Phillies Nation

D.

Paulino makes no sense to me. Ruiz/Marson/Coste was a fine backstop for me… Mayberry and Mathieson are dime a dozen.

The DeRosa deal would’ve been great. So would’ve Hairston – but I actually like the Ibanez move more than most people.

I like Jamie Moyer, but giving in on a deal for a guy to pitch until he is 48 just seems like bad business.

Chan Ho Park is perfectly OK to sign on as relief and maybe we get lucky and he gets his starting stuff back, but it seems like we’re relying on that becoming a reality.

Most deserving of the D, however, is the sickness I feel that a week ago it was just us and the Yankees being talked about as serious contenders for Derek Lowe – a guy that was about 2 innings from keeping us from our (pause for dramatic effect) trip to the World Series. Now, just a week later, the Yanks have spent a fortune on CC and AJ and the Phillies are nowhere to be found in the Lowe rumors. Disgusting.

Burrell will sign for the same money Ibanez does. Burrell’s not going to make $14 million this year.

On a team with guys who hit home runs and a ballpark that is conducive to home runs and big innings, having a guy who walks a lot helps turn solo home runs into big innings. Let’s not forget that Burrell’s SLG% is higher than Ibanez’s too. He has more power than him. We’ll see if that changes now with his move out of Safeco (although Ibanez played in KC in one of the best hitting parks as well).

The left-handed aspect can not be overstated. Late in a game, Utley, Howard and Ibanez will not face right-handed pitching, unless the closer is a righty. While this isn’t a big deal for Utley, Howard is lost against lefties and Ibanez does NOT hit well against them. The Phillies needed a right-handed corner outfielder, not another lefty.

Ibanez and Burrell are similar talents, except that one is left-handed and 5 years older. They will both be making the same amount of money for the next few years, which makes this move all the more puzzling.

Mike Arbuckle is gone. He quit once Amaro was given the GM job.

Burrell probably won’t make $14 M this year… if he was offered arbitration, he would have accepted and probably made $16 M instead of the $10 M the Phillies would have wanted to pay him

Because he’s been stealing money from the Phillies for all but 2 years of his last contract, he should play here for 2 years at $10 total… since we know that’s not happening, he’s going elsewhere..

I really hope that he gets a chance in Oakland, where they seriously value OBP% above all else.. Burrell can still hit the ball a long way, but I’d rather have the guy that makes contact more frequently

I’d like to see Pat land somewhere with a chance to win… not the Royals, Reds, Pirates, Rangers, etc..

I heard Oakland was in on Giambi too, but isn’t it weird that this much time has passed in Free Agency, and only a handful of players have signed?

A lot of big names out there too with Burrell, Dunn, Ramirez, Lowe, Giambi, Oli Perez, Pedro, Wolf, … Rudy Seanez, Tom Gordon… (just jokes)

not to beat a dead horse, but part of the reason I didn’t like the Ibanez signing was that the corner outfield market was flooded and the Phillies fell in love with one guy and wound up paying 3 years 10.5 mil for him. I think one of those other guys (Abreu, Dunn, Burrell) are going to fall through the cracks (like Lohse last year) and sign a below market value contract.

The Phillies waited out Pedro Feliz last year and signed him to a sensible deal once Feliz backed off his initial demands.

If Lowe signs a deal for 12 mil a year or something like that, then the Phillies made a bad move with Moyer, but I’m getting ahead of myself…

Maybe we could add Baldelli for a right-handed bat. At first I wasn’t sure about him because of his illness, but apparently doctors misdiagnosed it, and it’s a “non-progressive, highly treatable disease.” If we can bring him in to pinch-hit or play OF sporadically, why not? Is he too expensive?

im not a big fan of overpaying for free agent pitchimg, manny, but what would you feel about a trade? brett myers has a tradeable 12mm one year deal…if you can get some younger rotation ready pitching in return whats the problem? maybe you go myers/prospect to anahiem for jered weaver/jose arrendondo/reggie willits

for lowe: i like that the mets want to sign him…let them do it…the phillies rocked lowe twice in the playoff s and when he doesnt get fastballs called on the outside corner hes VERY VERY hittable…

I would have said C- yesterday, but after watching that interview with Ibanez, I will go up to a C+. I think Amaro brought him here for his professionalism and strong work ethic as much as anything. He seems so humble and the antithesis of a Manny Ramirez. You know how much I like Pat, but I think this guy is going to be a great influence on some of our players like Vic, Howard, maybe even Jimmy. Remember Cole saying the other day, along with the Mets are chokers, he said the guys called out Vic for hotdogging around the bases when he hit that HR off of CC, I think it was. They put a J. Reyes sign on his locker, told him that wasn’t cool. You’ll never see Ibanez do something like that, I doubt, so maybe this is a good thing?

you’re * CLUELESS ….was what he meant..

