That way he’s less attractive to other suitors, who’d have to give up a draft pick.

Moyer’s a delight to watch but the Phillies are entering unchartered waters here.

But I thought Moyer was asking for something like $14M or $16M per year, not for the combined two years. Did I misunderstand? (Obviously we’ll find out the actual answer soon enough.)

In fact, it effectively ends our offseason, aside from the arbitration proceedings and maybe a few bargain basement pick-ups.

I can understand how people could defend the signing of Moyer. Sure, everyone loves him and maybe he would have left his world champion home team if they only offered a one-year deal. But Chan Ho Park at $2.5 Million? You’ve got a huge injury risk, a bad track record, a desire to start when most likely he won’t be starting (at least we hope). You can get a guy like Park in February for less than half the price. You don’t pay guys who are pitching the 6th inning $2.5 Million a year.

The Ibanez signing is bizarre. To bring in another lefty bat that doesn’t improve the defense makes no sense. But, I guess if they love him in the clubhouse, we got a great deal. We all know what a great difference those Aaron Rowand bbqs made.

I would say that Amaro has not made a single GOOD move so far. Does he deserve the benefit of the doubt? Maybe, but as a Philadelphia executive whose main qualification for the job was being a company man, he shouldn’t expect it either.

Moyer’s leadership was also a must and so what if he gets a "freebie" year? Is there a difference if we gave him $10 million for 1 year or $16 million for 2?? We all agree he is amazing and he IS the "Phillie" guy we all love.

You don’t sign guys for the sake of likability or leadership. Ever. If that’s anywhere near the top of your list of reasons as to why a signing is good, you REALLY need to rethink your stance/logic on the signing. However, when looking at performance levels, I’d say Moyer, albeit he’s probably going to regress a bit, actually will probably be worth the money. Although, had the Phillies offered Moyer arbitration, it would’ve driven his interest from other teams down(b/c they would have to hand over a draft pick), thus making him a few million cheaper. And, had he accepted, he’d be back at about the same salary as he’d be making per year on this new deal, except only for one year. Bad process, decent results. Not good.

Ibanez, though old, puts the ball in play, has very decent power and is a veteran wo leads by example…he is the hardest worker.

Here we go again. “Leadership. Veteran. Hardest worker”. Enough already. Let’s see. Ibanez costs the Phillies their first round draft pick. FYI: Having a good farm system is kind of really really important. He doesn’t bring enough to the table defensively to offset that he does not fill one of the team’s biggest needs. Oh, and the same Phillies didn’t offer Burrell arbitration. He might not have been a “Phillies guy”, IDK, but he performed and he filled a team need (a guy who can mash lefties). And, he’s actually in his prime. A three year deal might not be the smartest idea, but at least offering him arbitration and seeing if he returns on a 1 year deal. Yes, the base salary might be higher, but the commitment would only be for one year. It’s about putting the best team on the field, not appeasing someone’s ego.

“Park and Moyer can round out the rotation until Carassco is ready, or we trade him or Marson for a quality starter that we really need.”

Chan Ho Park is the type of guy you get at league minimum. Jorge de la Rosa, Glendon Rusch, Cha Seung Baek, Jorge Campillo, were all found off waivers mid season. Let Kyle Kendrick start the season as swingman, and if another 6th inning/swing type guy is needed, pick ‘em off for league minimum/under 1MM. 2.5MM for a replacement level player like Park is WAY too much. It’s not a big deal, but its not a smart move. And, what happened to this guy named J.A. Happ? I think he has earned his spot in the rotation, until Carrasco or someone with actual upside forces him out of the rotation. His success in the rotation actually helps the Phillies long term (fills a rotation spot for the next 6 years cheaply).

"he is the hardest worker. Read some of Seattle’s blogs and it is obvious that that team and there fans are sad to see him go. "

Fans get emotionally attached to players. That’s a truth to the game. A lot of those Mariners blogs I’ve seen also realize the fact that Ibanez is not a fit for that team going forward. Their primary objective is to retool, both at the minor and major league levels, and Raul does not fit that objective. Being sad to see a player go and saying the M’s should have kept him are two totally different things. You can be the former without being the latter.

I’m an outsider and have no emotional connection to the Phillies, which is why I thought it’d be ideal for me to chime in here, because it is important to detach emotion in judging a GM’s moves. I’m not ripping Amaro, but so far, his moves have been marginal as best.

You seem to be saying that the virtue of these players is that they aren’t big names.

There might be some overreaction here. But they made a bad sequence of decisions, starting with not offering arbitration to Moyer and Burrell, that have led to outcomes worse than what we could, arguably should have seen.

One year deals for both guys would have been the best result, rather than partially tying the team’s hands for 2010 (and ‘11 in the case of Ibanez). And Park, as pointed out below, at best will fill the sort of role you can get a minimum-salary veteran guy to handle. To put it another way: you buy low on him and hope he can give you one season like 2008, not overpay for him after his surprise good year. That’s what Gillick did so well: buy low. Werth, Dobbs, Romero, Durbin, and Eyre were all value pickups. (For that matter, Ibanez when he first emerged was a guy like that.)

Amaro thus far looks more like the sucker GM who believes the hype of those guys and if anything thinks they’ll keep getting better—in other words, Ed Wade.

Courtesy LL

Read some of Seattle’s blogs and it is obvious that that team and there fans are sad to see him go.

What?

He has said he would like to pitch until he is 50 minimum.

you see, it looked as if he was taking the rubber from the mound at the Bank. in reality, he was in fact marking the place of his eventual internment.

I’m happy paying him $13M for another year of what he did this year. If his age 47 year, year 2 of his contract, turns out being a bust, I hope the Phillies recognize that early and don’t let him hurt the team. Of course, given his stuff, there’s no reason to believe he’ll repeat this year next year any more than there’s a reason he won’t continue to have a sub-4.00 ERA through age 50. With Moyer, we just don’t know because there’s no one like him. I’m willing to take the risk for $13M over 2 years.

i disagree that anyone would have given him a two year deal if it entailed giving up their first round draft pick. if so, they would have been willing to pay 2-3MM less since that’s generally the value a team tends to place on that pick. it effectively would have lowered the amount that our competition was willing to pay and decreased our willingness to pay. you always offer arbitration if the answer is going to be no.

So if Moyer went to the marlins you would have been a marlins fan?

“it commits you to a potential one year deal with a player at a "market" rate.”

economics teacher nitpick time: not a market rate! that’s egregious misuse of the term. his free agency determined salary is actually the market rate.

I love how you use the word “everybody” twice in the same sentence but both with different meanings but acted like they both had the same meaining.

damn, you are modest aren’t you. Calling your own article “sweet”?

This article sucked. And was completely flawed.

“But in reality, Burrell is a right-handed power bat that lacked any semblance of consistency or batting average and was a poor defensive outfielder.”

Talk about an inaccurate statement. Burrell ended up being one of the most consistent hitting LFers over the last 4 years.