According to Jerry Crasnick of espn.com, the Phillies have signed RHP Ryan Franklin to a one-year, $2.6 million deal.
Color me unimpressed, which unfortunately continues a trend regarding every move GM Pat Gillick has made since his terrific Thome trade.
I've looked at The Baseball Cube, BP, Baseball Reference, and ESPN's stats page, and I honestly can't come up with anything worthwhile to put this move in a positive light. His K rate has dropped, his H/9 has gone up, he'll be 33 this season, his control keeps getting worse, and his G/F rate is below 1. See for yourself:
I guess you can attempt to hang your hat on the fact that he soaks up innings, but I look at that as a negative based on what I found above.
Want to be even more depressed? Look here, here, here, here, and lastly, here. Wondering about similar players? Look here and you'll find such luminaries as Bob Milacki, Scott Kamieniecki, and Elmer Dessens.
Also, this should put to rest the contention amongst a certain faction of Phillies phans that the Padilla move was part of some larger plan by Gillick and company to make the team better. Essentially, we traded Padilla for Franklin and approximately $1.5 million. Go Phils!