2008 Phillies Spring Training Thread

[Rome]

Great display of suckage from Eaton yesterday.   I'm thinking of going to see the King today in Tampa if I can get tickets.

BTW: Yesterday was the most beautiful day for baseball I've ever seen.  Absolutely ideal.  I have a ton of photos and I'll load them when I get home later.  You all care, obviously.

[SD_Eagle5]

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillies/16146282.html

Lidge: Knee feels better than it did before the injury
Lidge: Feelin' groovy We caught up with Brad Lidge today, and the report from the closer sounds positive. He said his knee feels better than it did even before he tweaked his knee last Saturday, forcing him to undergo arhtroscopic knee surgery Monday in Philly. Lidge said he thinks he's "on the early side" of the three-to-six week timetable doctors gave him for a full recovery. He still isn't ruling out a return by the start of the season.

"It's going good right now," Lidge said.

The 31-year-old righty has been playing catch at 65 to 70 feet for the past few days. He says he might be able to throw off a mound in about a week.

"There's really no pain at all right now," Lidge said. "Obviously, that's a great sign."

[PhillyPhreak54]

DAMAGED GOODS!

[PhillyPhreak54]

Howard not worth it

What makes Ryan Howard think he is worth $10 million a year? His agent, Casey Close?

Just what the Phillies need, another Scott Boras type who only thinks of himself and money, money, money.

Howard struck out 199 times in 144 games, which would have been 224 times in 162 games. He broke the strikeout record of Cincinnati's Adam Dunn in less time.

Howard's batting average of .268 was just that, average. His 47 home runs were nice, but he could have had a lot more. And his RBI production would have been monstrous if his 1.38 strikeouts per game had diminished to less than 1 per game.

Howard has to make some adjustments at the plate. He also has to keep from thinking every swing is a home run. Keeping a calmer approach will bring on better results in all the departments.

I would not even think about a huge raise. Management was offering $7 million, which is a lot. But in order to keep Howard as a Phillie, the money seems to be the standard at this point in time.

William Bachman

New London, Pa.

Letter in the Inky...farging idiot

[Wingspan]

That guy's comments about the agent and money aside...he is correct in one thing. Howard needs to cut down on the K's....big time.

His 7 Ks in 12 ABs in the NLDS last year was terrible.

[MDS]

If Howard was white that guy would have no problem with him.

[BigEd76]

Hamels signed a deal for $500K this year.  He thinks it should've been more and says he'll remember this down the line.  F'ing baseball.

[SD_Eagle5]

Hamels signed a deal for $500K this year.  He thinks it should've been more and says he'll remember this down the line.  F'ing Phillies.

[Geowhizzer]

Both are correct.

[BigEd76]

Not sure how old this is but I saw it for the first time yesterday....

Howard's "MLB 08 The Show" commercial

[Seabiscuit36]

Hamels getting a crappy deal is exactly why i hate the phillies

[Wingspan]

Actually on this one, Hamels needs to STFU and pitch. If he (or Howard at this point) don't like the number being given to them, they need to take it up with their union reps, not the media.

Hamels isnt getting a "crappy" deal here. He's getting the standard deal for his length of service and production, comparable to others in his situation.

He'll get his money at the end of this season, when he is arbitration eligible.

It's really funny to hear the fans complain that Howard or Hamels havent gotten a long term deal yet...yet they complained for years about the long term deald given out  to Burrell, Abreu, Leiberthal, etc.... at the same points in their career.

[Seabiscuit36]

Actually on this one, Hamels needs to STFU and pitch. If he (or Howard at this point) don't like the number being given to them, they need to take it up with their union reps, not the media.

Hamels isnt getting a "crappy" deal here. He's getting the standard deal for his length of service and production, comparable to others in his situation.

He'll get his money at the end of this season, when he is arbitration eligible.

It's really funny to hear the fans complain that Howard or Hamels havent gotten a long term deal yet...yet they complained for years about the long term deald given out  to Burrell, Abreu, Leiberthal, etc.... at the same points in their career.

Wingy..the problem is they first came at Cole for around 700k, he turned that down, so they gave him 500k.  They did the same thing with Howard last year.  Came at him high, he turned the first offer down, and they went lower than the original offer.  Even the Brewers didnt do this with Prince Fielder.  He turned down their first offer, and they gave him that same offer, not lower. 

The Phillies ownership once again shteins the bed.

And comparing them to Burrell, Burrell didnt win a MVP, Cole is the #1 on this team, and the ownership goes out of their way to penalize players for a paltry 200k?  Its not the money, its the principle

[Rome]

I'll be the first to criticize the Phillies on a lot of issues but they did nothing wrong in this instance.  Hamels turning down $700K was dumb on his part.  Either that or he got bad advise from his agent and followed it.

Also - did he expect that after he turned their offer down they were actually going to increase it?  If so, he really is a 'tard.

[Wingspan]

Again, this is a collective bargaining issue, not a player/team issue. The rules are put in place and agreed to by both sides.

Players who only have 2 years of service or less...have no leverage whatsoever. The phils don't have to negotiate at all, the phils can dictate what they make for their first 2 full seasons as long as they dont reduce salary, or go below league minimum.

Hamels basically just sent the phils the same message howard did...by turning down the higher offer, they tell the phils that they expect a lot more in the future.

Enjoy Hamels (and Howard) for the next 4/5 years...that's all they will be here for.