Archive for November, 2009
Mike Lowell available for $6 million
Posted by Dickie Assburn in Ballplayer Lifestyle, Free Agency on November 23rd, 2009
Maybe he could introduce Happ to some women?
FOXSports.com reported that the Red Sox would be willing to eat $6 million of the $12 million left on Mike Lowell’s deal in the event of a trade.
This is good news for the Phillies, as it gives them another good option at third. As long as it wouldn’t take much to get him, I’d be happy going in this direction.
Of course, Mike Lowell still has his no-trade clause… but who wouldn’t want to come to a team that’s reached the biggest stage of them all two years in a row?
A faggot – that’s who.
Fuck the Phillies!!!... and if you're a man, fuck us too!!!
… ANNNYWAY, Lowell is good for a batting average anywhere from .280-.300 in my opinion. However, he has missed about 80 games over the past 2 years combined, which might be cause for concern. He knocks about 20 out of the park per year, which may or may not improve when/if coming to our ballpark. But who knows? This is just another option for the Phillies.
Running down Assburn Alley, tail tucked, ready to pee the bed.
Posted by Dickie Assburn in Free Agency, General Thoughts on November 15th, 2009
Me as a dog... with a filthy ass tramp-stamp
OK – look: I’m not saying that I’m giving up on our chase for a new third-baseman, but as my ill-will for Pedro Feliz weakens, my support for the free agent crop at the position weakens as well.
Pedro Feliz isn’t too bad of a third-baseman. He plays third great defensively, and he provided 82 RBIs last year. Sure – he fucking sucks compared to the rest of our lineup, but he IS the guy that bats in the 7th hole. I have no idea where to find these stats, but if I could, I’m willing to bet that few/no other teams had a guy in the 7th spot batting in 82 guys last season.
Here’s my deal: Beltre had a terrible year power-wise and that’s what people expect out of his bat. His batting average has been equal to Pedro’s, and he’s coming off of an injury. DeRosa really is probably more suited for a bench role – he’s 35 and coming off of wrist surgery. Polanco (again) hasn’t played much 3rd base.
Here’s my problem: why must we be teased with the idea of bringing in Chone Figgins? It isn’t HAPPENING. As much as I wish it would, it can’t. Facts are that he’s an awesome third basemen and Ruben is penny pinching, so we’re not going to sign him.
The reason why Ruben isn’t making the payroll go a ton over what it was last year, in my opinion, is because in order to keep this team together going forward, we’re going to need to save up. If we’re going to keep Ryan Howard, Cliff Lee, Jayson Werth, Cole Hamels (if he turns in a ‘hey guyz jk in 09′ act next season), Shane Victorino, etc., we’re going to need to save money. Right there, you easily have at least 5 guys who could get at least 10+ million a year, long-term deals in almost any market climate. This HAS to be why Ruben’s exhibiting such prudent spending. If this isn’t why, I move on to my second theory…
Hes a greedy Jewish bastard.
Amaro Has A New Negoiation Technique
Posted by Bay Slugga in Free Agency, General Thoughts, Media and Press on November 12th, 2009
First you cup the balls, then you stroke the shaft
I’m all about signing Adrian Beltre. Chone Figgens would be a nice fit, but he isn’t worth the 10 million he is going to receive on the open market. Beltre is a definite upgrade over Feliz, and he may only cost about 6 million.
Cup the Balls – Stroke the Shaft – Swallow the Gravy – Introduce Adrian Beltre
Baseball’s stupid free agent system
Posted by Dickie Assburn in Free Agency, Miscellaneous Rants on November 11th, 2009
http://i.usatoday.net/sports/baseball/Elias-rankings.pdf
The above displays a list stemming from a system that is absurdly still running in Major League Baseball today. Seriously – what’s up with the type A/type B/untyped free agent classifications?
First off: the idea is so fucking stupid and subjective. I have no idea how it works, and neither does anyone else. If you honestly think that this is a good idea, you need to go get your brain checked. It’s very possible that you should be put down DC-sniper style.
Explain some of these to me, if you would…
Why is Jim Thome neither type A or B? He drove in an average of 90-something runs over the past 4 years, and whenever he plays the majority of the season, he’s usually good for 35+ home runs. I know I implied that he was a faggot during the playoffs, but I really don’t have an issue with the guy (I thought it’d piss some people off… and it did.)
Garret Anderson played more games than Thome last year, and over the past few years, averaged about 10 less RBIs per year. He is a type B free agent.
Jermaine Dye averaged 85 RBIs over the past few years and is a type A free agent.
These guys are either corner-outfield/1st-basemen, aka the top 2-3 positions where you stick guys that can’t play the field. They all have similar batting averages, and they’re all old. None of them steal bases.
