Unfortunately for the 3 or 4 of you who read this, the job that pays me money has required me to do some actual work in the past few weeks. We're talking 8+ hours a day and conference calls on weekends. Our founding fathers would be very disappointed to know that I was in the office on President's Day! But alas, I haven't been hiding completely under a rock for the past few weeks...
Touching on the Phillies, their last few days have been baffling. Shuffled around in all the pomp and circumstance of pitchers and catchers reporting is a story from the weekend that
suggested the Phillies were attempting to work out a three way trade that would have sent Joe Blanton to the Angels for Bobby Abreu who could be flipped to the Yankees for AJ Burnett. While I'm not sure which party nixed this idea if the Phillies were indeed interested
(Burnett apparently has a problem with playing in LA, but I'm guessing the Angels would have liked a little more in return for Abreu anyway), the question remains why were the Phillies barking up this tree in the first place? Presumably, any deal that sent Abreu to the Yankees wouldn't have included a lot of cash in return to offset Burnett's contract
(which is what the Yankees ultimately did in sending him to the Pirates), because Abreu is almost equally overpaid. Not only is
Joe Blanton about $8M a year cheaper in 2012 than Burnett, the team is free of his contract at the end of the year. Statistically they're almost the exact same player! So what possible reasoning could there be to take on $33M and 2 years of AJ Burnett?
Is there really anyone out there that believes that a 2013 with Burnett is an adequate safety net for the potential loss of
Cole Hamels in free agency? The guy's career stat lines read like a roller coaster! If that's the case, just offer Blanton arbitration next year as it's very doubtful anyone is knocking on his door with a $16M bag in their hands! Phillies fans really dodged a bullet here because AJ Burnett in red pinstripes would have made for some dreadful summers the next two years.
But Ruben wasn't done panicking about his 2013 staff just yet, as he went ahead instead and
signed Kyle Kendrick to a 2 year $7.5M contract on Sunday. While the signing comes with a very reasonable price tag for a #5 starter/long reliever who moves well from the bullpen to the rotation, the timing of the deal makes little sense. First of all, Kendrick's $3.585M arbitration number for this coming season is a hair below the average annual value of the new deal. It's a few pennies different in baseball dollars and it prevents him from seeking arbitration next season, but does anyone expect
Kyle Kendrick to have such a year that his arbitration number would significantly jump next year anyway? Looking at recent players of a similar mold over the past few years, I don't see any way his salary could have jumped to more than $5M for 2013 anyway unless he performed at a
Roy Halladay like pace. The more likely scenario is that he performs at a very Kyle Kendrick like pace and then the Phillies would have had the option of non-tendering him next year to save a roster spot. I don't mind having a Kendrick type around, but his rights belonged to the Phillies through 2014 anyway, so why make a deal like this when Kendrick is coming off perhaps his best season in the majors and has shown rampant inconsistency in his 4 years?
In happier potential signing news, I was very excited to see
multiple reports that linked the Phillies to top Cuban prospect Jorge Soler. While Yoenis Cespedes was the Cuban name on everyone's tounge for most of this offseason, most scouts seem to think that the younger Soler has greater upside and projects as a more balanced player. Personally I'm fascinated by the idea of seeing the Phillies finally land a big name foreign talent. While for every Ichiro, there are a dozen Daisuke Matsusaka's, who require boat loads of cash up front and flame out in a year or two, the prospect of investing in a guy who is only 19 is more appealing to me than signing a player who has already established themselves in a foreign professional league. With
Shane Victorino entering free agency and no current long term plan for left field, a five tool outfielder would be a welcome addition to a club that is so dangerously low on top prospects. It's a long shot as the above mentioned Victorino and of course Hamels are still top priorities, but a Cuban stud could be just what the Phillies need to kick off their next renaissance.
And speaking of prospects,
Baseball America has released their top 100 prospects rankings entering the 2012 season. Unfortunately you have to scroll all the way down to #69 to find the only Phillies player to make the top 100. What you will see, however, is a lot of familiar names. Of the top 100 for 2012, #34
Jonathan Singleton and #50
Jarred Cosart were used to acquire
Hunter Pence, #39
Anthony Gose bought us a year and a half of
Roy Oswalt, and #17
Travis d'Arnaud landed Roy Halladay. Prospects are just that, prospects. But the last one in d' Arnaud is really the one that hurts the most.
He projects as a pure catcher with both the ability to handle the game and skills with the bat. He could have been groomed nicely by an aging
Carlos Ruiz who at 33, doesn't project to have many more years of 130+ games in him like he had last season. This isn't to say that the Phillies farm system is completely devoid of talent. The problem is, much of their higher ceiling players are still in the lower levels of development. That's not a terrible problem to have considering how many players would be blocked by perennial All-Stars anyway. So don't panic just yet when you see so few Phillies on prospect ranking sheets. The
Larry Greene's and
Lisalberto Bonnilla's of the organization are still a few years away, but show a lot of promise.
