Phillies Nation

Does anyone remember what Polanco looked like without a hat on? The top half of his head was so huge that he looked like a goldfish lol…But one thing is for sure! He could play some ball

Forever looking to add depth on their O-line, the Eagles have agreed to terms with former Kanas head coach Mark Mangino!

im with ya jesus…truly feel like beltre was a great opportunity that we missed out on. boras must be working on a 4yr 40mil deal with someone.

It seems like Amaro was looking for a 3rd baseman who could play multiple positions because they supposedly asked Cabrera if hed be willing to play 3rd and he passed.

Unless a premier closer, it is a total waste to spend a lot of $$ on a bullpen. Ryan freaking Franklin was one of the top closers last year! The Mets had “the” bullpen last year, and were going to win the division. How did that work out? Go for volume, see who pans out. With the exception of the elite (Mariano, Papelbon) all these guys are hit or miss, sometimes in the same season. The best bullpen is one that doesn’t pitch much. Get a #3 starter who can pitch 7 innings. Then Madson, Durbin, and a few lefties (hopefully Romero is healthy and Eyre is willing to come back for another year) will get to Lidge. Then we roll the dice.
I think Amaro has done well so far. Any player who is unwilling to shift positions to play on the NL champs is more interested in personal stats than wins. Ruben is getting gamers. Polanco seems like one of those guys who just wants to play, would probably do anything but pitch or catch if you asked him. Atl overpaid for Wagner – bet he doesn’t make it through the season, torches the team along the way.

Although they need a backup plan for Lidge this time. They had no plan at all last year when that went down.

The had a definite plan … the extension given to Ryan Madson, who in the 2008 playoffs looked unhittable at time..

and was being called the best setup man in baseball .. after last season ALL of us were positive that he was going to become a Free Agent and try to be closer after THIS season..

Turns out that Madson can’t close, but who would’ve known that?

As great as it would be to have “that guy in Toronto” (im just sick of mentioning his name) our starting 5 for now is solid for the regular season. I like the top 4 and we got depth to add our #5. My guess would be July is where we’re gonna address the need for a starter.

RAJ will plug a couple guys into the bullpen to help out Madson, Lidge and co.

Things are good, 3B was addressed, the bench is close and now we turn to the bullpen.

I hate it when they wait all that time to fix a hole in the rotation though. There are decent cheap guys available now, besides, you always always need more than one more starter during hte course of the season anyway through injury or ineffectiveness.

Whats so bad about taking a 4 or 5 million dollar + incentives flier on a guy like Kelvim Escobar, and give him a vesting club option for innings pitched?

The same could be said for Duscherer. Id prefer Marquis or Piniero, but thise guys will be too costly unless they take pay cuts to come here.

Plus, those St Louis Starters scare me once they leave the instruction of Dave Duncan behind. They seem to tank out.

Maybe NEWERA will carry Phillies caps in my size – 8 1/4 – now that the Phillies have a player who wears at least that size! LOL – all kidding aside, great pickup by the Phils – Palanco is a true professional.

Kyle Kendrick sucks

It would be a very significant mistake to let Drabek pitch in the majors that early. You have to let him dominate at AAA for at least half the season. This is the best pitching prospect since Hamels around here, they have to do it right. Hes still very young. Oh, and that NEVER happens. Even if they know hes ready they still give him until May or June to bring him up.

Carpenter got his around by the Nationals…enough said. Bastardo is a reliver.

They really dont have anyone down there at AAA who is ready. Drabek may be, but thats too risky right now.

The main reason they lost the World Series is that they got outpitched. I think that taking a chance on a cheap risky 5th starter type who used to be more than that isnt such a bad idea.

I agree with a lot of the above comments..

Kyle Kendrick sucks .. he is not a legit option for a team with World Series hopes

Kyle Drabek.. needs to develop, maybe he pitches himself onto the roster by July (but that would be a GOOD PROBLEM .. not something we should plan or hope for)

Carpenter… will most likely bounce around between AAA and MLB, bounce from Starter to Reliever … I don’t expect anything form him in a Phillies career

Bastardo.. has only two pitches that he can really throw.. he’s JC ROMERO in a year or two

…
With their bench pretty much settled, and their 3b search done … they know have a lot of money to go get some arms.

I definitely see them getting someone with “Closer” potential… and someone with “Starter” potential … but the Starter won’t be a big name, because they don’t need a big name, and it would be a pure waste of money to overspend on a #5 … especially with Drabek on his way

Kendrick might “suck,” but he’s been on three division winners so far. It’s nice to dream of having a Halladay or Sabathia as your number five, but reality says you get what you can afford. The 5th starter is a depth position; Kendrick is depth in spite of probably limited skills. I refuse to trash a young man with major league experience who has been trying to improve while also undergoing the extreme pressure of a pennant race.

