Phillies Nation

Quick story about Jay Payton: After my college formal in June of ’01, we went to an afterparty at some bar in the city. Who shows up and starts hitting on my friend’s date? Jay Payton. The thing was, the Mets had a day game the next day. As Payton was taking the girl home, someone asked “hey Jay, don’t you have a game tomorrow?” and he said “man, I’m on the DL, I ain’t gotta do shit!”.

I will forever remember Jay Payton.

I hope bench roles are what they need, but you know professional athletes. It may be fine in April and May, but I’d be surprised if they weren’t asking for more time during the summer when they are tired of sitting on the bench.
And Geoff I know wigginton is not really an option, but I don’t think we’d be dumb to wait this out a bit longer. The market is dead right now and there may be a few players that could become available if they become more desperate for work.

Isn’t Wigginton a “very good” defensive infielder??

Once Stairs leaves, Jenkins isn’t clogging up anything.. he’s a verteran LH- OF… and a better 4th OF than most other teams have. Sucks that we pay him so much money this season, but sometimes you overpay players, and sometimes you underpay by a lot like with Werth and Victorino… so if you look at the OF as a group, they aren’t overpaid at all, and we have a great group of 5 players out there

Defensively Jenkins is pretty good, and I didn’t see Bruntlett NOT make any plays out there.. though he didn’t always take the best angle to the ball…

so what we really need to add to the team is a a RH bat.. who can play spots in the InField, if needed, and is better than Dobbs defensively… I think Aurilia and Nomar suit that role well.. Millar and Grudz would only be decent options if all else fails

Damn… I knew that Wigginton and Defense were often mentioned together… turns out its because he’s terrible..

my bad.. yo’s

I think they are going to look to unload Stairs ($1 M), and SOMEBODY has to be willing to take Eaton for $1 M…. teams get desperate, and $1 M for a guy to just eat innings, who can randomly be pretty good, but is usually horrible isn’t a bad deal..

so that unloads $2 M right there, so if you sign a player in the $2-3-4 M range, its not that bad and doesn’t add that much to the payroll…

Emil Brown is a corner-OF from the A’s… bats R, hits .270 for his career against LHP.. did he sign with anyone yet?

Amanda,as for leaking on someones hand as disgusting as it may sound.I learned from survivor some years back when a contestant burnt his hands on a campfire that it helps burns on your body.Now back to baseball…for those players esp Alou and Nose-mah making close to 10 million and looking for them to take a paycut of epic proportions unless they have the basic love for the game that is never happening.Thats like lets use a CEO from a Fortune 500 company for example and telling him you can do the same job at what a McDonalds worker makes as compared of what millions they make now.

Freddy Garcia :

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Freddy_García.jpg/250px-Freddy_García.jpg

WWF’s Giant Gonzalez:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ov1vR6RVtkQ/SKyQn0K7giI/AAAAAAAAAS4/eDNL6da0Hpc/s400/Giant+Gonzalez.jpg

…I’m just saying…

Yeah its looking like they want donald in AAA for an entire season, and thats the safe thing to do. same with lou marson and slightly carrasco (for most of the season).

giles will be on the AAA squad and so will pablo ozuna, so dont get all amped up about them even making the big league roster unless someone gets hurt.

wait until like mid march, someone will break and take eaton off our hands for 1M…someone like the pirates or the rockies ill bet. stairs will be DFA and traded for next to nothing aside from his 1M salary saved.

as far as pitching, they said they will add another relief pitcher and kcik the tires on some starting ptiching bargains but other than that they are quiet on the pitching front.

still want to see how the howard situation turns out…the more and more it sinks in that we are in an inetnational economic DEPRESSION the worse howard looks by the day. You look around and see people aroiund you getting laid off and the economy absolutely melting down and this guy is complaining over a difference of 4M and demanding insane contract parameters…the more i see that the more i say you know what? even if it hurts our team i really dont care…send this guy somewhere where hell get paid so he can shut up and take the best offer in return you can get and be done with him. i really, legititmately DESPISE that guy for his behavior…we are in a depression, people are starving and unemployment has skyrocketed and THIS JACKASS is trying to haggle a few extra million ouit of his team when hes ALREADY guaranteed a huge raise from last year!!!

un-friggin-believable!

I say let’s not sign any of these expensive “has beens” and just use one of our own on the cheap that can play many positions and is a RH bat. His name is Chris Coste.

I do..

well, he was actually 3yr/$24 million, but he’s still the man!

Geoff I have a hard time with the Howard/money thing too..But Its really the system that pisses me off .I like Howard ,I like watching him play.Sure he boots plenty of plays at first and strikes out a ton.But who gives you that great feeling better than him when he launches one over the wall in center?
We havent had a player like him in a while.But he’s just playing the money game.He’s going to go for as much as he can because he can.

What gets me is that the Phils are not on the top of the money teams,so we cant afford the Howards after a while,and they go to the Yanks/Red sox.

On the other hand we have a great team for now.How would you like to be a Pirates fan?

I used to live in Pittsburgh for grad/undergrad: they are all excited about signing craig monroe to a minor league contract…thats how bad things are there.