I would say that more money and more years for Ibanez than they did for Moyer would mean that Ibanez was the “main focus”… and since you said you liked Ibanez.. how did you come up with that grade ?

It’s hard to put a grade on the offseason before it’s even over. It’s hard to put a grade on the offseason until the regular season begins to play out. All of this has been said already.

The Mets are going to sign Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez or Randy Wolf. For the context of their team, it’s a smart decision (even if they overspend). After the Ibanez signing, they are probably going to pick up another LHP to come out of their bullpen. Whatever else they do, it will probably involve finding a utility man like Alex Cora. It’s easy to grade what the Mets have done and what the Mets will probably end up doing. They needed to improve their pitching, and they spent the money to do so. If they can pick up Lowe or Perez, and add a lefty out of the bullpen, they deserve an A+ for their offseason.

However, an A+ on one team cannot be judged to the B- or a C+ of another team. Everything is contextual. The Mets did what they needed to do, and their grade reflects how they addressed THEIR issues. The Phillies had different issues to work out this offseason. Our issues are arbitration and designing a rotation with the pieces we have.

1. Resigning Moyer leaves us where we were last year. I don’t think there is any reason to believe that Jamie will not continue to pitch like he did the past two seasons. Is it a good move compared to signing Derek Lowe? Well, it certainly is not a bad move. We signed a #4 rather than a #2. It’s not that we decided to pass over Derek Lowe, we decided to keep Myers as our #2, and you can’t judge that move until the season develops.

2. Replacing Pat Burrell with Raul Ibanez is a breath of fresh air for an offense that had a hard time finding their rhythm through parts of last year. We’re talking about two very good players here. It’s been so good to see the amount of respect shown to Pat on this blog. However, what Ruben did was bring in one of the two best players from the Seattle lineup. The Mariners already miss him, and that speaks volumes on his credentials. He’s a class act and provides contact for our lineup. I respected how Ruben defended this move, and I know that Phillies fans are going to appreciate Ibanez when they see him play. It’s a good move because it was one of the best options that we had.

3. Why did we trade for Paulino? He is an upgrade, and sometimes small moves mean just as much as big moves. We add potential depth to either our roster or to the minor league squad. We also clearly develop trade bait. It was a one-for-one trade, the Phillies clearly got the advantage. Great move.

4. I like taking a chance on Chan Ho Park. If he doesn’t work out, it’s not going to cost us more than it should. Having a tight competition for the 5th slot in the rotation will really determine how strong our bullpen will be. We have to wait and see what pitchers are going to be used and where. Happ/Kendrick/Park/Carrasco. . . Only one gets the job. We have depth in our starting pitching, and for that reason, it’s not the additions to our pitching that matter, it’s how we use what we have.

The Phillies would be wise to add another arm to the bullpen. They might add another right-handed bat. If these needs are addressed, I think the Phillies might end up with a grade as high as a B+ and as low as a B-

You can’t give an accurate grade yet. ask this question again half way through the season.

I give Amaro a big fat F—-, with the signing of Ibanez he is trying to say to Latin American players, that he will give them a fair shot, but he forgets he is only Latino by name only he was born and raised in Northeast Philadelphia, played American Legion ball, his father has more cred in the Latin American countries because he came from there, and played with rocks and sticks, Junior played with offical Little League equipment, so is the owners are playing to go after more Latino players they should have made Juan Samuel, or Rueben Sr the GM.

You know what… you all have freakin warped expectations every season. You can’t ever grade a team’s offseason without looking at history… and besides last seasons acquisitions (which again you ALL shat on in the beginning of the season) nothing worked out the way it was supposed to. This year was a more miniscale approach. They won the world series, no matter how “good” they really are, they did something right so didn’t tamper with what they already had. The filled some holes adequately and didn’t waste money.

Grade: B (could have been B+ or A- if they could have pulled a bomb ass starter) but what more do you want.

is mathieson actually going to pitch this year? i was under the impression he would continue to be injured and out for quite a while yet. but i would welcome him. i think he has big league stuff. he was really impressive at one time. and i think he could start, or maybe if his injuries have changed him he still would have great stuff for a setup man. if his power arm still has any power left that is.

How about adding TY wigginton.