It’s a stretch to say that Kyle Kendrick had ANYTHING to do with us winning in 2008 or 2009

He had a nice year in 2007..

george i finally agree with something you said on here.–” I refuse to trash a young man with major league experience who has been trying to improve .” kendrick is going to be a viable 4-5th starter in the rotation. his sinker is great for eating up innings without giving up the longball. he just needs to work on some other pitches because when his sinker flattens out it just gets crushed. its unfair to say he ‘sucks’ given his limited amount of major league experience so far. he hasnt even really been given a chance yet.

and i generally agree with the consensus on here about a 5th starter. i am hoping that the money they saved by signing polanco could maybe be used to bring in a FA starter from the long list available. i like the names mentioned previously–duschcherer (even though he is young enough to command a multiyear deal possibly out of price range), definitely sinker-baller piniero, and kelvim escobar i like those options. an incentive-laden contract is definitely the way to go. i might stand alone but i think pavano could work out back in the nl if his price isnt too high. geoff–you described my sentiments exactly as you question moyer’s health, happ’s sophomore year and cole’s bounceback season…way too many variables out there i think we need to bring in another 5th guy starter…

bfo 33 i completely agree with your analysis of the bullpen. you never know what your going to get–see putz, j.j or lidge, brad. as you mentioned, often times unforseen guys give the bullpen its strength (ryan franklin, heath bell). i really dont want to see the phils spend alot of money here because more times than not it seems like overpayed, overestimated bullpen guys perform at average/below average levels. brandon lyon might come with a decent pricetag as he is one of the top young relievers on the market. i just hope ruben doesnt overspend in this area

DeRosa wants 3/27.. HUGE LOL

i hope beltre gets overpayed. i hope sanfran signs him to like 4/40 so i wont feel quite so bad about missin out on him. lets just hope that the money saved by signing polanco will be put to good use.

I had a feeling Beltre and DeRosa were going to get more than alot of you guys were saying, didn’t they, especially Beltre, make a heap of $$$ last year? Why would you think they’d take a HUGE cut, just on the chance they might get signed by the Phillies? The Polanco deal is fine, I wrote a lengthy comment yesterday which is, for some reason, awaiting moderation (no swear words or disrespect), and I don’t feel like repeating it, but I’m fine with his return.

I agree with Geoff, you can’t rush Drabek up, August or Sept at the earliest, I think.

Figgins is getting 4 for 36 or so from Seattle….very interesting. He WAS being overvalued. BUT, he is still NOT worth 4 for 36, Im sorry. He doesnt bring enough to the table for THIS team to warrant 9M a year. Ill still take Polanco for 6.

I think people are really under valuing Beltre as a player. I keep reading things like injury prone/risk, only one good year, strikes out too much, and things along those lines. All of these things are all easily debatable, but the one thing that is not debatable is Beltre is one of the best fielders in the game and would save countless runs with his glove. Right now Polanco is not a given to play great defense. To make it simple, will Polanco generate more runs with his bat and save more runs with his glove than Beltre would have? To me that’s a no.

Georgie.

My point was that just because he was making $12.5 M last year doesn’t mean that he is entitled to, or will get another big contract this year.. .

He can ASK for one.. but when all is said and done.. I think Beltre probably only gets 3-4 years, $8 Million per year

And he would be greatly overpaid even at that rate..

Um, he could come into ST and blow the doors off people and HE WOULD STILL BE SENT BACK DOWN. EVERY SINGLE mlb team does that with its elite prospects. If youre ready and they know it, they send you down for 2 months at least just to be sure…and so they can keep you until team for control for more years. Everyoen in baseball knows that. They all do it. See Matt Wieters last year with Baltimore.

Theyd keep him down until May or June at the latest. Still, hes 21. Dont rush it. You dont want him to turn into Carrasco if he has a few bad outings..

Spring Training doesn’t mean anything… pitchers are working on different pitches, sometimes going entire starts throwing nothing but fastballs.. to stretch their arms out

Hitters are working on tips, maybe trying different batting stances, trying to get comfortable seeing breaking balls again, etc.

So unless everyone else gets injured.. Kyle Drabek has a 0% chance of starting the season in the Major Leagues

I don’t want to see Drabek getting “welcomed to the majors, kid” in freezing cold Citizens Bank Park in April… my guess is they keep him in Florida an extra two weeks.. then send him to AAA, and whenever he’s ready, he’s ready.

3 years for 27 mil for Figgins (which is reportedly what the Mariners may sign him for) is a much better value than 3 years 18 for an older, declining 2B who is worse than Figgins offensively and defensively (not to mention speed).

Amaro got impatient and signed Polanco too early.