Phillies Offseason Talk

[Geowhizzer]

hmmm. well, um, conteras would be prett-ay nice. rowand is good player. he can hit 2nd or 6th (probably better off 6th). mccarthy is a young guy, i think we'd be much better off with a proven guy in conteras.

the big part of this deal is obviously how much of thomes salary will be picked up. considering conteras makes upwards of 8 mil a year, id say they are taking on a large sum of it if he is part of the deal.

I actually would go the other way. McCarthy is a young stud with a world of potential.  Contreras finally had one decent year (15-7, 3.61), and I'd be afriad that he'd flop in Philly ala Millwood, and ala Contreras in New York.

I've been known to be wrong before, though! 

[PhillyPhreak54]

I know what I see every time I watch Abreu, Jay.

You seem to forget that I watch almost every single Phillies game on the computer.  I've seen him play hundreds of times in my life, and my opinion is, he's a good player, period.

We differ there.  So be it.

But I think he is a good player too. So we agree on that then.

I think he is ripped on too much.

[Rome]

I think he's a good player, not a great player, and certainly not the type of player who would bring a-list talent in a trade.  Especially with a $13M salary for 2005.

[Rome]

BTW: I got another letter from Pat Gillick again.  This guy is starting to creep me out over here...

Dear Asshat:

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the very positive response I've gotten since joining the Phillies last month.       Through all my years in baseball, I always heard about how passionate the Philadelphia sports fans are and it's been fun to see it up close and personal. Sometime soon, I will be part of a chat session on phillies.com to answer some of your questions.

I would also like to bring you up to speed on what I've been doing the past few weeks. Two weeks ago, Ruben Amaro Jr., Mike Arbuckle and I attended the General Managers meetings in Palm Springs, California. I feel the meetings we had with agents and other teams were very positive and productive. While I can't talk about specific conversations we had, I can tell you that we are exploring various ways to improve the team. Despite having the fourth-best record in the National League last season, it wasn't good enough to get us to the playoffs.

As we've stated before, retaining Billy Wagner as our closer remains our top priority this winter. Last week, Ruben, Charlie Manuel and I visited Billy and his wife, Sarah, at their home in Virginia. We had a very candid back-and-forth discussion. In my opinion, I think all of us left the meeting feeling good.

Another topic I wanted to cover was my staff. While I have retained Ruben and Mike as Assistant General Managers and Charlie as the field manager, I have added Don Welke, a baseball scout for the last 40 years. He joins the organization as one of my Special Assistants. Don has worked with me before in both Toronto and Baltimore and I couldn't be happier that he's now part of our team. He, Gordon Lakey, our Major League Scout, and John Vukovich, another Special Assistant, will be my eyes and ears around Major League Baseball.

With Ruben, Mike, Charlie, Don, Vuke, Gordon and Dallas Green, I feel we have an excellent, seasoned baseball staff. They are a group of experienced baseball men who will not be shy about giving their opinions on whatever topic I throw at them.

Two weeks from today, most of us will be in Dallas, Texas, for the Winter Meetings. Again, we will be there for the sole purpose of improving our team any way we can.

Finally, I'd like to wish you and your family a very happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Happy Holidays!

Pat

Pat Gillick
General Manager
The Phillies

[SunMo]

And Comcast just said that the Mets will go after BJ Ryan if Wags comes back to PHL. And they said that even if the Mets sign Wags they will go after Ryan to be Wags' set-up guy.

Ryan was visiting Cleveland today, by the way.

last night on the radio, Jody Mac said that Ryan doesn't want to set-up anywhere because he's already been the man and wants to stay the man.

if they can get Wagner for 2 years with an option for a 3rd, I would take Wagner, if they have to guarentee him 3 years up front I would prefer to go after the younger Ryan.

[PhillyPhreak54]

And Comcast just said that the Mets will go after BJ Ryan if Wags comes back to PHL. And they said that even if the Mets sign Wags they will go after Ryan to be Wags' set-up guy.

Ryan was visiting Cleveland today, by the way.

last night on the radio, Jody Mac said that Ryan doesn't want to set-up anywhere because he's already been the man and wants to stay the man.

if they can get Wagner for 2 years with an option for a 3rd, I would take Wagner, if they have to guarentee him 3 years up front I would prefer to go after the younger Ryan.

Yeah, I had heard that too about Ryan. The only difference from what I heard was that the only place he was willing to s/u was in The Bronx for Rivera. But then Neil Hartman said on CSN last night the Mets will go after him too. But I'll trust Jody Mac over Hartman anyday.

Supposedly the Phils are willing to give Wags that 3rd year and FNTC and $30M to match the Mets offer.

[SunMo]

i think they are setting themselves up for trouble if they give him 3 years guarenteed with a FNTC.  he's a little guy that throws hard, he's had injury problems before, i just think the risk is too high.  they aren't built to win next year IMO.  i would give him that contract if I felt they could win the WS next year or the year after, but I think they have some major work to do to be a WS contender.

[PhillyPhreak54]

I'm willing to give it to him.

If it was Ed Wade doing the building I would totally agree that they cannot contend. But I'm going to give ol' Pat a shot to see what he can do. Maybe he can work some magic.

The NL is pretty weak so they've got a shot.

[PhillyPhreak54]

I was reading that Wags essentially told Minaya that the Mets would have to give him 4 years at 40+ and a FNTC to get him to bolt Philly.

Sounds as if he wants to be here and he's shooting for the pie in the sky in NY to see if they'd jump.

[SunMo]

I was reading that Wags essentially told Minaya that the Mets would have to give him 4 years at 40+ and a FNTC to get him to bolt Philly.

Sounds as if he wants to be here and he's shooting for the pie in the sky in NY to see if they'd jump.

they said they wouldn't lose him because of financial reasons, so they'll probably give that to him.  if he gets that, God bless him.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Yeah, really. I'm down with giving him the 3-30. But no shot at 4-40.

But I think if the Mets find out that Ryan comes a little cheaper or isn't trying to rob them they might scoop him up instead.

We'll see though....

[BigEd76]

Ryan isn't going to be that much cheaper.  He'll probably get at least $7M/yr, and he's not much younger than Wagner...

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Ryan isn't going to be that much cheaper.  He'll probably get at least $7M/yr, and he's not much younger than Wagner...

4 years, $30 million is cheaper than 3 years, $30 million.  Did you get that memo?

[MDS]

hey wagner is just using the mets as bait, he really wants to come back here. and its a good thing too, if the mets got home they would be real good. but it looks like their still not gonna have any pitching. haha.

[MDS]

Thome to the Sox is apparantley offical, but not sure who its for and the deal with his contract.