2013-14 Phillies Offseason Thread

[PhillyPhreak54]

Jeff Passan ‏@JeffPassan 9m

Source: Phillies strongly pursuing eighth-inning relievers, including Edward Mujica. Believed to be willing to go three years for setup man.

[MDS]

3 years for chad qualls part II

farging die already rube

[Rome]

It's time for Rube to face the Mujica.

[Don Ho]

Rim shot!

[Don Ho]

don't see this happening unless the Phillies get horrifyingly robbed.

Agreed that this makes absolutely no sense for Tampa.  Choke is not the second coming of Big Papi.

[SunMo]

chooch is re-signing for 3 years $26 million. 

[smeags]

Meh

[SunMo]

and a 4th year option, lol

amaro is the worst gm in sports

[BigEd76]

At least he's allowed to have Adderall again, so there's that

[SunMo]

Keith Law

The Philadelphia Phillies have made the first two notable signings of the offseason, and this latest one is even worse than the first. Giving Marlon Byrd a little more than he was worth was bad, but giving Carlos Ruiz, a 34-year-old catcher with platoon problems who's coming off a PED suspension a three-year deal is absolute lunacy.

The deal, with an average annual value of $8.67 million, covers Ruiz's age-35-through-37 seasons, and it's not like his age-34 season was such a rousing success. Right-handed pitchers blew him up in 2013 (.257/.301/.335 line against), and he didn't hit any kind of velocity as his bat had clearly started to slow. He still can do damage against left-handers and is an adequate defender, blocking pitches well and nailing about a quarter of opposing runners, but taking value away with poor pitch framing.

Just 70 catchers have reached 400 plate appearances in a season in which they were 34 or older, and a third of them were worth 1 WAR or less -- and that doesn't even consider catchers who performed so badly they lost their jobs midyear.

The Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies were both interested in Ruiz, presumably looking at two-year deals for less money than Phillies GM Ruben Amaro offered him, and now have to look elsewhere for catching.

The Red Sox could turn back to Jarrod Saltalamacchia and are one of the few teams that could afford Brian McCann; the Rockies, looking for a catcher so that they can move Wilin Rosario out from behind the plate, may have to look to the trade market unless they want to roll the dice on Dioner Navarro.

The Phillies, meanwhile, are creating a bigger mess for themselves for 2014 and beyond, and if next season leads to a GM change, it's going to be a long road back for Amaro's successor.

[Don Ho]

Can there be any thing less exciting than these last two moves?

1980, 2008, well we can all enjoy each other's company for the next 25+ years.  Maybe we'll have made that Concreteboard movie by then.

[PhillyPhreak54]

I don't hate them bringing back Ruiz...they have no one ready on the farm to replace him and I am less than thrilled with the free agents out there. He knows the staff so this is a deal I can live with.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Wally Joyner left (again) to become the Tigers hitting coach and Mick Billmeyer was added as the bullpen coach

[MDS]

i dont even want to add up how much they will owe 40 year old players in 2015

amaro cannot let go of the 2008 team and its made them irrelevant. but south jersey can still chant chooooooooooooooooooooooch when he hits a double or something or great job amaro

[Rome]

Colorado offered him 2/$20M or whatever so ROOB ups the anty and gives him this.

Hilarious.