Everyone over the World Series? Yeah? OK, good.
The off-season moves quickly and I’m going to write a post about the Phillies’ needs and the options out there this weekend, but there is already some news to report.
- Cliff Lee’s option was picked up (about as suspenseful as the Cavs extending LeBron’s rookie deal)
- Brett Myers was told he would not be back next year. This is a lot more surprising to me. All along I had thought that Myers would come back on a 1-year deal to prove he can be a good starter and then get paid somewhere else next year. We need a 5th starter (I’m not counting on Drabek or Moyer) and I thought he would be perfect. Unlike Rollins, Utley and Howard – Myers never really came close to what we thought he would be. But like Burrell, he played a big part in our title last year, and will be remembered in a relatively positive light by the fans.
- The Phillies have not yet decided on Pedro Feliz’ option, and appear to be looking at other options first. Those other options are plentiful, and include free agents Chone Figgins, Placido Polanco (if he’ll switch), Miguel Tejada (if he’ll switch), Mark DeRosa and Adrian Beltre. Like the outfield market last year, that appears to be more 3B than teams that really need them – so there is a chance of getting a Bobby Abreu-type discount. I know I’ve said I’d love Figgins, but if his price is too high, I would love Polanco or Tejada on a 2-year deal.
That Myers news is like a punch in the face… or maybe I just tripped.
I didn’t hit the “home” link on the page, so I had no idea that you had this topic up when I just commented on the “Fantastic Phillies Season” topic, Pete.
I’ll re-post what I found to be the most surprising part of the Myers situation:
Myers said he would have been willing to sign a one-year, incentive laden deal to remain with the Phillies, but the Phillies weren’t interested.
Amaro obviously has a pretty good idea what he wants to do with this club and he’s not wasting any time.
Sign Figgins, move Jimmy to the 7 hole and our lineup is really balanced, but would Jimmy be all right with that?
Sad about Myers, but I trust Amaro. I was listening to ESPN today and they said when Chase came up he really could have played anywhere and later in his career should switch to 1st or DH to prolong the career. So if we cant’ find a good 3rd baseman, what about switching Chase to 3rd or Rollins to 3rd and find a good replacement? ala A-Rod Or bring in a short or 2nd baseman and make them switch.
Amaro obviously has a pretty good idea what he wants to do with this club and he’s not wasting any time.>>
Well, he didn’t waste time signing Ibanez last year, but it may be that he just didn’t want Myers back, maybe finalized by that incident during his last rehab when he changed his story on how he was injured. Supposedly, the Phils are character driven, and that didn’t reflect much character by the way it was reported.
This may be a minor unimportant detail, bski, but I believe I saw a copy and paste of yours a few minutes ago on another post here that mentioned that Amaro has talked to Lee’s agent a couple times in the post season. For what its worth, I forget the gentleman’s name (Lee’s agent) , but he was on XM Tuesday night. Also reprents AJ Burnet, so he was pretty topical. Anyway, he specifically said that the Phils had not initiated discussions regarding extension, and the way it works is the club initiates the contact. Whether any of that matters, I don’t know, but that was his state of things.
Well, he didn’t waste time signing Ibanez last year, but it may be that he just didn’t want Myers back, maybe finalized by that incident during his last rehab when he changed his story on how he was injured. u think