A couple interesting notes from morning papers today…
- Apparently a couple people in our front office told Jim Salisbury that it is not out of the realm of possibility that the Phillies could trade for Roy Halladay in the off-season. It would have to be for a lesser package than the one they rejected (Drabek, Happ, Brown, Gose) mid-season. This move would be truly “going for it,” as it would leave our farm system barren of all MLB-ready talent. Can’t say I could argue with making the move, but the team would have make sure they re-sign Halladay or Lee, and put a lot of money into the draft and international market the next couple years.
- Another interesting note on Halladay is that an official said the team would make an “exception” to take on Halladay’s salary. This tells me we should expect any large increase in payroll unless a Halladay move is made.
- While Halladay is probably front and center on fans’ minds, that is not the case with Ruben Amaro, who said “third base, bullpen and bench” is where the focus is right now. When asked about starting pitching, he replied “we’re more bullpen-intensive than anything else.” You wonder if this means they are going to go after a guy like Jose Valverde, the best closer on the market, or just some smaller pieces.
- On 3B, Amaro said “I don’t see us making a blockbuster. But there’s enough quality out there [to justify] not picking up the option. There are more third basemen than third-base positions that need to be filled.” That tells me he might let guys like Figgins sign, and wait until the end where someone decent is forced to sign a small 1 year contract like Abreu did last night. Also, if 5 years $50 million is really what Figgins is seeking, we’d be wise to look to our other options. He did say that we are more likely to sign someone than trade, so I would say they aren’t looking hard at Atkins (good).
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
c’mon pete, “3B, bullpen, and bench”, let’s take these words with a grain of salt shall we? No GM ever shows his hand to the media. I am waiting for the “out of left field” signing or trade (perhaps Mr. Ryan Zimmerman)?? Any “rumor” currently circulating, such as Halladay, I’d have to think is completely bogus and the real talks are happening with players that aren’t on any of our radars.
I don’t know, Gillick was pretty open about what he was looking for in the off-season.
Have you seen anything that says Zimmerman is actually available? I think they see him as a cornerstone of their rebuilding process (with Strasburg), not a movable player. Who would you trade for him? I wouldn’t trade any of our big time prospects for a non-starting pitcher at this point.
If Phils’ could actually acquire Zimmerman for top prospects (who knows what a struggling franchise with a new empty stadium will do?) ALONG WITH paying for Halliday somehow, that would be a perfect winter. Then deftly add a dependable bullpen arm or two and fresh bench pop for the cherry on top. Happy days would be here again.
CNNSI now has their top-50 FA’s up…
They have us as the best fit for DeRosa (#8), Valverde (#10) and Kelvim Escobar (#44)
I can’t see Halladay happening. Drabek is going to be up next year, maybe from the start of the season. We still have Jamie Moyer, who can fill any spots left by injured pitching. Hamels, Lee, Blanton, JA Happ, Drabek, and Moyer are our starting pitcher options at the start of next year as of now. This could turn out really well if Drabek can give us quality starts. If Drabek struggles and we have to pitch Moyer the entire season, if Hamels doesn’t have a come back year and if Happ gets hurt we could be in BIG trouble. You know Lee and Blanton are going to be horses and eat up a lot of innings for us. I would love to somehow fit Werth into a trade with prospects not named Taylor or Drabek for Halladay, but I don’t think its going to happen.
So we just have to pray for the best. Hamels bouncing back, Lee dominating, Blanton and Happ staying healthy, and Drabek pitching well as our fifth starter next year.
#20 on that list Mike Gonzalez should be a target for Ruben. We need a LH setup type now that we can’t count on Romero. And a bonus he can close game too if we need him to. Bonus #2: stealing from a division rival.
Why has there been very little talk of another a SP through FA? I am not asking facetiously or cynically, I just do not get it. Is it simply econmics and addressing “biggest need”? I understand a Lackey might be way more than they can afford especially if they have any desire whatsoever to hold on to a Lee long term, but why has there not been any talk about even looking at it? What about a Ben Sheets?
pg -
because there are very few good ones out there, and because signing a FA starter for more than 2 years almost always ends up as mistake. There are certainly a couple guys on the below list I would take a one-year flier on. But aside from Lackey (who we are not signing) – I can give reasons for pretty much all these pitchers as to why I wouldn’t sign them (or why they wouldn’t sign with us).
