Coming straight for the "thank the lord, I needed to hear that" department, Jayson Stark reports in a interview with The Fan that Cole Hamels is looking fantastic down in Florida. Phew. There's a big difference between quality Florida pitching and regular season success, however it's a leap in the right direction. Here's the transcript from iSportacus:
“Cole Hamels showed up last spring throwing 77 mph…This winter, he has been a man on a mission…I’m telling you, he is throwing harder in the bullpen sessions than he threw in the games last spring.”
That's the kind of stuff Hamels needs to have written about him to be our ace again. "Man on a mission" -- kind of like his 2008 playoff performance. Kind of the way we've been praying he would pitch since he first showed his brilliance as a rookie. I only wish I had resigned him in my fantasy league before this tid bit broke. And the praise doesn't stop there, more from iSportacus:
In an article in the Delco Times, Raul Ibanez had this to say about Hamels: “Honestly, he looks great,” workout maven Raul Ibanez said, one of four hitters to face Hamels Friday. “From watching him, he’s looks stronger. He looks thicker than he did before. He looks like he’s in really good shape and excited to get going. He’s in a really good frame of mind.”
The post also talks about Hamels adding a curveball and cutter to his repertoire for the upcoming season, both of which will be on display this Friday. Well, at least Hamels is admitting that he previously had zero curveball to speak of. That lack of a third pitch speaks volumes about just how good of a pitcher he is if he can get by on two pitches alone (get by is a relative term in this context).
Well, I don't know about the rest of the Philly Phaithful, but I needed this news at some point in the Spring and I'm ecstatic now that's it's finally here.
At the end of this season, Ruben Amaro is going to be under the gun. Jayson Werth established himself as one of the Phillies best players last season and he becomes a free agent. If Jay puts together a season similar to his outstanding work in 2009, this pay day will be a big one. Werth is a four tool player who does all four of those things exceptionally: hit for power, play defense, steal bases, and throw from the outfield. That fifth tool (batting average) isn't a strong suit of his, but it's not so mediocre as to be detrimental to the ball club.
Werth started his career as a promising young outfielder drafted by the Orioles, immediately traded to the Blue Jays and moved again after a few stints in the bigs to the Dodgers. A 6'5" lanky outfielder who projected with plus-power and good speed, Jay was derailed by wrist injuries throughout his time in LA. The Phillies signed him in 2007 to platoon in the outfield and by 2008 he'd taken the position from Geoff Jenkins on a full-time basis. In '09, well you know all about the career year that the Wolfman put together. In 2010, now 31, Werth will earn himself a huge contract on the market if he continues his improved play. Another 36 homer, 20 stolen base season will all but cement a contract well above the 3 year, $30 million that Raul signed last offseason. Matt Holliday money is a little aggressive for the big right fielder because this will only be his second full season as a starter, but the money will be big and presumably, long as well.
Jayson Werth took questions about his future recently and here is some insight on the comment and situation:
MLBTR: Andy Martino of the Philadelphia Inquirer was part of the group questioning Werth about the future today. Asked if he sees himself as comparable to Jason Bay and Matt Holliday, Werth said he feels he's "a season away from something like that." Keep in mind that 2009 was the only time Werth reached 500 plate appearances in his seven-year career.
Werth says he's only had very preliminary talks with the Phillies about an extension. He wants to stay, and deferred to his agent when asked if he'd negotiate in-season. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. raised the topic a month ago, saying "there will be some difficult decisions down the road."
It seems feasible that Werth will exceed the three-year, $30MM range occupied by Raul Ibanez and Milton Bradley the previous offseason. Werth has advantages over both players, and given a strong 2010 he should be able to command four or five years at at least $12MM per.
Hardball Talk: Cliff Lee had "preliminary" talks with the Phillies too. He was shipped out of town, like, a week later. I don't think that Werth will get the same treatment -- he's quite popular in Philly and it's not like the Phillies can just go out and grab the a rightfield equivalent of Roy Halladay to take his place -- but it's going to be a little complicated.
