NASHVILLE -- Got a few minutes before I head to the airport to catch US Air 3834 to Philly, so I wanted to pass along a few items and put a bow on these meetings.* Having bowed out of the Hiroki Kuroda sweepstakes and resisted the urge to trade prospects for underwhelming pitchers, the Phillies will turn their attention to right-hander Kris Benson and other reclamation projects. Benson, as you know, will throw Dec. 17 in Arizona to prove he's healthy after missing last season with a torn rotator cuff. Kicking myself for forgetting to squeeze this into the 50-center yesterday, but the Phillies have mild interest in Glendon Rusch. I say "mild" because they offered Rusch a minor-league contract, and he told them wants a major-league deal. He also wants a guarantee that he'll be in the rotation. Hard to give that to a guy who hasn't pitched since 2006 because of a blood clot in his lung.
* Heard a rumor that the Phillies have been told there's "no chance" that they can obtain a waiver to re-sign Tadahito Iguchi. So, unless Iguchi is willing to play at triple-A Lehigh Valley (his agent says that hasn't been discussed), he'll have to find work elsewhere. Speaking of third base, I'm hearing the Phillies' interest in Morgan Ensberg is lukewarm, at best.
* Although GM Pat Gillick said yesterday that Aaron Rowand's insistence on a five-year contract makes his return a "long shot," the market may have changed with Andruw Jones' two-year, $36.2 million deal with the Dodgers. Rowand may find teams willing to give him more money annually, but he isn't likely to find many willing to go five years, unless he wants to play for non-contending Kansas City.
The Phillies' contingent has left, and it's almost time for me to do the same. Since I'll be away from my computer for the rest of the day, I'll leave you with these questions:
1. After four frustrating days in Music City, how confident are you that the Phillies can fill their needs in the two months before spring training starts?
2. Given the NL East subtractions over the past few days (Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis in Florida, Andruw Jones in Atlanta) and the Mets' inactivity thus far, are you more or less confident than you were a week ago that the Phillies can defend their division title?
11 comments:
As per question number 2...am I more or less confident that they can defend their division title? With all due respect I don't care about their division title.
I am 36 years old. I haven't seen a Phillies championship since I was 8 years old. This team is a couple of players away from being a legitimate world championship contender and won't do what it takes to get it done.
Congratulations Phillies fans! You're number 6! I'm sick of it.
By the way, has anyone perused the front page of the Phillies website today? One of the lead articles reads "Rule 5 draft pick Blackley may fill out rotation". I know I'm thrilled!
We spent 4 days hearing Bedard, Haren, Santana and Willis could be moved...we wind up with Blackley! Yippeeeee!
Don't tell me the price was too steep. If this cheap team didn't cut so deep into their talent evaluation and considered paying over slot prior to this year for the Workman's of the draft, we'd have the prospects that Detroit, LA, Anaheim, Boston and NY have in order to pull of a deal for a Bedard, Santana, Haren or Willis to put us over the top.
This organization is a joke. They'll probably fall for it when Carlos Silva begs them to sign him to a big contract because he really, really wants to play in Philly. We'll come up with the second coming of Adam Eaton, Jason Werthless, Rod Barajas and Greg Dobbs again and then guess what?
CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR NUMBER 6 AGAIN!!!!!
I debate whether or not I should raise my kids as Philly fans...some might argue that is the equivalent of child abuse. Unfortunately I've invested too much both emotionally and financially in Philly sports and I simply can't give up on them and therein lies the problem. We dopes simply won't give up on them despite their ineptitude so they continue to line their pockets while doing nothing to put us over the top. I love Philly sports, but I hate Philly sports!
Phillyfanatic -
While there's a great deal of validity to your statement, why bash Jayson Werth and Greg Dobbs when you can bash Jose Mesa, Arthur Rhodes, Ugie Urbina, Abe Nunez, etc.? At least Dobbs and Werth have over-produced...for now.
Answering your questions...
I was never worried about the Marlins so the loss of Willis and Cabrera don't mean much. As far as the Braves, A. Jones didn't do much for them last year so I don't see them as loosing much there - if anything they are better with Tom Glavine and maybe a healthy Mike Hampton. And the Mets...they will sell the farm to get a top of the line starter, they will not stand pat between now and the end of the season.
Considering these things I would have to say that I am not comfortable yet. But the Phillies could still do some things.
phillyfanatic: Great comments. A few points.
1. I'd draw your attention to our earlier post (http://www.delawareonline.com/blogs/2007/12/dec-6-rule-5-results.html) about Blackley. Indeed, the Phillies believe he's capable of competing for the No. 5 spot in their rotation. At the very least, they think he can be insurance against an injured and/or ineffective Adam Eaton.
2. You raise a very interesting point about the Phillies' reluctance to go over slot value to sign draft picks. Was talking about this with a few people today before leaving Nashville, and it probably merits its own blog post/story in the paper someday soon. For those who don't know, MLB sets a "slot value" for each pick in the draft and frowns upon teams that sign their picks for above slot. The Tigers are a routine offender. Yet, there's no punishment besides a slap on the wrist. The Phillies typically adhere to the slot value, and sometimes, it costs them a chance to sign a pick (Brandon Workman last year is a prime example). One of the reasons the Tigers were willing to include Andrew Miller and Cameron Mybin in the Cabrera/Willis deal with Florida is that they're confident they can quickly reload their farm system because of their aggressive approach to signing picks. For whatever reason, the Phillies' decision-makers don't have that ability. So, they've decided to hoard what few prospects they have rather than package them in a mega-deal. It's a philosophical divide that often gets overlooked. But it's rather important, too.