Starting Pitchers
Brandon Backe HOU
Erik Bedard SEA (B)
Daniel Cabrera ARZ
Bartolo Colon CWS
Jose Contreras COL
Doug Davis ARZ (B)
Justin Duchscherer OAK (B)
Adam Eaton COL
Kelvim Escobar LAA
Jon Garland LAD (B)
Tom Glavine ATL
Mike Hampton HOU
Rich Harden CHC (B)
Livan Hernandez WAS
Randy Johnson SF (B)
John Lackey LAA (A)
Braden Looper * MIL (B)
Jason Marquis COL (B)
Brett Myers PHI
Vicente Padilla * LAD (B)
Carl Pavano MIN (B)
Brad Penny SF
Odalis Perez WAS
Andy Pettitte NYY (B)
Joel Pineiro STL (B)
Sidney Ponson KC
Jason Schmidt LAD
John Smoltz STL
Jarrod Washburn DET
Todd Wellemeyer STL
Randy Wolf (A)
forget zimmerman from the Nats- it ain’t gonna happen. besides …your point about filling an empty stadium. What sense does it make to then trade your one star for prospects. prospects won’t fill the stadium. Zimmerman is all the Nats have until some of the young pitchers make an impact.
The sense? Eventual winning, or at least a likable, developing team (read: real hope) brings people to a stadium. Nationals’ front office estimates that the talented but uncharismatic Zimmerman draws 850 fans to each home game. Are looking for an offer they can’t refuse, including up-and-comers. Phillies COULD form one.
Has anyone thought about Jon Garland? He’s pitched at least 191 innings every year since 2002 which could do alot towards keeping our bullpen fresh. He gives up a few more homers than you’d like and pitches to contact (both could be detrimental in this park) but he probably won’t cost too much seeing as how the Dodgers didn’t blink before dropping his 2010 option. Maybe a 1 year deal for $6 mil, with an option for 2011?
Alot of options out there, very few are very exciting.
Garland isn’t a bad option, I listed him in my off-season needs post. but I’m not convinced someone like Drew Carpenter wouldn’t be just as good.
Ken Rosenthal reported that the Phillies brass’ are seriously downplaying all the hoopla today with them and Halladay.
from Jayson Stark….
Finally, the Phillies may not have won another World Series. But here’s what they did do in this postseason:
They won more postseason games (nine) than all of the previous defending World Series champs won the next year combined (six).
Of course, six of those teams won zero games the next October. But the facts are the facts. And here’s the year-by-year rundown:
The only other defending champs in the wild-card era to win as many as nine games in the following posteason without repeating: the 2001 Yankees (lost in Game 7 of the World Series, won 10 postseason games altogether) and the 1996 Braves (lost in Game 6 of the World Series, won nine postseason games total). So the Phillies may not have repeated. But one thing you have to say for them was: They were a tough, tough out.
From Ken Davidoff’s Newsday.com blog.
–The Mets held internal dicussions about acquiring former Met-killer Pat Burrell from Tampa Bay, which would love to unload Burrell. But they’re not inclined to make such a deal, because of Burrell’s weak defensive skills.>>
The over-under on the length of said discussions is 45 seconds.
I just thought of a really off the wall name that is a very very outside possibility for 3rd base.
Aaron Boone.
Shame he’s not 5 years younger. I assume he will be looking for a job. The Astros activated him in September but I don’t think he played. That he was even ctivated was a heckuvan accomplishment.
Ken, I would love to see Boone in Philly. More so just because I love guys like Boone, always classy. Him coming back from open heart surgery is heroic and admirable at the very least. To this day his homerun in the 2003 ALCS is my favorite non-Phillies baseball moment ever (and probably in the top 5 including the Phillies). I know its the Yankees but that’s a moment even the most jaded of baseball fans can’t help but get chills watching.
I caught an Outside the LInes piece on him last summer and I remember thinking that I wish he was a Phillie.
If he can still hit he would be a excellent replacement for Bruntlett or Dobbs, and would, in my expectation, be an instant fan favorite.
Here’s the video of the piece OTL ran.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4385836
If he can still hit he would be a excellent replacement for Bruntlett or Dobbs, and would, in my expectation, be an instant fan favorite.>>
Chris,
You touched on the positives Aaron brings to the table very nicely. I know you aren’t alone, but it was nice to read your appreciation I started thinking realistically about him as a utility player, which I’d have to think is probably all he might find, especially on a contender. I would think it comes down to whether he could play multiple positions, and I have no idea. That’s the one thing that appears to keep Bruntlett in the bigs, but as the core gets older, we sure could use a more effective jack of all trades type for day off purposes.
KB, agree. He’d be nice in inter-league play as well. Boone and Francisco would be two very good bench options, especially if Raul needs a few more days off in the coming seasons as I suspect he will with the torn muscle and the whole being 50 years old.
Well, Boone can definitely play third and played 54 games at first for the Nats in 2008 and 48 for the Marlins in 2007. He’s played sparingly in the middle and has never fielded the ball in the outfield in his career. Would replace Dobbs nicely.
With Boone on the corners, Francisco roaming the outfield they’d need to just fill up the middle. If they add a good, quality starter at 3B they could just tender Bruntlett and know that on day that Boone starts at 3B they’d still have that starter’s bat off the bench in the late innings.
uh um, scratch the whole thing about Boone replacing Dobbs, I forgot he’s still under contract next year. I guess they could just release him, or send him down. Don’t know how many assignments he’s got left before we’d have to pass him through waivers.