Just walked into the Crowne Plaza in Cherry Hill, N.J., where Jimmy Rollins will within the hour accept the Pro Athlete of the Year award from the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association. But the big news is that the Phillies are close to signing free-agent third baseman Pedro Feliz a two-year contract.So, I just spoke to Ruben Amaro Jr., who said the Phils are negotiating with Feliz's representatives, Sam and Seth Levinson, but a deal hasn't been finalized.
MUCH more on this later. For now, here's a small story that's already been posted online, and here are Feliz's career stats. Is this a good move for the Phillies? You tell me.
9 comments:
What an AWFUL move for the team. Feliz had a .290 OBP last season. This is Rod Barajas all over again, only this is a 2 year contract. I don't understand why the team insists on treating 3rd base the way Andy Reid treats wide receiver. His best year OBP-wise is .305, and he's never had an OPS over .800. Joe Crede is going to be available for a trade during Spring Training, and he's a one year deal kind of guy. Why you would give Feliz a multi-year deal is beyond me.
Joe Crede would probably fail a physical. he has a chronic back issue
Pretty good deal for the Phils. Feliz has hit 20+ homers four straight seasons in a much tougher park for hitters. He gives the Phils another legit power threat from the right side. Now Charlie can break up Utley/Howard against leftys with a pair of 25-30 HR hitting righties. Plus at least one ranking places Feliz as the best defensive third basemen in baseball. A big upgrade over Helms in both hitting and fielding.
I don't like the move.
His career OBP is exactly the same as Rod Barajas' - .288, and he saw the second-fewest pitches per at-bat (losing the honor to Johnny Estrada) in the NL last season. Not only that, but he can't run (12 career stolen bases).
This is just gonna be another black hole in terms of production near the bottom of the lineup. Sure, he'll connect for 20-30 homers, but he's basically a one-trick pony offensively, and you won't see him turning the lineup over.
His defense is solid, but that's about the only appealing thing about him. The deal would've made much better sense if it were only one year long. What if -- and there's a big chance that he'll be -- awful? They're stuck with him the same way they're stuck with Helms right now.
The money would've been better spent on a reliever, even if they had to overpay for one.
Disappointing would be the word I'd use to sum up this deal.
Scott,
When will you stop believing the lies Gillick feeds you. You continually say no more moves will be made, and then they make another move. It's obvious Gillick says what he has to say, yet you guys take it as gospel.
Anon,
Scott's going with the best information he's given. It's Gillick who's being deceptive, Scott's just going with the best information he's able to get.
Give him a break.
I always enjoyed Bill James' Baseball Abstract, but curse him for the legions of stat geeks he spawned. OPS, BABIP, and all these other silly acronyms have taken over how kids judge baseball now. How about good old runs? The bottom line is Phils' 3rd basemen combined for 11 HRs and 79 RBis ;ast year and played a pretty awful 3rd base when Helms and Dobbs were there.
Feliz has averaged 21 HRs and 83 RBIs by himself in a serious pitcher's ballpark over the past four years (in an awful lineup most of the time) and is a big time defensive upgrade. At $4 mil per, the Phils made a fine deal here.
I would hardly consider this an "awful" move. Given the market, it is a reasonably solid move. Yes, his OBP is weak. Yes, he is a hacker. But, the guy plays gold glove caliber defense and is a significant upgrade over Wes Helms (Helms/Dobbs platoon). As Scott mentioned in the initial story, Feliz has hit 20 or more home runs for the last 4 seasons in a row. That's better than the folk hero Aaron Roward who has done that just once.
As anonymous mentioned, all the fans wanted Crede, but he has a chronic injury and would not pass a physical at this point. Without trading a solid minor league prospect, this is the best the team could do. The asking price on Tejada (before Houston got him and assuming he would move to 3rd base as he said he would) and Beltre was sky high - asking for Carrasco or Cardenas. This team cannot afford to part with any front line pitching prospects at this point. As far as Cardenas is concerned, based on what I've seen and read, I wouldn't trade him either.
The Phillies were the least productive (or second least productive, I don't recall) team in the league from the 3rd base position. They made a move to address that, but people bang on them for that. There are plenty of things the ownership/management deserve to be criticized for, but this move isn't one of them. They offered Lowell more years than Boston, but he turned them down. Feliz is as good of a free agent option as there is right now.
Hard to call it a bad move when the alternative was to head into Clearwater with 2/3 of what they had last year. With all-stars covering the rest of the infield, this is a move that will help the Phils in '08. Feliz has an excellent glove and his stats will increase by playing half his games at the Bank. To have that kind of production in the 7 spot isn't too shabby with this lineup.
Perhaps Helms can now be spun off for some relief help, as has been mentioned oh so often? I like the move, again, because it beats the alternative.
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