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The non-tender deadline is tonight at midnight EST, which means that teams have to get their ducks in a row vis-a-vis their arbitration eligible players, specifically in terms of whether or not they'll be offering those players a contract. In terms of who stays and who goes, our very own John Stolnis took a crack at guessing the results of the Phillies' ministrations earlier today, but reality would prove to be more disappointing than fiction, as all five possible candidates for non-tendering were tendered contracts:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Phillies tender contracts to Kyle Kendrick, Ben Revere, Antonio Bastardo and John Mayberry Jr.</p>— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) <a href="https://twitter.com/ToddZolecki/statuses/407652274517721088">December 2, 2013</a></blockquote>
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And for those of you who have been playing this game for a little while now, and are aware of Ruben Amaro Jr's preternatural fear of arbitration will not be very surprised by the following blurb:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Phillies have avoided arbitration with Kevin Frandsen, agreeing to 1-year, $900,000 contract, which includes performance bonuses.</p>— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) <a href="https://twitter.com/ToddZolecki/statuses/407652167097405440">December 2, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Frandsen's 900,000 dollar salary is the only dollar figure we have at the moment, but it's clear at the very least that these five players will be following us into at least Spring Training of the 2014 season as members of the Phillies. Now, this does not guarantee them any sort of playing time, roster spots, et al, but we know that this is a team lean on roster spots and extra dollars due to its more brittle players and larger contracts, so by giving these five players a spot on the 40 man, it's a likely sign that Ruben sees them as contributors.
That's speculation of course, but it would not be surprising to see Revere as a starting CF, Bastardo as a high leverage reliever, Kendrick as a fourth or fifth starter, and Frandsen as a bench bat. Mayberry is harder to figure (and, as such, has caused much more angst among the fanbase). As this tweet from Crashburn Alley's Paul Boyé demonstrates, there is enough about Mayberry's profile to make you a bit dispeptic:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Mayberry since 2012: .237/.294/.393; Rajai Davis: .258/.310/.377. Let's watch Rajai get a NRI while Mayberry makes $2M.</p>— Paul Boyé (@paul_boye) <a href="https://twitter.com/paul_boye/statuses/407657755693285376">December 2, 2013</a></blockquote>
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So uh...yeah. Well, we'll see how everything shakes out. As the market has shown us, pitchers with Kendrick's age and results profile -- Jason Vargas, Phil Hughes, Ricky Nolasco -- are getting hefty contracts, so Kyle will likely be a good value. And Revere is a work in progress, as is Bastardo. We need some vets on the team, by the very nature of roster construction, so Mayberry and Frandsen are not totally offensive in that way. We need to hope that they will be contributors, though, and if not, that they will be played accordingly.
I totally get if you're not feeling optimistic, of course.