A look at the Phillies Off season

Well it is that time of year again. Pitchers and catchers officially reported today for the Phillies. Baseball season is coming and it makes one wonder, can the Phillies win the National League East for a fourth straight time? Can they really make it to the World Series for the third straight time?

Let’s take a look at the moves they have done this off-season.

Trade for Roy Halladay – The Phillies traded three top prospects to the Blue Jays to get the pitcher they wanted at the trade deadline last season. Two of those prospects were tops in the Philadelphia farm system. Those two were RHP Kyle Drabek and Michael Taylor (Two players who were “untouchable” at the trade deadline in 2009).

It is clear that both Halladay and the Phillies organization wanted this trade to be completed. Halladay signed a three year $60MM contract extension in Philadelphia and seems genuinely excited to be playing for a contender. Halladay even said in a magazine article how excited he is to pitch with someone as good as Cole Hamels.

Dealt Lee - That’s right. He didn’t say Cliff Lee. Lee was traded in a completely unrelated deal that took place the same day. After his stellar performance in the Post-season last year, Lee was shipped to Seattle for three prospects including Phillippe Aumont who became the top pitching prospect in the organization. The other two are J.C. Ramirez, and Tyson Gillies

Lost bullpen help - Other pitchers that also are no longer with the organization are Scott Eyre who retired to tour the country in his RV, and Chan Ho Park, who is still a free agent at this point. The Phil’s have already expressed that they do not have the funds to re-sign Park. Both Park and Eyre made significant contributions to the Phillies Bullpen last season.

Brett Meyers and Clay Condrey are also no longer in Philadelphia. After eight seasons with the Phil’s, Brett Meyers was informed that he was no longer needed in Philadelphia. He signed with the Houston Astros with the GM who drafted him in Ed Wade. Condrey signed with the Minnesota Twins as a free agent.

Replenished the bullpen (Kind of) – The Phillies added two significant veteran pitchers to their bullpen in Jose Contreras (38) and Danys Baez as well as Oscar Villarreal (who signed a minor league deal).

Bolstered the bench – One of the glaring weaknesses of the Phillies last season was their weak bench which Charlie Manuel seemingly never used. After letting go of Eric Bruntlett, Miguel Cairo, 2009 mid-season acquisition Paul Bako, and fan favorite Matt Stairs, the Phil’s signed a number of bench players. The bench now looks like this: Ben Francisco, Brian Schneider, Greg Dobbs and Juan Castro.

Hot corner moves – The Phillies also did not pursue free agent Pedro Feliz after they failed to pick up his option for the 2010 season. Instead, they signed former Phillie and two-time gold glove second baseman Placido Polanco to fill in at third base. When Polanco played in Philadelphia the first time he played third base. Since, he has built quite a resume at 2nd playing for Detroit.

Securing the future –In addition to all the signings and losses, the Phil’s were able to lock up some of their core players. Jimmy Rollins had his 2011 option picked up. Shane Victorino ($22 MM), Joe Blanton ($24MM), and Carlos Ruiz ($9MM) were all signed to three year extensions within the same week.

Did I miss anything?

How did the Phillies do this offseason? Well needless to say it was a busy one. Going into spring training they have some questions to answer still.

One of which is who will be the 5th starter? Jamie Moyer had offseason surgery and then had complications afterwards. He will not be ready for the start of the season. After losing his starting job last season to Pedro Martinez, it has been rumored that the young Kyle Kendrick could replace Jamie in the rotation.

This is an exciting time of the year for baseball. Can the Phillies do it again? We will see.

Around the City of Brotherly Love

Remember that word change? Well the Philadelphia Eagles are one team in the City of Brotherly Love who are not looking to change. Owner Jeffrey Lurie confirmed this morning that the Eagles have signed head coach Andy Reid to a three year contract extension.

Reid, the winningest coach in Philadelphia Eagles history will coach the Eagles through the 2013 season. This is the longest tenure of any Eagles coach as he came in to replace Ray Rhodes in 1999.

In his time in Philadelphia, Reid has taken the Birds to five NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl appearance. He has compiled a total of 115 wins.


-The Phillies on the other hand, have changed. Their bench, or lack thereof in the 2009 season has been revamped and no longer includes the likes of Eric Bruntlett and crowd favorite Matt Stairs.

The Phil’s signed Ross Gload yesterday afternoon. It is a two year deal according to MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. Gload led the league in pinch hits this past season for the Florida Marlins. His career .283 batting average should give skipper Charlie Manuel more options for the 2010 season.

Gload joins a bench consisting of Ben Francisco, Greg Dobbs, and two new additions in Brian Schneider and Juan Castro.


-The Flyers found a perfect way to get back on the right track last night as they stopped their five-game losing streak, score goals. Mike Richards was one goal short of the hat trick as the Flyers rolled over the Islanders. Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux also added two goals each to give the Flyers the 6-2 victory.

This was the first win for the Flyers under newly hired head coach Peter Laviolette. Laviolette began his stint in Philadelphia with back to back losses dropping one to the Capitals this past Saturday and then losing again two nights ago to Montreal.
Brian Boucher was back in goal for the Flyers to replace Ray Emery. Emery will be out at least six weeks as he will be getting surgery today to repair a torn abdominal muscle.

Here is just a little side note. Islanders defenseman Brendon Witt was in the lineup against the Flyers last night after being hit by a car crossing the street in Philadelphia yesterday morning. He is one tough guy.