As the first couple days of the off-season are now upon us, there is plenty in the news about trades, free agents, and speculation about who will go where- especially pertaining to the Phillies. Here’s the rundown:
- Aaron Rowand, Abraham Nunez, Antonio Alfonseca, J.C. Romero, Jon Lieber, and Jose Mesa all have filed for free-agency already.
- MLB.com reports that the other four eligible players, Kyle Lohse, Freddy Garcia, Rod Barajas, and Tadihito Iguchi to file by the November 8th Deadline, suggesting all 10 elgibile players will enter free-agency
- We can expect Romero, Rowand, and Lohse especially to test the market for a better deal than what the Phillies would offer them. My guess is that Rowand and Lohse will pretty easily find a deal the Phillies won’t be able to match. Romero is pretty likely going to remain a Phillie, seeing how he likes the Phillies, they like him, and the Phillies need relievers.
- Don’t expect to see Lieber, Garcia, Barajas, or Iguchi to be signed. Pat Gillick has made it clear he isn’t going to sign Lieber or Garcia after their bad 2007 season, and the Phillies are covered at catcher and second base.
- Nunez was overpaid and didn’t live up to the expectations the organization had for him. He may be re-signed at a reduced salary
- Alfonseca and Mesa didn’t have impressive years, but the Phillies have a pretty strong need for relievers at this point.
- According the new Astros’ General Manager, (and former Phillies GM) Ed Wade, the Astros are interested in signing Aaron Rowand and Torii Hunter.
- The general consensus among the Phillies and all journalists is that the Phillies have little or no interest in Alex Rodriguez.
- After writing goodbye letters to his teammates, and filing for free-agency, it’s now pretty certain that Curt Schlling will not be returning to the Red Sox.. Since he says that he’s looking for a one-year deal with a playoff-conteding team, and since a one-year deal is what the playoff-contending Phillies are looking for too, it seems even more likely that he will end up in Philadelphia for the 2008 season. Of all the possible acquisitions the Phillies could make, Schilling seems the most likely at the moment.
- Mariano Rivera filed for free-agency on Monday. Negotiations between him and the Yankees has started, but with Joe Torre gone Rivera’s heart might not be in New York. Rivera will probably test the market a bit, and hopefully will show interest in the Phillies. The Yankees are reportedly offering Rivera (as well as Jorge Posada) about $40 million over three years. Money will probably not be the biggest factor in Rivera’s decision of who to sign with.
- If you think Pat Burrell should be traded, keep dreaming; the $14 million dollar man has repeatedly expressed interest in staying in Philadelphia, and the no-trade clause in his contract means he’d have to approve any trade involving him.
MLB.com recently released an article http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071030&content_id=2288203&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi about the Phillies’ pitching prospect Josh Outman, suggesting he may be ready to play for the Phillies in the near future. - The Phillies recently hired former Devil Ray’s GM Chuck LaMar as their Director of Professional Scouting. It should be noted that LaMar was the one who traded Bobby Abreu to the Phillies for Kevin Stocker.
- In the first off-season trade, the Braves traded Edgar Renteria to the Tigers for two prospects, outfielder Gorkys Hernandez and pitcher Jair Jurrjens.
- Joe Torre will be the Dodger’s manager, after the Dodgers and manager Grady Little “parted ways” yesterday to make room for Torre. Joe Girardi, the 2006 Manager of the Year for the Marlins will take Torre’s place in the Yankees’ dugout.
- Barry Bonds is a free agent… talk about a possible way to bring in fans, and replace Aaron Rowand as a “veteran leader”. Okay, maybe these points are both useless, but there haven’t really been any rumors about where Barry will go…
Coming Soon... Projected 2008 25-Man Roster
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