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Philadelphia Phillies 2011


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I'd be surprised if Pete Mackanin is back as bench coach next year. Sounds like he is a candidate for the Red Sox manager's job, and I'm sure he will get looks for other jobs as well.

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Officially a torn achilles tendon for Ryan Howard and he may miss the entire 2012 season.

 

Just in time for his $125 million contract to kick in!

 

But really, I hope he is OK. That is just awful.

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Officially a torn achilles tendon for Ryan Howard and he may miss the entire 2012 season.

Wow. That joins Chien-Ming Wang on the basepaths and Kendrys Morales celebrating the walkoff as crushing injuries. Hopefully, it doesn't cause trouble for him in the long run.

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My offseason wish list is simple: don't do anything drastic.

 

This 2011 team was a fantastic team that was ultimately done in by random playoff luck. There is nothing that can be done when building a team to prevent this. All you can do is what the Phillies did this season...build the best team possible and hope things go right in October.

 

There are two things that need to be done this offseason.

 

1) Re-sign Jimmy Rollins. I feel weird saying this about a non-elite player who is sure to decline in the next few years, but they need to bring him back at almost any cost. The shortstop position is incredibly thin around the league. Unless the Phillies pull Jose Reyes out of nowhere, there is literally nobody that can replace J-Roll. Freddy Galvis (and his sub-.700 minor league career OPS) would likely be the leading candidate. This would leave a massive hole. He needs to be back. I am getting very bad vibes about it though.

 

2) Lock Cole Hamels up for life. Self explanatory. He is a free agent after 2012. The time for an extension is right now. I am sure the Phillies realize this and I have a very good feeling that this will get done before spring training. I hope so anyway. Hunter Pence is a free agent after 2012 also, and while I'd definitely like to see him get extended also, Hamels is definitely the primary goal.

 

Other than this, there are just a few smaller things to be taken care of. Lots of big contracts coming off the books (Raul Ibanez, Brad Lidge, perhaps Roy Oswalt). I would be okay with bringing Ibanez back on a one year deal if he is willing to take a part time role, but my concern with this would be that Charlie would give him the first shot at LF. That job needs to be Domonic Brown's, plain and simple. The Ryan Howard injury complicates things also. Unless the Phillies bring in a first baseman, have to figure John Mayberry Jr. will be playing a lot of first base next year, which would seemingly open up LF for Brown.

 

As for the other big free agent, I certainly want Ryan Madson back but I do not want to overpay for him. If he leaves, the bullpen will probably be incredibly young next year. And I am okay with this.

 

It will definitely be an interesting offseason. I just don't want to see the Phillies pull a Flyers and dismantle a great team as a result of failure in a tiny postseason sample size. Of course, the Flyers were a different case since the salary cap dictated most of their moves, and the Phillies probably couldn't dismantle this team even if they wanted to due to bad contracts, but my point stands.

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Oh yeah, even though many of the bandwagon, post 2008 fans (especially those who don't take interest until September) won't admit it, this season was a great success and was my favorite Phillies team ever. Such a treat to watch these guys play every night for six months. I can only hope it will be this much fun next season.

 

And Brad Lidge, even though the last three seasons didn't go as well as expected, thank you very much for 2008. I hope someone gives him a chance next year.

 

http://metsmerizedonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/large_BradLidgeCarlosRuiz.jpg

Edited by Phightins
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Horrible luck on Ro Ho, I won't be crying for you obviously but don't want to see a great hitter like him have his career cut short due to injuries. I think 1st priority for Phillies has to be to lock up Cole Hamels, he is one of the only young top players on this team. Utley old, Howard old, Lee old, Halladay old, Rollins old. Team is slowly getting old. As for Rollins if I'm a Phils fan I wouldn't be opposed to letting him walk and getting a pick for him. Groom a SS to take over. When Rollins was out o f the lineup and in the line up didnt make much of a difference. I think if your Philly you realize you have good enough hitting to live without Rollins and your OF is only going to get better. So make sure your good in 2016 and beyond by getting as much young talent as you can. As a Mets fan I hope you do all the opposite :D

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As for Rollins if I'm a Phils fan I wouldn't be opposed to letting him walk and getting a pick for him. Groom a SS to take over.

