Notes From the Winter Meetings: Tuesday
Quite the frenetic day in Orlando, but without much to report really.
Off the table comes one of the better right handed bats on the market in Matt Diaz, who inked a two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Phillies were never really in on him – there were no reports or official tweets linking the two sides – but speculation was that the Phillies would be a good fit.
Still on the table (although if he was actually on a table, it would certainly collapse) is Dennys Reyes. Rumors were abound that the large lefty – formerly of the Cardinals, Twins, Padres, Royals, 76ers, and Chiba Lotte Marines – was close to joining the Phillies bullpen. It has not happened as of yet, but sources close to the action say it’s within reach.
The issue with Reyes is that he’s a lefty who can’t get out lefties. They hit .307 against him last year and you don’t need me to tell you that isn’t very good. During his career which has spanned 10 different cities, Reyes has actually been serviceable against left-handed batters sporting a .238 opponent average. Not excellent, but not terrible and that’s what’s keeping him in the league.
Some other names that surfaced today were Pedro Feliciano and George Sherrill. As for the latter, he had a horrendous season in 2010. Horrendous isn’t really even the adjective to describe Sherrill’s year in L.A. His 6.69 ERA and 1.92 WHIP tell the story. Against left handed hitting he was actually quite good – they managed just a .196 average off of Sherrill. The problem was those damn righties. They hit a lofty .427 off him.
The moral of today’s story: tread lightly with the lefties. They’re either too expensive or coming off a bad year, there doesn’t seem to be an in-between.
More tomorrow, we’re sure.
