The second half of the season is about to begin and we all know what that means. We finally get to dump Abreu and Burrell's ridiculous salaries!!! WOO HOO!!!! Talk about anchors around the collective neck of this organization. So, presuming we can dump their mucho dinero (that was for you Bobby), we'll be rolling in millions and millions of unused buckaroos. And what do you do with unused buckaroos? You spend them of course. It isn't so much that we are weighted down with contracts, it is that we have to redistribute the money to other players. I am excited, are you? It will be a BREEZE to find talent for that money that far exceeds those two heartless wildebeasts.
Ok, sarcasm off. I can remember when deals like these were being given out like hot cakes. Scott Rolen was offered a 10 year $140 million dollar deal. Talk about an albatross. While Pat and Bobby are getting paid large sums of cash, people tend to forget that these are escalating contracts and the Phils made out on them in the first few seasons. Either way, what happens if we can get rid of part or all (good luck) of those contracts? Are replacements easily found? And if so, do they want to come to Philly? Especially a Philly team that now had no corner outfielders? It is a hard enough sell to get people to come here, but when you take away one of the top 5 Phillies of all time and another player who has been pretty productive, you make this lineup look awfully terrible to free agents.
People want the money cleared up for a big time starter as well. Yeah, those guys will want to come here. We put 7 mil a year down on Lieber, who are we going to get better than that? Are we going to pay them 13 million a year? They better be able to pitch every other day if that is the case.
Trading Burrell and Abreu for prospects is a noble idea. Given the right players, I would be all for it. Of course, that puts us on a much longer time frame to win, but sometimes that happens. However, the talk that we have to dump Abreu's and Burrell's contracts no matter what is completely ridiculous and short sighted. Those people who defend that tactic obviously don't have a clue and just feel that way out of hate. That money you MAY free up will not be used on players that are better than what Pat and Bobby will give you. A frontline starter won't be worth anything with this offense unless he has a 1.00 ERA.
As a side note, one thing I always wondered when teams make salary dumps...what about this year's budget. If the Phils were to find a taker for Bobby's entire salary, that would cover around 6 million dollars this year. That brings the payroll from around 94 million to 88 million (assuming we bring no payroll back). Do we get to see those funds in use next year? Since they saved 6 million, does next year's payroll max out at 100? Unfortunately, I just don't think it works that way.