 

I'd agree if they had somebody ready to take over, which they don't. If they lose him, they will need to get very creative.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am in love with the Thome deal. Best case is Howard gets healthy and Jim is the primary bat off the bench (huge improvement over Ross Gload/John Bowker). Worst case is Howard is out for a while and Thome and Mayberry split time at 1B. Although, it remains to be seen if Jim can play the field regularly. He hasn't played more than 3 games in the field in any season since 2005. If he can still do an adequate job there, a Mayberry/Thome platoon at 1B until Howard gets healthy is pretty damn nice. He can still swing it. .256/.361/.477 with 15 HRs and .283/.412/.627 with 25 HRs in the last 2 years respectively. Pretty damn good for a part time player in his 40s.

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Lots of Michael Cuddyer rumors floating around. On one hand, he might be as perfect a fit for this team as anybody else out there. On the other hand, he is a type-A FA, so he will cost a 1st round pick. At this stage, the Phillies really need to be focussing on player development, so giving away high draft picks is not something I want to see. Especially if they are not offering ARB to Roy Oswalt, which it sounds like they won't.

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Madson deal falls through and the Phillies instead opt for Jonathan Papelbon. Details are not all out there yet, but it looks like 4 years and close to $50 million and possibly a 5th year option.

 

Yikes.

 

It isn't that I am upset about replacing Madson with Paps...similar ages, seemingly equal ability (perhaps slight edge Papelbon). But that is some serious money for a dude who will appear in roughly 5% of the total team innings this season. Over the past few weeks, I've talked myself into accepting this, since it was clear Amaro planned on spending big on a "closer". So I saw this coming, but it is still a terrible use of budget. Ah well, money being no object, Papelbon is a hell of a pitcher and I look forward to seeing him in red pinstripes.

 

 

Anyway, I guess this means I can officially say so long to Ryan Madson. Really enjoyed seeing him pitch these past 8 seasons.

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Madson deal falls through and the Phillies instead opt for Jonathan Papelbon. Details are not all out there yet, but it looks like 4 years and close to $50 million and possibly a 5th year option.

 

Yikes.

 

It isn't that I am upset about replacing Madson with Paps...similar ages, seemingly equal ability (perhaps slight edge Papelbon). But that is some serious money for a dude who will appear in roughly 5% of the total team innings this season. Over the past few weeks, I've talked myself into accepting this, since it was clear Amaro planned on spending big on a "closer". So I saw this coming, but it is still a terrible use of budget. Ah well, money being no object, Papelbon is a hell of a pitcher and I look forward to seeing him in red pinstripes.

 

 

Anyway, I guess this means I can officially say so long to Ryan Madson. Really enjoyed seeing him pitch these past 8 seasons.

 

Oh, my favorite part will be the draft pick compensation from whichever team signs Madson. Two high picks. Of course, we lose our own first round pick for signing Papelbon, but we will have a net gain of one high pick.

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RAJ's reasoning for overpaying Papelbon as opposed to Madson is "Papelbon has more experience closing".

 

*Barf*

 

Ruben Amaro Jr. really is a terrible GM. He'd never last in a small market.

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JP Morosi reporting the Phillies have traded for Ty Wigginton. For a PTBNL or cash. Awesome awesome awesome awesome. I have always been a big fan. This also means that (I hope) the Phillies won't be overpaying for Cuddyer.

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The Phillies offered arbitration to Raul Ibanez, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Madson. Guarantees two high picks as compensation for Madson, and is a nice insurance policy on Rollins in case he leaves. I am pretty surprised they offered ARB to Ibanez. Wouldn't shock me at all if he takes it, and chances are he will be awarded way more than he deserves.

 

Also, no arbitration offered to Oswalt. I am guessing they feared he'd accept it and be awarded an ungodly salary.

Edited by Phightins
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  • 2 weeks later...

Lucked out when nobody took Jiwan James in the rule 5 draft today. It was a weird situation. He is a pretty nice prospect, but has not advanced very far for his age/service time due to a position change a few years back (never played above A). So it was hard for the Phillies to justify using a 40-man spot on him, but I also expected somebody to take a chance in the rule 5 today.

 

Lendy Castillo was taken by the Cubs, however.

 

And in a very surprising move, the Phillies did not select anybody. Very rare. They usually feast on the rule 5 draft.

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Ben Francisco traded to Toronto for minor league LOOGY Frank Gailey. Figured it was coming...don't really see where Francisco fits in on this bench anymore. From what I am reading, he may get regular at-bats in Toronto. He's a decent hitter when he gets regular time, and that is something he did not get here last season and certainly wouldn't be getting in 2012.

 

I know absolutely nothing about Gailey, except that he is 26 years old and only has about 50 double-A innings to his name. So he likely sucks. But he is from Philly!

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