Thanks for the note.
Phillyfanatic is spot on, in my opinion.
As far as the Phillies filling out their pitching needs the rest of the way, I believe that the Phillies will continue to look for a couple more guys like Blackley and then just pick the best of the worst in spring training. It's a joke, quite honestly. But, as phillyfanatic mentioned it is exactly what you would expect from this management group.
Sure, the winter meetings were somewhat disappointing, but usually there is not a whole lot that gets done there anyway. I have the same feeling that I did before about the Phillies upgrading the team. They will make a couple bargain basement moves and then will posture about how much they have improved the team.
In my opinion, the starting rotation and bullpen are such major issues that you can't just try to go out and piece together a few players who you can pick up for 50g's. The market is what it is. If Gillick doesn't like the pitching market, then he needs to find a way to improve the pitching staff via trade. Rolling out guys like Blackley and saying they will compete for the 5th starter spot is insulting to the fans who have supported the team.
Finally, this whole thing of a 5th starter is typical of the Phillies approach. They don't need a #5 starter. They need a #3 starter, but they don't want to put out to get a #3 so they will go around saying they need #5. They have a #5 starter in Moyer/Kendrick with the other being the #4 guy.
But, then again, why improve the team when the ownership group is making money hand over fist?
I said over on that the Phillies' homegrown pitchers are too precious to part with.
I firmly believe Hamels, Myers, Kendrick, and to a lesser extent Eaton (since he was in the Phillies farm system for a time) are successful for the Phillies because they've come up through the system. They know how to pitch in a park where the ball flies out, so they've developed a way to compensate for that: Cole and Brett are strikeout machines and Killer Kyle is a groundball pitcher.
HOWEVER. The Phillies have an All Star/Silver Slugger/Gold Glove-caliber/'08 MVP second baseman locked up at a relative bargain for six more years who's said he wants to retire a Phillie. I wish the brass would remember this and use Adrian Cardenas as bait for somebody like a Bedard or a Haren.
Oh, nerds! I swear I know how to close a HTML tag.
First thing's first:
PhillyFanatic: I totally agree with almost everything you said. This ownership and this GM are skimping in all areas - player development, drafting, and free-agent signings. Busting slot to sign and develop amateur talent is the working model, everybody else is just playing Bud's game. If the Phillies are to gain any credibility and respect in the game, this is what they're going to have to do. Other teams will pick up on it, and perhaps when the current CBA runs out, the topic of slot recommendations will be brought up and either tweaked for market inflation or done away with altogether.
Unfortunately for us loyal Phillies fans, we've become used to this type of treatment. I'm only 17, and sports journalism is what I'm going to college for. I want to cover the Phillies much the way Scott does. I hope that by the time I'm in a position to do so, this ownership has either:
a) gotten a new mentality
b) changed, or
c) signed key free-agents that can help the club get over the top.
However, I'm not holding my breath on this.
Scott: You raise a good point, and there's been some discussion over on PhuturePhillies about what you said regarding busting slot and what it means for the trade market. I absolutely think that you should do a piece on this and encourage your colleagues and readers to write about it, with the readers writing to the front office and your colleagues writing in the newspaper.
I'm so sick of seeing this team spinning its wheels. As others have said, this team is two or three pieces short of a world series winner. Those pieces lie in the bullpen and rotation, with the outfield being a possibility, especially if the Phils don't re-sign Rowand. Why sit on the future when this team's clearly built to win now and in the next 3 or 4 years?
The way this team drafts is the fundamental issue that has to change if the team has any shot at being elite. Too much is focused on projection -- on raw guys who have all the tools to be superstars (see Golson, Greg) and not enough on guys with proven skills, such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston's electric center-fielder (who was drafted out of Oregon State).
This is a great discussion, and the press needs to get involved in it for there to be any change at all. Until then, us fans will just have to sit on the future.
Hey Scott Lauber...How much truth is there to the rumor that the Marlins want Wes Helms back? 'Cause I live in Dallas now, but I'd be willing to drive to Philly, pick up Wes and drive him to Florida. Is there a realistic chance of this happening? If so what would we get in return? Also, do you think there is any chance we could package Helms and a prospect or two or even three to get a pitcher back like either Josh Johnson, Taylor Tankersley or even Kevin Gregg?
phillyfanatic: As you can read online tomorrow in my Sunday notes (I'll post it on the blog, in case you miss it), the Phillies did discuss Helms with the Marlins at the winter meetings in Nashville. But they feel like they need to acquire another third baseman before they deal Helms. As far as what they'd get in return, they're certainly looking for pitching. Not sure the Marlins would give up any of the guys you mentioned (Gregg is their closer; Tankersley is their primary lefty reliever), but if they're desperate enough for a third baseman with Cabrera gone, they may be willing to move one of those guys.
Stay tuned ...
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