll in 2011 vs. 2012. You can see what is coming off the books, what we are adding, and where there are still question marks. So, by my calculations, the Phillies have about 18.5 million dollars to spend, if they want to stay in line with last year's … [Read more...]

Once again, the 162 game season in baseball looks completely pointless when a team that won 102 games is beaten by the hot wild-card team in a shortened 5-game series. Can't wait for Bud Selig and co. to parade out 2 more playoffs teams and make it worse. I think that this series showed all the reasons I hate the 5-game series (or more accurately, the 5-game series with 2 off-days) and wanted absolutely nothing to do with the Cardinals. Frankly, I have little confidence we would have … [Read more...]

I'm not sure what would be worse. Losing tonight. Or hearing people over-analyze this series until next spring. The 5-game series in the MLB playoffs is a fickle, fickle thing. Over 162 games, teams are only separated by a couple wins and losses, and then the best teams are determined by shrinking that down to a 5-game sample size where one lucky game or bounce or inning can determine an entire season and games are played in conditions completely different from regular season (3 to 4 man … [Read more...]