Unless we are willing to further strip the farm system of better prospects, it would have to be something like Helms or Dobbs plus Madson and Jaramillo -- an offering which though rather thin on talent would benefit the Jays in salary relief.  But the Jays think they can contend this year, and I can't see them accepting a downgrade from Glaus in their daily (well, kinda)lineup.  Obviously, salary is not the issue, since they took on the full weight of Rolen's deal.

We just had nothing to give for Glaus except for pitching in the minors.

I think our best bets are Inge and Crede as we head into Spring Training.

I also think that Dobbs has earned another shot, he is young and Helms could bounce back a bit, we will still lead the league in runs, getting Inge or Crede just makes our bench that much better by placing Dobbs there as the Lefty pinch hitter with men on base.

Honestly, I don't think Glaus would be that much better than the Helms/Dobbs platoon we have. I peg Helms having a better season in '08 and Dobbs to produce around the same.

I guess a Glaus-to-Phillies move would've also produced the benefit of dealing Helms for a reliever and/or pushing a nobody like So Taguchi off the roster.

Do the Phillies even have $13 million available?

Either way, I don't think he's worth it. We don't need more offense. I'd rather see the Phillies either keep that money available for an in-season trade or spend it on another starting pitcher. There are worse ways to spend $10 million than on a 3-year/$30 million deal for Kyle Lohse.

Well, neither of us can say definitively what's going to happen in the future. I guess I am optimistic about Helms/Dobbs.

Here's what all of the projections have for the three third basemen (from FanGraphs)...

Greg Dobbs

Bill James: .335/.416 (.751)
CHONE: .328/.409 (.736)
Marcel: .331/.435 (.765)

Wes Helms

Bill James: .334/.430 (.764)
CHONE: .332/.421 (.753)
Marcel: .335/.440 (.775)

Troy Glaus

Bill James: .360/.490 (.850)
CHONE: .364/.490 (.854)
Marcel: .356/.479 (.835)

I agree with you that a .100 difference in OPS is nothing to sneeze at. The gap between Helms/Dobbs and Glaus is bigger than I thought.

I'd still rather see that money spent on pitching, though.

Weren't the Phillies initially pleased with what they saw out of Kris Benson? What made them sour on him?

I think signing Benson would be a great low-risk, high-reward move, and I can't think of a reason why they wouldn't at least offer him a one-year incentive-laden contract with mutual options.

Bartolo Colon is another low-risk, high-reward type of pitcher the Phillies should be looking at. According to Ruben Amaro, his "overall health" is a concern, despite the guy winning the Cy Young award as recently as 2005.

I will cry if Pat Gillick ends up signing Pedro "71.2% outs" Feliz.

I know I read somewhere that the Phillies lost interest in Benson... I couldn't find it rummaging around Rotoworld or MLB.com's Hot Stove stuff.

I hadn't heard anything about Colon, that certainly is concerning then, if he can't get any velocity on his fastball and it now makes sense why the Phillies have backed off.

Thanks.

...so it is written in this blog (which also plumps for the acquisition of Feliz):
http://phillies.scout.com/2/720314.html
Actually no mention of Anna, dammit.

Benson did not break 70 mph in his trial, his arm was fluid, Colon has not broken 90 and has stopped pitching in the Dominican.

Sign them now? Silly.

Isn't another way to look at this to ask whether the Phils should have traded the closest player they have to (equal value of Rolen and Glaus) instead of some package of prospects?

Wouldn't that then have been...Burrell? And a  Burrell for Glaus deal, while perhaps tempting during Pat's annual cold months, doesn't really fill any holes without adding another one, does it?

Unless...when exactly was the last time he played 3B? And with Jenkins, Victorino and Werth in the OF....hmm.....