Philadelphia Phillies "World farging Champs" 1 Week for Pitchers and Catchers

[PhillyPhreak54]

I'd rather pay Burrell that money.

[ice grillin you]

wow was i way off on that one...i never ever thought they were serious about ibanez...they wont give any pitchers more than three years but theyll sign a 36 year old outfielder for three years at 30 mil

peavy who is 27 only makes 11 mil more (total not per year) over the next three years...why not go after him

i despise this signing

[SD_Eagle5]

See ya Pat the Bat

The Phillies have agreed to a three-year contract with free-agent outfielder Raul Ibanez, pending a physical. The deal is believed to be worth $30 million over three years.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3764268

meh, not too thrilled with the length and fact that they have to surrender a 1st round pick. Would rather just have Burrell back.

[SunMo]

another lefty for the lineup is what i don't like

[Eagles_Legendz]

wow was i way off on that one...i never ever thought they were serious about ibanez...they wont give any pitchers more than three years but theyll sign a 36 year old outfielder for three years at 30 mil

peavy who is 27 only makes 11 mil more (total not per year) over the next three years...why not go after him

i despise this signing

Peavy has the Phillies on his no trade list.

Ibanez is as good as you were going to get in left unless you wanted Jenkins to start everyday.  He's as consistent as you get hitting .290 with 20 HRs every year.  He actually hit lefties well last season (.305), though that's pretty high above his career average.  I think he was about the best possible option as long as his play doesn't drop off with age too considerably.

[ice grillin you]

if they still go out and improve their rotation then the move is ok...if they sign hamels long term then i can live with this

but if they dont do either of those things and this move is essentially their offseason then its horrible

[Eagles_Legendz]

if they still go out and improve their rotation then the move is ok...if they sign hamels long term then i can live with this

but if they dont do either of those things and this move is essentially their offseason then its horrible

I agree that locking Hamels up long-term and adding another pitcher is a priority, but I don't look at it in a vacuum.

They needed a new LF.  Burrell wasn't coming back.  At that point Ibanez is just as good as anyone not named Manny on the market if his age doesn't catch up to him and the $ given to him doesn't prevent them signing pitching, which I agree, is the real concern here.

[Wingspan]

They needed a new LF.  Burrell wasn't coming back.  At that point Ibanez is just as good as anyone not named Manny on the market if his age doesn't catch up to him and the $ given to him doesn't prevent them signing pitching, which I agree, is the real concern here.

I agree.

Whether you like it or not, the phils opperate on a budget. This is the best move they could have made which allows them the flexibility to make another move...which should be to for a starting pitcher. Burrell would have costed too much, yeah he's 4 years younger, but he plays like a 44 year old. It's time to move on.

You don't have to do anything with Hamels if you don't want to. He'll get his money in arbitration. And who cares if he whines. He bitched about it last season and he only won the NLCS and WS MVPs. Use the extra money this year to get another pitcher (Lowe, as long as those asinine demands come down)

[SunMo]

yeah, i really want Lowe, i think he makes them the favorites again in the NL.  but i don't think he'll end up coming here.

[ice grillin you]

i could care less about the age thing...they won a world series which gives them at least 5-10 years of losing and i really wouldnt get to upset....EXCEPT for the mets thing...

the hamels shtein talking yesterday has given me new phillies life...in general ill want the mets to lose more than ill want the phils to win next year but more than anything in sports this coming year i want the phillies to beat that ny ass everytime...those games will be almost as big to me as this past years playoffs and definitely bigger than any 09 playoff game they might be in

the fact that both cities daily news on december 12 have phillies/mets on their back pages is so farging awesome...their games next year are going to be epic

[SD_Eagle5]

I don't know that Burrell would have cost that much more, reports indicate he isn't getting the offers on the f/a market he thought he would.

Ibanez Pros:
Better clutch hitter
slight upgrade defensively
slightly faster than Burrell
doesn't go into month long slumps

Cons:
Has less power
is a lefty (yeah I know what his #s are against lefties)
is older
had to sacrifice a 1st round pick to sign him
Burrell destroyed the Mets

I'm all for upgrading the team if it means sacrificing the future because the Phils are obviously able to win now, but there are/were better options. In a perfect world I'd have re-signed Rowand last offseason and the outfield would have been already set.

They wind up re-signing Moyer - which I believe they will - they aren't upgrading the starting pitching. Case closed.

[DH]

in general ill want the mets to lose more than ill want the phils to win next year

That's just retarded.

[PhillyPhreak54]

I do not like giving Ibanez 30M. The guy is about to turn 37.

Should have waited Burrell out, maybe gotten him on a 2yr deal or a 3yr deal cheaper than 30M and used the Ibanez cash to sign Lowe.

[BigEd76]

Assuming Manny was never a consideration, the other LF available was the white Choke Dawg, and he wouldn't have cost a draft pick.  The strikeouts probably scared Amaro away though...

BTW, Ibanez isn't exactly an upgrade in the outfield:

[SD_Eagle5]

Zolecki:

Ibanez, 36, hit .293 with 23 home runs and 110 RBIs last season for the Seattle Mariners. He has 338 RBIs over the past three seasons, which ranks 12th in baseball. Interestingly, Ryan Howard ranks first (431) and Chase Utley ranks 20th (309), which means the Phillies have three of the top 20 RBI-men over the past three years in their lineup. (Only three outfielders -- Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Beltran and Matt Holliday -- have more RBIs than Ibanez in that span.) Burrell ranked 32nd in that category with 278 RBIs. Of course, Burrell also hit righthanded, which is important to Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. He strives for balance in his lineup, but it looks like Manuel will have lefthanded hitters in his Nos. 3, 4 and 5 slots.

Here's another thing to consider when looking at Ibanez's numbers: He played half his games in Safeco Field. According to The Bill James Handbook 2009, Safeco Field had a 92 runs index from 2006-08, which ranked 12th out of 14 ballparks in the American League. Citizens Bank Park had a 104 runs index from 2006-08, which ranked fifth out of 16 ballparks in the National League.

A 100 index means the park is neutral to hitters and pitchers. An index higher than 100 favors hitters and an index less than 100 favors pitchers. Ibanez put up those numbers in a pitcher-friendly ballpark. He could find things a bit better in Philly.