Around Philadelphia

Phil’s tryout Gagne

The Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has downplayed the scheduled tryout that will take place today in Arizona for former MLB closer Eric Gagne. The Phil’s are on a list of about three teams scouting Gagne. Gagne had a couple spectacular seasons with the Dodgers and the Rangers.

In the middle of the 07 season Gagne was traded to Boston where he struggled. In 08 he pitched 102 very mediocre innings for the Brewers.

He did say that he would accept a non-guaranteed minor league contract. Signing Gagne could be a low-risk high reward if he could get back to form from the earlier part of the decade.

Eagles off season
Now that Eagles fans have had a chance to cool down from the back-to-back losses to division rival Dallas, it is time to take a logical look at the Eagles and what they need to do during the offseason.

First- The revolving door at linebacker will not work next season. With the return of Stewart Bradley inevitable, he will fill the hole in the middle of the defense. The question is who will play the other two linebacker positions. Will Witherspoon will definitely be a starter. So that fills one position. The other could be filled by either Akeem Jordan, Joe Mays who really came into his own down the stretch of this season, Omar Gaither, or fellow veteran Chris Gocong.

The Eagles are pretty high on Akeem Jordan. If he has a solid pre-season, he will most likely earn the starting spot opposite of Witherspoon.

Second- The biggest concern for the Birds during the draft needs to be safety. Obviously, the Eagles will attempt to go after Eric Berry out of Tennessee. The problem with that is Berry will most likely go in the top 10. So what can the Eagles get for trading Michael Vick? Probably not a top 10 pick (especially when his contract for next season is more than $5MM).

Third- The Eagles will most likely have to begin looking for a replacement for Jamaal Jackson. Jackson, who started 71 straight games for the Eagles before tearing a ligament in his knee on the last day of the season against the Cowboys, most likely will not be ready for the start of next season. The likelihood of the Birds drafting a center however is pretty slim. They will probably try to fill the void with someone in house.

After a pretty up and down season where Philadelphia went 0-5 against playoff teams and lost to the lowly Oakland Raiders, but still had the opportunity to clinch the number 2 seed in the playoffs giving them home field advantage and a first round bye (which they clearly didn’t want considering how poorly they played the last week of the season), there are many questions going into the 2010 season.

Will Brian Westbrook be back in Philadelphia? How will the young offense react to the lack of productivity to close out the 2009 season? Who will be the starting quarterback? Can/will this combo of Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid ever get it done? Can this explosive offense learn how to sustain a drive to keep the defense off the field? Will the Eagles ever learn how to stay committed to the running game?
While these answers are all unknown, it is pretty clear though that Andy Reid would like to stick with McNabb at least through this upcoming season. McNabb is an Eagle through 2011. Will he get his championship? Who knows?

Side Note
While the Allen Iverson experiment hasn’t panned out as well as the Sixers had hoped, it has clearly worked out for AI. Iverson could be a starter for this year’s All-Star team. Ray Allen however isn’t so happy about the outcome of the fan voting.