Multi-year contracts should be a priority for at least the two most
mportant players.. Hamels and Howard. The longer the front office delay the inevitable, the more expensive the contracts. And please don’t use the lame excuse of Howard not having “gold glove” skills in fielding. I have seen worst fielders than him who have received accolades (for hitting) and were considered all stars. Can anyone recite a game last year where Howard made an error that cost a win for the team? And how many such games were lost due to Howard’s fielding?
Get the picture? Talks of his defensive liability is overblown and I have seen some remarkable defensive gems with his glove. “Baseball fantasy” players will offer statistics on fielding to support their argument but will conviently ignore Howard’s impact as a great run producer and the effect on the opposing pitcher’s mindset and approach to the entire lineup.

Werth will be VERY desireable to teams because of the reasons above… puts together good at-bats, hits for Power, Great defense, above average baserunner.. etc.. If he plays everyday, he’ll get even better against RHP.. and his HR totals get to be 25+, with RBIs climbing around 85+ if he bats 5th..

He’s a $6 M player that we’ve had for $1.7 M… I’d like to see him get $14/ 3 years… if he goes to Free Agency, somebody will pay him more money than the Phillies will.. he’s VERY underrated, lets keep him while we can.

That said, I’m wondering if any of you guys have considered the whole “verducci effect” with respect to Cole. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the theory, but if not, the basic gist is that when dealing with young pitchers you need to treat them as if they’re training for a marathon. You need to build stamina incrementally. The unofficial industry standard is that no young pitcher should throw more than 30 more innings than he did the previous season.

If we take a look at Cole, he’s was at 190 IP for 2007. In 2008 he hit 262 IP – a whopping 72 inning increase. It’s no secret that Hamels has been injury prone in the past. Granted he stayed healthy during the entirety of 2008, but I still think a 72 inning increase on a 24 yr old with a history of injuries should still make you take this sort of decision very seriously.

I think I sort of lost my “point” with this post. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I wouldn’t be surprised if the Phils let him go to arbitration this year. On the other hand, I also wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to lock him up. There’s a lot of pros and cons with each decision and I just don’t think that it’s going to be a completely black or white/yes or no decision.

Victorino, yes. sign him as well. his raw numbers aren’t super, but he brings a lot of fire, leadership, and clutchiness, which is hard to come by. i know that when he leads off the bottom of the ninth with a double and slides in, pumping his fist, 3 hard claps, and starts yelling and pointing towards the dug-out to get the guys rallied, i know i feel it.

Werth I’m not quite sure about going long-term, definately need to see him this year and see if he can remain healthy, and duplicate his numbers. He sure plays great D (which seems to be underrated by a lot of people), and he puts together great AB’s, usually productive AB’s. He’s a great athlete and should be signed, but let’s wait and see how 2009 plays out.

I don’t think we’ll sign Madson (Scott Boras), but who knows? Fuentes was a pretty good closer and he only got what? $6.5M for a couple years, so maybe Madson could be had for the $3-$4M range.

We let Curt Schilling get away not once, but twice. First time I can kind of deal with. But when he left the d-backs and expressed interest in coming back, but ed wade was too much of an asshole, i just can’t take that one. So what did we end up with? Kevin Millwood AND Eric Milton. How’d that work out?

Hamels needs to be locked up. Who was the last great pitcher to come out of our system? Grover Cleveland Alexander? We got very lucky with Carlton and Schilling. Colbert is an ‘over the top’ pitcher. We should do almost whatever it takes to get it done.

Now obviously Howard is amoung the BEST in baseball.. but I can’t see him winning $16 M in arbitration, that would be ridiculous.. The Phillies should offer him like $11 and try to settle with him around $12 M

I though Hamels had 3 years before FA, paper today said after the 2012 season.. It only makes sense to sign Hamels through his arbitration years if you plan on including 2-3 years on top of that deal.. that would make it a 7 year contract for Hamels.. leaving him to become a Free Agent for the first time at age 32.. with the chance that he’s going to add Cy Youngs and No Hitters to his resume .. he would still be in line for a GREAT contract at age 32.

Considering how much it would take to sign Hamels now (at least $70/ 7 years).. you would be overpaying him now to underpay for him later.. with a chance that his arm could be hurting from all those innings this past season…. I say you offer him arbitration each of the next two seasons, but pay him whatever he asks instead of taking him to the hearing… In two years, if you want to sign him to a 5 year deal, you can do it.. you’ll have a better gauge on the rest of your young pitchers, and you’ll see if he can stay healthy again..

Gotta sign Vic… nothing on the farm to replace him.

Howard’s case is a nightmare… terrible fielder, yes. Inconsistent, yes. BUT he’s the best run producer in baseball and has all the accolades to back it up… we screwed ourselves by low-balling him last year. Now the bar has been set pretty high. If he can continue to produce runs like he has (even considering his fielding woes and record breaking strikeout numbers), he’s worth every penny but I don’t think that he will. History is certainly not on his side.

I don’t know. I think we really need to pull the stops on Hamels. He is definately a big-game ace and the more we delay, the more he’ll want to test FA. Think about it from his standpoint. He already has some great numbers, he’s got great post-season hardware, he’s a World Champion. What is he lacking? Maybe a CY and of course, the BIG payday. Wouldnt you be tempted to go out to LA or San Diego for a boat load of money and pitch in those huge ballparks? I know I would. If the guy has a low-3.00 era in CBP, then what would it be in PetCo? Lock up Hamels!!!