Odds And Ends: Offseason Begins
The season never stops, kids:
- The Phillies are now said to be interested in Japanese 22-year-old hurler Junichi Tazawa.
Negotiations won’t begin until about Nov. 24, but right now the Phils are among seven teams rumored to be involved. For those wondering, Tazawa is more like a first-round pick than a surefire opening day starter. He’d have to move through the farm system — albeit quickly — as he has no professional experience. The Phils dabbled in the Japanese trade last year, offering a low-ball figure to Hiroki Kuroda, who went to the Dodgers.
- In other pitching news, Jamie Moyer wants to return to the world champions.
One – saying that last part will not get old in 2009. Two — Moyer is welcome back on the hometown discount, and I’d pencil him in as No. 4 starter, but he could be keeping that seat warm. Last season he recorded a 3.71 ERA.
- In case you were wondering, only Pat Burrell had a World Series MVP bonus in his contract. It was worth $100,000.
- The Phillies will receive a World Series bonus, to be divided among players and people within the club.
Last season the Red Sox received a full $18.89 million, then divided it among 72 people (47 full shares, 14 partial shares, 11 cash awards). Those people can be anyone from groundscrew members to announcers. The team votes on who receives what.
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A few blog notes:
- Tomorrow begins a daily feature I’ll be doing called “The Nation Minute.”
It’s a video where I’ll recap goings on with the Phillies, to be posted first thing in the morning. Consider it a quick way to find out the news. And a way to wake yourself up by looking at my mug.
- Also tomorrow, I’ll be looking into the offseason and looking back at the great year that was.
Plenty of things to talk about now, and not a lot of time until the Winter Meetings and other acquistions go down. So stay tuned and keep checking back with us.
