Two trends of the offseason continued last night, as the Phillies lost a third baseman and were outjumped for a free agent by the San Diego Padres, who signed Tadahito Iguchi to a one-year, $4 million deal. As with Mike Lowell, the Phils had offered a sweeter contract for Iguchi; as with Randy Wolf, they saw the target of their intentions land in San Diego.
I wasn't particularly crazy about Iguchi as the Phils' third-base solution anyway, though he looks pretty damn good compared to free-agent Pedro Feliz and is probably preferable to the incumbent platoon of Wes Helms and Greg Dobbs. The non-tender deadline tonight could put Morgan Ensberg in play--ironically enough, from the Padres.