Lidge and Madson Sign, Avoiding Arbitration

Brad Lidge and Ryan Madson both signed one-year deals with the Phillies yesterday, avoiding arbitration. Lidge will get $6.35 million, and Madson $1.4 million. These figures are about what both of these guys would have gotten through arbitration, but it's always healthy to avoid the arbitration process.

The only players left on the arbitration list are Ryan Howard and Eric Bruntlett. The Phillies' current payroll is about $85 million, and after these two arbitration hearings my guess is that the payroll will jump to about $100 million- about $5 million more than last season- if not more. That would likely mean that the Phillies have room for one more big free-agent signing. At this point, it looks like the top candidates 3B Pedro Feliz, SP Kris Benson, and SP Kyle Lohse. Expect the Phillies to wait until right before spring training before making an offer, in an effort to be able to give a lower offer than they would now. Lohse would be the best candidate, especially if the Mets sign Johan Santana, but Scott Boras can be tough to deal with.

NOTE: Sorry, my math was terribly mistaken. The payroll shouldn't go any higher tht $95 million, last years mark, so possibly two notable signings will be made

Huge Deal to Start the Off-Season

The Phillies traded RP Geoff Geary, OF Michael Bourn, and minor league 3rd Baseman Mike Costanzo to the Astros for RP/CP Brad Lidge and IF Eric Bruntlett.

I will be frank, my reaction to this trade is not that good- it's a bit of a risky one. Geary had a great end to the 2007 season (although otherwise was quite below par), and Bourn likely has a great future ahead of him. Lidge only converted on 19/27 save opportunities, posting 3.36 ERA, although his pitching improved near the end of the season. I really hope the Phillies saw something in Lidge that I'm missing, because 19/27 save attempts is maybe not what I'd look for in a closer specifically. That being said, he could also be a set-up man to Myers if the Phillies so wish. However, according to MLB.com, Lidge will be the closer for the Phillies.

I would have probably shopped a bit more before making this trade. I know I said the Phillies shouldn't automatically make Myers their closer, but replacing him this fast seems a bit extreme on the other end of the spectrum. I think, though, that the Phillies haven't set Lidge being the closer in stone yet either- he could end up working out of the pen with Myers staying as the closer. If we're lucky here, Lidge may put up stats like he was a few years ago. Or, he could continue to have a bad save percentage, and put up an ERA of over 4.

With this trade the outfield has lost depth, but the infield has gained some.

Now, the Starting Rotation is looking like this:
Hamels, Myers, ???, Kendrick, Moyer

??? Could be anyone from Mark Prior to Matt Clement to Hideki Kuroda.


Next Move: Re-Sign J.C. Romero, go after a free-agent starter, and go after another free-agent reliever