MLB Playoffs 2009

[Pagan]

You jest ... I'm quite certain they would but with a club option the Phillies have first rights to him.

Never...the Evil Empire will use a Jedi Mind Trick on the Phillies brass and steal him away for a paltry 88 mil a year.

[Ian]

Yeah I could see that happening actually.

[Pagan]

You wouldn't see me compaining.

[PirateLover]

Here are my thoughts on free agents:
Brett Myers (good riddance)
Matt Stairs (We'll always have last year's moon shot and this years moon walk, but have a great time coaching hockey, you're done man)
Scott Eyre (Thanks for the memories, may you and your loose chips have a great life if you choose retirement)
Chan Ho Park (Loved him in the pen, would like to see him back)
Paul Bako (Not married to him. There are some possibility out there for a backup catcher)
Pedro Martinez (It was a fun experiment)
Tyler Walker and Miguel Cairo (See yas!)

Pedro Feliz has a $5.5 million club option. There are some 3rd base replacement candidates out there... His defense is good but he doesn't bring anything to the offense. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes.

Cliff Lee has a $9 million club option that will definitely be exercised.

I see our starting rotation as Lee, Hamels, Happ, Blanton, and the 5th is out there right now. I really don't think they trade Cole. His inability to handle the media is troubling and his attitude is off from the rest of the group but there's no denying this kid has talent. Now that he's not "Cole Hamels World Series MVP" many of the endorsements will be drying up and hopefully he can focus on pitching and come into the season rarin' to go.

I hope Moyer retires. He is out of gas and I'd like him to go out graciously.

[Ian]

Here are my thoughts on free agents:
Brett Myers (good riddance)
Matt Stairs (We'll always have last year's moon shot and this years moon walk, but have a great time coaching hockey, you're done man)
Scott Eyre (Thanks for the memories, may you and your loose chips have a great life if you choose retirement)
Chan Ho Park (Loved him in the pen, would like to see him back)
Paul Bako (Not married to him. There are some possibility out there for a backup catcher)

Agree on basically all of these. You're kinder to Bako than I am. I think he stinks. Not as huge a fan of Chan Ho as you are either. He's just okay, but we need to upgrade there.

Pedro Martinez (It was a fun experiment) Tyler Walker and Miguel Cairo (See yas!)

Agree ... nothing to see here ... move along!

Pedro Feliz has a $5.5 million club option. There are some 3rd base replacement candidates out there... His defense is good but he doesn't bring anything to the offense. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes.

I totally disagree here. Feliz's defense isn't just "good." I think he has gold glove potential and those kind of 3rd baseman are hard to find. I'll take his rock solid D out there any day over another bat. This lineup is not the problem. We had one of the top offenses in the majors this year.

Cliff Lee has a $9 million club option that will definitely be exercised.

Good God, I hope so. In fact, strike that. I'd rather they tear that deal up and ink him to a long term contract.

I see our starting rotation as Lee, Hamels, Happ, Blanton, and the 5th is out there right now.

I'd rather the "out there" be a guy who fits in the 3rd spot rather than the 5th. Not sure that's gonna happen, but ... the way I see it, this team has no excuse for not continuing to spend. They lead major league baseball in percentage of ticket sales vs. capacity (they actually sold over 100% of CPB's capacity this year!). Plus, I think they're dropping some dead weight contracts this off season (like $8m worth of Adam Eaton ), so getting a solid arm in here should not be out of the question.

I hope Moyer retires. He is out of gas and I'd like him to go out graciously.

Oh man ... I agree totally. If he tries to come back next year I'm going to lose a ton of respect for the guy. How about we bring him back as a coach?

[PirateLover]

Chan Ho Park stunk as a starting pitcher but he was pretty reliable for most of the season out of the pen and he is a good personality fit with the team.
Yes you are right, Feliz is an excellent defensive catcher, I should not have simply said "good." As a matter of fact I was a big defender of his throughout the past 2 seasons. I guess my world series wounds are too fresh right now though. I wanted to kill him and Fransisco in particular last night.

[Hammer]

Here are my thoughts on free agents:
Brett Myers (good riddance)

Hey, I used that line already !

Matt Stairs (We'll always have last year's moon shot and this years moon walk, but have a great time coaching hockey, you're done man)

You and Ian are kinder to him than I. Even with his hit in the 2008 NLCS, I wouldn't have resigned him this year. To me, he was little more than good t-shirt slogan.

Scott Eyre (Thanks for the memories, may you and your loose chips have a great life if you choose retirement)

I am 95% sure he will retire, as he did almost last season. Now with the bone chips, he is off to retire to Bradenton.

Paul Bako (Not married to him. There are some possibility out there for a backup catcher)

Please see my previous post. I want to keep him just so Charlie is not forced to do a double switch every time he brings in on a day Ruiz does not start, I think it is a bad use of the bench.

Pedro Feliz has a $5.5 million club option. There are some 3rd base replacement candidates out there... His defense is good but he doesn't bring anything to the offense. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes.

I am waiting to see what other 3rd basemen declare free agency before I make a decision on if the Phillies should keep him.

Cliff Lee has a $9 million club option that will definitely be exercised.

Good God, I hope so. In fact, strike that. I'd rather they tear that deal up and ink him to a long term contract.