I rarely hear or see howard involved in anything int eh community…meanwhile jamie moyer makes trips to central america to oversee the distribution of food aid and baseball equipment to children who are lucky enough to eat..

manny..i would add not only you give pujols quality but you be as big of a positive force in the community as pujols is too. that guy is a HUGE superstar yet is ALWAYS doing charity functions

Geoff.. I’m not sure if you know this.. but MOST players, and professional athletes, give LOTS of money and time to charities.. but they don’t do it with news cameras and reporters in their faces.

Howard has driven in more runs and hit more HRs than Pujols, and taken his team to the playoffs the past two years.. is that what we would consider “Pujols quality” ???

he does not deserve that money…noone really does

I agree that nobody should make that much money… but since people do, people that are worse than him at that job, he’s got every right to ask for it.

In past week you’d had enough of Howard because:

You didn’t think the left a tip for a bartender in a story that turned out to be un-true.

and now because you don’t think he gives enough back to the community.. when really, you have no idea what he doesn or doesn’t do off the field.

you are a piece of work.

It doesnt matter if its untrue…thats not even relevant at all. THe guy is showing what a greedy piece of sh*t he is by his behavior with this contract situation..I happen to not want to support people like that. Basicall contracts are completely outrageous as it is…Ferddy Garcia could make 8-9mil? are you kidding me? i mean really? thats out of line. ryan howard wants A-rod money? thats a friggin joke. its a joke that A-rod gets A-rod money.

the level of rampant greed is outrageous. someplayers just take it because its thrown at them in the market conditions of that particular time but some are just flat out greedy bastards who refuse to accept the already outrageous amount of money thrown at them.

as if last years effrontery wasnt bad enough (wanting 10m over 7m) this year is worse..i mean refusing a raise to 14m!

this is way beyond being able to cut the guy a break, this is flat out ridiculous, outrageoud, disgraceful, you name it. this guy has lost me. ill support the rest of the team but this guy is a total scumbag piece of trash and he can get the hell out of my city and off of my team, and I hope ruben amaro comes to that conclusion before the season starts because i dont even want to see him in a phillies uniform REGARDLESS of the fact that it could and would make the team worse int he short-term.

a big part of being a fan is being able to respect the players you watch and marval at, and that was one of the big factors in my support of this team. hem being a hometown team isnt nearly enough to automatically make me overlook those things. i respect most of the players on this team and i am ok with them representing our community, but i dont respect ryan howard anymore because of these types of things and i really dont even want to see him in Red pinstrikes anymore. thats why id rather them beef up the pitching staff to compensate until they can find another guy to produce runs.

baseball executives, however, look at the business side of things more. the day they dont think hes worth that investment is the day they try to trade him. now, seeing as how this will be the second time theyve gone to arbitration, they clearly dont think hes worth that type of money and i agree with them.

if howard somehow wins this case, ill bet they move him before the season starts. they wont pay him 18m, theres no chance in hell that that will go down. its either they win their arb case or he gets traded likea week later.

you seriously should stay on whatever medication you were on for the past 2-3 months, because you seemed like a normal, intelligent human being..

These rants are often too much to handle, nobody cares that YOU want certain players gone, because if anyone ever listened to you we wouldn’t have had Rollins, Howard, Madson, Myers, etc.. I know I’ve said that a lot in the past few weeks but that is because you’ve started once again with your ridiculous comments..

I have no problem with most of the team and most of their decisions…except the decision to keep howard.

also, those types of medications do more harm than good, seratonin reuptake inhibitors basically act as hallicinogens and turn people into either passive zombie slaves or violent manicas….so i think its a safer idea to just not take any medication at all for any reason.

Geoff, are you a Scientologist or something? About halfway through this post, I said to myself, “Geoff must be off his meds, he’s back to his old form”, then Don said the same thing. Those types of meds (antidepressants, etc.) help alot of people who could not live normal lives without them, you sound like Tom Cruise, for heaven sake. I mean, really, this hatred you have for Ryan Howard is irrational, imo.

Don, you said: “Howard has driven in more runs and hit more HRs than Pujols, and taken his team to the playoffs the past two years.. is that what we would consider “Pujols quality” ???”

Cmon… are you kidding me! Pujols is, overall, a better baseball player.

Obviously I know that Albert Pujols is a better player (maybe the best in baseball).. but over the past two years

Howard has 95 HRs /to Pujols’ 69 … difference of 13 per year.
Howard has 282 RBIs /to Pujols’ 219… almost 32 per year.

Howard hits about .260, and Pujols .340 ….. but aside from pulling his average up, what can Howard do to make fans happy?

This guy just carried us into the postseason, which allowed us to win a World Series, and people digging and digging for reasons not to like him.. he has better power numbers than anyone in baseball (which includes Albert Pujols), and his own “fans” are mad about him ASKING to be paid like one of the best players in baseball.

that is the thing though… he has a say… and a 50% chance to get what he wants.. if its unreasaonable, then he’ll lose and get $14 M..

I understand people being shocked at what he asked for, and thinking that nobody in the world should get paid that much money… lets pay Dr.s’, Teachers, Police, Fire, etc … lets pay them more… nobody, athlete, actor, musician, whatever, nobody needs that much money..

But if they are paying it, and he feels that if people are being paid that much, then he should be one of them… why is there is outrage against him.. im seriously starting to think its a racial thing

racial? thats such a cop out. are you one of those people that when someone says they dont liek obama you say “well you must be a racist” ?

hes out of line with this, but thats NOTHING compared to mark texeiras situation. thats probably the worst thing ive ever seen in any sport in terms of flat out satanic greed….