Hot Stove League

[Hammer]

Geez, guys, no one is "catering" to Moyer. They are giving him his fair shot. Personally, I don't think they should give any more than that to Smoltz. Did you see how horribly he pitched last year? No way I think he should get any more of a shot at the 5th starter role than Moyer.

[Ian]

Christine you and I agree 100% on Smoltz. To me the interest in him reeks of last year's dalliance with Pedro.

So now that all the details are out there and it's basically confirmed that Happ is still in the fold, I feel a lot better.

Basically we dealt prospects to Toronto for Halladay and then turned around and dealt Lee to Seattle for their top prospects. Essentially we traded a Cliff Lee that we wouldn't be able to re-sign for a confirmed four years worth of Halladay.

Good move.

[Scar]

Here's my Omar Minaya impersonation...






And here's the average Met fan's impersonation...

[Scar]

Thanks to a little from Christine...

Overall Jason Bay was a solid aquisition. They had to land a good hitting left fielder with power and the only real choices through free agency were him or Holliday. Bay is probably not worth 16.5M per for 4 years, but it's far better than the 18M per for 7 years Holliday is looking for. It's just still hard to get too excited because what they really need is a good starter.

[Hammer]

Scar, one of my co-workers, who is a Mets fan thinks like you. He likes getting Bay as Holliday's asking price was crazy, but would rather they got someone to pitch behind Santana in the rotation first.

You know, I think Brett Myers is still out there or you could bring Pedro back .

[Scar]

So Holliday got his $17M+ for 7 years. I wonder if St. Louis will pay Pujols for A-Rod money in 2 years. I hope the Mets will if St. Louis doesn't.

You know, I think Brett Myers is still out there or you could bring Pedro back .

Yea, and I hear Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson are available.

[barnaby]

I am thankful for the Mets.
I would have upset if the Red Sox would have re-signed J-Bay for that much money.

[barnaby]

Christine you and I agree 100% on Smoltz. To me the interest in him reeks of last year's dalliance with Pedro.

So now that all the details are out there and it's basically confirmed that Happ is still in the fold, I feel a lot better.

Basically we dealt prospects to Toronto for Halladay and then turned around and dealt Lee to Seattle for their top prospects. Essentially we traded a Cliff Lee that we wouldn't be able to re-sign for a confirmed four years worth of Halladay.

Good move.

Dealing Lee just shows the Phillies are cheap. They could have kept Lee for another year, so what if ythey can't sign him after that. Halladay at the top of the rotation with that lineup behind them would have been sick. They have the money to get guys to fill the void if they didn't sign Lee after this upcoming season.

Prospects are just that - prospective players who may be good. The Phillies have drafted well the last few years, they could have re-stocked the system through the draft and signed free agents to bridge the gap. They have the money.

[Ian]

Dealing Lee just shows the Phillies are cheap.

They had the 7th highest payroll in major league baseball last year and will likely be higher than that in 2010.

I'm not sure I'd call them cheap.

[barnaby]

They had the 7th highest payroll in major league baseball last year and will likely be higher than that in 2010.

I'm not sure I'd call them cheap.

Thats kinda my point though.
They have the money to pay Lee for a year, then trade for or sign a replacement for him if they couldn't re-sign for 2011 and beyond.

The whole thing about them trading for prospects to re-stock I thought was a smoke-screen for ownership not wanting to have to deal with being ripped by the fans for keeping Lee for 2010 and then not bucking up to re-sign after this upcoming season.

[Ian]

I think it was just as simple as this ... this team has a budget and they need to stay within it. They aren't the Yankees or the Sox. They won't just spend willy nilly.

They were in a position where yeah ... they could have kept both Lee and Halladay. But they didn't feel like their starting rotation was so lacking that they had to invest that kind of money there. I mean Halladay, Hamels, Happ, Blanton, and Pitcher X is not a bad rotation at all. It matches up well with just about anyone.

On the other hand, their bullpen is a train wreck and they really needed to spend that $9 million there.

I think it was just a matter of priorities.

[Hammer]

I would be easy to say the Phillies were being cheap (though I agree with Ian that when you have a top 10 payroll you aren't really being cheap). The Phillies want to maintain the profit levels they are currently seeing since opening the new ballpark. The problem is you really are running out of ways to increase revenue besides substantially raising ticket and concession prices. Yes, my Sunday ticket plan price went up, but it was only $2 per seat per game, which is manageable. They raise prices too much; they are going to price themselves out for many of the fans. As I like to say, the people who live around Citizens Bank Park (South Philadelphia) can still afford to go to a game. Not sure you can say the same about the people who live around Yankee Stadium. Phillies work with a budget and they knew they needed to replenish the bullpen.

I think Lee's agent is partially to blame. The Phillies did make a contract offer and he did not get back to the Phillies with a counter offer until almost 1 week later, after Halladay was already in the picture. This is the same guy who is Ryan Howard's agent so it isn't like he doesn't know Ruben's telephone number.

[Ian]

Phils sign Blanton to a three year, $24 million deal.

[Scar]

Good move. The Mets paid $36M for three years to a worse pitcher last year.

Have they canceled the season yet?

[Ian]

Phils sign Victorino to 3 year $22 million contract.