Why is Jermaine Dye a type A free agent (which requires a team to surrender a first round pick)? If we’re to accept that he’s type A, then why are the others in a completely lesser category with similar/better bats attached to their services?
It seriously makes no sense. The AL-only DH rule and the Elias rankings make baseball seem like a joke.
———————————-
And now for something that will make you love Scott Eyre even more:
Eyre, on the other hand, didn’t know what to make of next season. He choked back tears during the length of his interview, saying that he did all he could to take in everything in what could be not only his last World Series but his last time on the mound.
“It’s tough,” he said. “I thought I was done after my first two outs. I was kind of looking up at my family in the stands, trying to find them, and [pitching coach Rich] Dubee said, ‘You’re going back out.’ I was glad I got to go back out. I took it all in. I made sure I said something to each of my infielders and Charlie [Manuiel].
“It’s tough. It’s an emotional thing, being up in the air right now. My kids are ready for me to be home, so it’s hard to stand here and not let the water works go right now.”
Eyre said that even though his kids are ready for him to be a full-time dad instead of a full-time reliever, it will be hard to leave, because of his teammates. He turned in a gutty performance in the postseason, pitching with lose bone chips in his pitching elbow.
“This is such a fun group of guys,” he said. “That’s the hardest part. If I was around a group of jerks, I’d just go home.”
Eyre said that he started to get emotional when he saw Mariano Rivera on the mound in the ninth inning, knowing that the end could be near. He said that he would “see what happens” this offseason, weighing his options with his family.
“I guess it’s up to Ruben,” Eyre said of general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. “We’ll see if they still want me around. I can promise you I won’t play anywhere else. I’ll either wear a ‘P’ on my head or nowhere else.” – philly.com
STAY
Dickie Assburn – 3B – Philadelphia Phillies
Posted by Dickie Assburn in Coaching, Free Agency, injuries on November 9th, 2009
Got a better idea? Let us know.
Well, I’m sure everyone that still cares about the Phillies realizes that Ruben Amaro Jr. declined the team option on our (possibly former) starting third-basemen, Pedro Feliz. The option saves the team $5 million (option was worth $5.5 million with a $500,000 buyout clause.)
I should point out that Amaro did not rule out bringing Pedro back even after declining the option, but this is a good sign, as it shows that Ruben is not open to overpaying a very average third basemen just because the market for the position isn’t overflowing in talent.
At the very least, even if we wind up getting Feliz back, it saves us money that can be used to aid our bench/bullpen. If we save 2 million dollars, maybe we could use that money to sign a MLB-level talent to spell our infielders when they’re tired (Eric Bruntlett, this means you suck, btw.)
The major guys out there are all pretty old. Mark DeRosa, Chone Figgins, and Adrien Beltre are all in their 30s. All three have had their problems with injuries as well. But what else are we to do? These three are better than guys like Troy Glaus, who has also been heard in the grumblings of who might replace Pedro (clearly by people who don’t know what they are talking about (I don’t want an overly inconsistent power hitter that played 12 games last year, thanks.)
Quick question:
1. Was Brad Lidge pitching hurt all season? He recently had surgery to remove “loose bodies” in his pitching arm. If this is true, as Rob Neyer of ESPN stated, ’someone needs to be fired.’
The Phillies have some spending decisions to make
Posted by Dickie Assburn in Coaching, Free Agency, General Thoughts, Mic'd Up, Phillies Rants on November 7th, 2009
Charlie: "I need the same exact players playing the same exact roles as they did last year, even if they are ineffective... Patrick, get back over here and start re-collecting your 14 million dollar yearly paychecks again, we need YOUU AHHHHMFKMAfsdff!!!!"
A lot of you have been talking about the Phillies’ current financial state in light of free agency/the offseason. Already we have seen Cliff Lee’s thrift-store-esque $9 million team option exercised. We have also seen, as stated in the last post, Brett Myers leave without a contract offer.
Amaro has stated that his payroll will be around 130-140 million dollars. We will likely see ourselves locked up for around $125-130 million before we sign any free agents/trade for someone. (Side note: we are paying those pieces of shit known as Geoff Jenkins and Adam Eaton a combined $2 million dollars this year… ugh)
Article of the Future: Charlie Manuel pleas with Ruben Amaro Jr. to bring back Adam Eaton in the interest of loyalty... HE PLAYED HERE IN 2008, WE NEED HIM!