My guess: Philly will look to lock him up with some sort of backloaded deal in which the real money kicks in after Raul Ibanez's, Brad Lidge's and maybe even Ryan Howard's money comes off the books in 2012.
My guess? The Wolfman ends up leaving town after a deal can't be done in house. I'll be sad when he goes, but if Domonic Brown plays well and Raul doesn't need an AARP card by the end of 2010, Jayson Werth might end up being the odd man out.
Finally, something in the Phillies universe to talk about. I don't know about you guys, but top 25 moments lists and recaps of last season aren't all that interesting. If the people want them, I will supply them, otherwise we will continue with relevant things to talk about. Today, we've got some comments from Ruben Amaro Jr. (our GM, if you didn't know that, leave now) included in a piece by Ken Rosenthal:
But right now, no team is more settled than the Phillies through 2011. In fact, the Phillies are so settled — and so expensive — that Amaro is not entirely kidding when he says he eventually might need to “disband” the roster.
The Phillies, according to the Cot’s Baseball Contracts web site, already have $132.4 million committed to 15 players in 2011— which, if you’re keeping score, is the season after this one.
Disband is a very strong word, however the point remains, this Phillies team is getting older and more expensive by the minute. If at some point the teams hits a major block in the road and falters, disbanding is not far out of the question.
“The payroll can’t continue to go north,” Amaro says. “When you get to a point where you’re basically at 100 percent capacity in your ballpark and 100 percent capacity almost in your revenues, somewhere it’s got to stop. I’m not crying poverty by any means. But at some point you have to be cognizant of where things are going.”
The Phillies have never been a "big market" team in the classic sense of the word. Yes, Philly is a big market, but the team only recently began to spend as such. The ownership isn't going to continue on a Mark Cuban/George Steinbrenner-like path to fiscal insanity. The road levels off and drops somewhere, most likely right where it is now around $110-130 million.
The choice, then, came down to this:
One year of Lee, mediocre prospects for Blanton and the prospect of gaining two draft picks if Lee departed as a free agent or . . .
Three years of Blanton and three better prospects for Lee.
Not so clear-cut, is it?
Especially not when, in Amaro’s view, the draft picks were less valuable than they appeared.
“Lee is likely to sign with a high-payroll club,” Amaro says. “If we get that pick, it could be somewhere between 25 and 30. That’s the first pick.
“...You’re not looking at slam dunks. You get after the 10th or 15th pick in baseball, you’re kind of rolling the dice... Plus, those guys that we’re drafting may not get to the big leagues for four, five or six years. They are so much further away.
“The whole scenario of ‘Let’s just go for broke and pick up the draft picks and that’s fine,’ that doesn’t serve the purpose of what we’re trying to do, which is put ourselves in a position to win every year.
"We’re going to have to start filtering in younger players for some of the guys who become less productive as they get older.”
Ruben is absolutely in his long-term assessment of the franchise (phew, otherwise we'd be in trouble), but I think he fails to see the ceiling a Lee/Halladay/Hamels team creates. Does talent directly lead to a championship? Hell no. But when you have a chance to distance yourself by such a wide margin, at such a low cost, don't you have to do it?
Yes, there needs to be young players to bridge the gap between retiring and diminishing players. And yes, the prospects we'd receive via draft may take 4 or 5 years from making the big club, but isn't that about the time we'd really need them. 4 or 5 years in when the Utley's and Howard's and Werth's are going to gone or on their way out. Why do we need a stocked farm system today? It's always good to have one, but there's a window where we're not exactly calling up blue-chippers because there's no room on the big club, right now.
Amaro says he would prefer to simply keep Howard “forever,” adding, “we have a little bit of time to deal with that.” But for the Phillies to retain Werth – or find a comparable right-handed hitter – something will have to give.
Things may look very different in Philly starting in 2011. Namely, the Ryan Howard negotiations could get messy and there are plenty of scenarios where we lose the big man. However, it is nice to see Amaro paying him his due respect and we can rest assured that the organization does in fact value him long-term.
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The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 