All depends on Lee's agent, who fortunately is not Scott Boras .

I see our starting rotation as Lee, Hamels, Happ, Blanton, and the 5th is out there right now. I really don't think they trade Cole. His inability to handle the media is troubling and his attitude is off from the rest of the group but there's no denying this kid has talent. Now that he's not "Cole Hamels World Series MVP" many of the endorsements will be drying up and hopefully he can focus on pitching and come into the season rarin' to go.

I hope you are right, but I have my doubts. I can see him turning into a clubhouse cancer.

I hope Moyer retires. He is out of gas and I'd like him to go out graciously.

Oh man ... I agree totally. If he tries to come back next year I'm going to lose a ton of respect for the guy. How about we bring him back as a coach?

Here's an idea. Moyer relocated his whole clan to Bradenton, FL last off season. Hire him to coach/mentor the pitchers at class A Clearwater (about 1 hour away). What an excellent teacher for young pitchers!

Agree on basically all of these. You're kinder to Bako than I am. I think he stinks.

Please see my reasoning above. Only if you can find a backup catcher who can handle Lidge. Bako was better at that than Coste.

I'd rather the "out there" be a guy who fits in the 3rd spot rather than the 5th. Not sure that's gonna happen, but ... the way I see it, this team has no excuse for not continuing to spend. They lead major league baseball in percentage of ticket sales vs. capacity (they actually sold over 100% of CPB's capacity this year!). Plus, I think they're dropping some dead weight contracts this off season (like $8m worth of Adam Eaton ), so getting a solid arm in here should not be out of the question.

Expect the payroll to be around the same as it was at the end of this year ($120-$125 million). Amaro has said the attendance can't go much higher. So. the only way to get more money is to jack up prices of tickets and concessions, which is a slippery slope as you don't want to raise prices too high in this economy as there will be a backlash.

[Ian]

That's going to be a big problem then. They really only have about $8m to work with after they clear out dead weight salaries because a lot of guys on the team get big raises this year. And that's before they add in Cliff Lee's $9m option!

According to the numbers I found, their payroll for this season (again Lee is not included in these numbers) was around $132m. Next year it will be $124.2m before they do anything.

[Hammer]

I've seen so many different salary figures for the Phillies, from 112 million up to the figure you quoted, which makes it difficult to know what the real number is actually. Let's just say I do not think the total salary for the Phillies is going to go up drastically, as I can't see them going more than $10-15 million above what they are set to pay for next year. I'm just going to wait and see before I start worrying. Amaro has done a great job to this point and I am going to hope he continues at this pace.

[PirateLover]

Well, Myers is already gone!

[Ian]

And they picked up Lee's option.

[JerseyMouse]

Nice way to start the off-season, picking up Lee's option and addition by subtraction with Myers.

Mark De Rosa would be a welcome addition.

I guess they don't hold "We're having a good off-season so far" parades, huh?? I'd be willing to drive the float carrying Myers to Philly International.

[Hammer]

Personally, I would like to drop kick Myers off any of the local bridges. Walt Whitman, Ben Franklin, Betsy Ross; wouldn't matter to me!

They'll work on a contract extension for Lee throughout the year. While I like De Rosa, he does play everyday, just at different positions. I can't see us giving him enough playing time. I'm going to wait and see who signs for free agency before I make a wish list.

Also, we might want to start another thread to discuss off-season baseball moves for all teams...

[Ian]

Also, we might want to start another thread to discuss off-season baseball moves for all teams...

It's probably too soon for anyone but Phillies fans to care, but I agree ... in the near future we'll have to shut this down and start a hot stove thread.

For the last three days I've been listening to morons call in to sports talk radio and suggest that the Phillies go after Halladay again.

I swear ... people need to get real. Do they honestly think this team is going to go out and deal for Roy Halladay after they got Lee?? Please ... why don't we just gut our entire farm system! Not to mention what it would do for our payroll.

Best rumors I've heard so far are that the Phillies might be willing to take the payroll north of the $150m mark. Not sure how true that is, but that's the most common number being tossed around.

[sportsguy2315]

I swear ... people need to get real. Do they honestly think this team is going to go out and deal for Roy Halladay after they got Lee?? Please ... why don't we just gut our entire farm system! Not to mention what it would do for our payroll.

The argument isn't whether Halladay is good (He is a beast), it's more of who would take him and at what price. I totally agree with you Ian, Philly doesn't need or could afford to get Roy Halliday at this point. In fact, I'm grateful he's in Toronto so he isn't subject to a Yankees/Red Sox bidding war in terms of deals (Despite the fact that the Red Sox were in Roy talks for a portion of the season, I don't think the Jays would trade their best player for Ellsbury and prospects, much less to a division rival). My favorite on who gets Roy, I'd say the Dodgers. Sure, Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw may be a little much for the Dodgers to swallow now, but to add a veteran and experienced arm to that Dodger rotation will do wonders for them.

[Scar]

It's probably too soon for anyone but Phillies fans to care, but I agree ... in the near future we'll have to shut this down and start a hot stove thread.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your meaning, but, are saying that only Philly fans are talking about improving their team at this point in time?

[Ian]

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your meaning, but, are saying that only Philly fans are talking about improving their team at this point in time?

Yeah well I mean the Mets' season ended some time back in July so I kinda figured you guys were over baseball by now.