Phils Agree to Terms with Backup Infielder

For all those still holding out hope for the Phils landing Benji Molina, I have bad news for you.  Last night, Molina and the Blue Jays agreed to a 1-year deal worth $5 million.  This does mean though that he will again be available next off-season for the Phils to sign (or not) just as Lieberthal’s contract expires.

Instead, the Phils landed another backup infielder, Alex S. Gonzalez – details on the agreement should come soon with an official announcement expected later this week.  In this case, the S stands for superfluous.  With Abraham Nunez, Matt Kata, Danny Sandoval and jokester Tomas Perez, the backup infield position is already fairly deep.  Most likely Perez will be the one to go, which may have an effect on clubhouse morale since he’s been with the team for the past six season.  I have to say, I’m not exactly sure what Gillick’s thinking here.  After signing Nunez, claiming Kata will make major contributions to the team, having Perez on a relatively cheap contract AND talking all off-seaon about the need to improve pitching, he goes and signs another infielder.  All I can say is that Gonzalez will have to fight with Ryan Franklin for the top spot on the "In Gillick We Trust" watchlist.

Finally check out today’s article on The Hardball Times which attempts to calculate the value of a player in terms of how much money he generates for his organization.  The primary example used is Jimmy Rollins and the Phillies.  Although the methodology rests heavily on the entire team’s performance in evaluating a single player’s value (which is a bit too dependant for my tastes), it’s certainly worth a read.