A couple of things I’d like to point out/talk about (in no real order):
1. If Brad Lidge is fucking up, we need to deal for a new closer. I can’t do last season all over again. If he’s going to play like shit, we have to deal for a closer. Period. Fuck ‘loyalty,’ Charlie. I don’t want to hear it. There is no way IN HELL we can settle for 2009 Brad Lidge in 2010. For a team that wants to compete, that is retarded. I don’t think we can afford to sign a closer right now (we have Lidge signed to a big contract and you know they’re going to try their luck with him again because of it), but like I said, if he sucks again… we NEED to get someone to do that job during the season.
2. Victorino, Blanton, Ruiz, and Durbin will all likely see pay raises. Do I really think Durbin deserves a raise through arbitration after the shitty season he had? No, I don’t. Chooch was Senor Octubre, but over the course of the season, he wasn’t anything spectacular (not that I mind, just saying.) Blanton had a good year, and Shane deserves a raise — ‘no questions asked.’
"Son, I promise I'll be able to afford pants for you to wear once I get this raise..."
3. It would be a good idea to re-sign Scott Eyre and Chan Ho Park. Eyre is a great clubhouse guy that can get the job done out of the bullpen, and Chan Ho was great for us when he settled into his relief role. As long as they’re willing to come back at a reasonable asking price, I’m down.
4. We need a fucking bench – seriously. The problem is that the free agent pool seems to be full of players that are past their prime and will want to start, and guys who will want more than they’re worth (which is partly going to be due to a weak free agent crop.)
5. Regarding Pedro Feliz, Ruben Amaro Jr. said:
“He had a solid year for us,” Amaro said. “I like the man personally. He’s a great person, a great teammate, but I also believe in trying to improve and change can be for the better. It doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to, but it’s something that we’ll look into.”
For the most part, I agree with this. While I don’t like Pedro Feliz, there aren’t many options available at third base. Kudos to Ruben for telling it like it is.
———————————————
This offseason:
Given the pay raises that we will likely see out of the guys we will actually keep, we’ll probably have $20 million to spend at the most. With that, we need to revamp our bench and fix our bullpen. Starting pitching is the next biggest concern, and then, lastly, we should address third base (the only part of our everyday lineup that I’m not satisfied with.)
The Phillies have a lot of guys that can be starting pitchers in the majors, but they do not have a lot of guys that would be good at it. In hindsight, Jamie Moyer should have gracefully retired after we won the World Series last year. I really don’t want him to be guaranteed a spot in the rotation on Opening Day, but I’m sure we all know that that’s going to be the case. We’re going to have to sit through him getting rocked for 5-10 starts before Drabek/Kendrick takes his place.
I’m oddly optimistic about Kyle Kendrick. He seemed to have better stuff when he came up late last season. What we do know about Drabek is that, even if he starts as a rookie and pitches for an ERA under 3 during the season, he won’t smell any playoff action, because it will be more important to pitch guys like Durbin and Madson (even if they put 10000000…00000…00000 runners on base per appearance… YOU MUST BE LOYAL. Fuck JA Happ. l8uh – cholly.)
YOU DID NOT PLAY MUCH LAST YEAR, SO YOU CANNOT PLAY THIS YEAR$@#@ LOL - Charlie Manuel (photo courtesy of thefightins.com)
———————————————
Past next season:
Not sure you get paid more or less for looking like Edge
The Phillies have Jimmy Rollins (club option), Ryan Howard, Brad Lidge, Raul Ibanez, Cole Hamels, Ryan Madson coming off of the books after the 2011 season. To me, it is very possible that none of these guys will be re-signed. Ryan Howard will get many offers from other teams that will overpay him for way too many years, and it will be hard for him to turn that down. I personally do not want Ryan Howard until he’s 40 years old, and you know someone’s going to offer to sign his checks until then… and pay him handsomely in the process. If Cole can get his head back on straight, we will probably do whatever we can to keep him, but if he doesn’t, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him walk, either.
It is important to keep in mind that we will need to re-sign Jayson Werth and Cliff Lee next year. Both are eligible for free agency at that time. Cliff Lee is going to want a LOT of money (the guy hasn’t gotten a good contract yet and he could very possibly be looking for something long term with a lot of zeroes.) We have Werth going into the last year of the extension we signed him to, and he’s making $7.5 million. In my opinion, I think we’ll see him ask for something in the ballpark of $12-13 million, maybe more. We have to decide if what he’s asking is worth it. He can do it all, but he’s not a young guy. He’ll be 31 next offseason, and I think negotiations will depend heavily on how many years he’s willing to accept. To me, he’s worth the money, and his body hasn’t seen as much wear-and-tear as a guy his age would have by now. Overall, the amount of games he has played in isn’t even the equivalent of 4 full seasons. He’s seen less action in the big leagues than the typical 30-year-old big leaguer, and that’s definitely a good thing.