Comments on: Phillies Rumors: Halladay Watch, The Redux?

By: Chris McC

Chris McC — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:07:46 +0000

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.

By: Chris McC

Chris McC — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:43:56 +0000

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.

By: Ken Bland

Ken Bland — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:26:52 +0000

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.

By: Chris McC

Chris McC — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:38:48 +0000

Here's the video of the piece OTL ran. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4385836

By: Chris McC

Chris McC — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:33:52 +0000

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.

By: Ken Bland

Ken Bland — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:39:32 +0000

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.

By: Ken Bland

Ken Bland — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:28:34 +0000

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.

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:35:41 +0000

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:

2002 Diamondbacks -- swept in NLDS
2003 Angels -- missed playoffs
2004 Marlins -- missed playoffs
2005 Red Sox -- swept in ALDS
2006 White Sox -- missed playoffs
2007 Cardinals -- missed playoffs
2008 Red Sox -- (6) won ALDS, lost in Game 7 of ALCS

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.

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:00:29 +0000

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.

By: Chris McC

Chris McC — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:10:31 +0000

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.