The Zo Zone

Todd,

Please remember that the amount of money that the Phillies say they will/will not spend is SELF IMPOSED!!! Why can't they get A-Rod AND three pitchers at $10 million each? Because the owners work off a busines plan where they don't lose money. Good business but usually bad for the fans.

OK ... now that I'm back to reality with the Phils I completely agree with you. They are not going to overspend and the money MUST go to pitching. As Charlie says, "We hit good!. We need pitching.

A pox on the house of any team that spends 30M for A-Rod. Or any player.

If he gets his price, the ripple effect on players like Howard going to arbitration will kill everyone's payroll. Free agent salaries will be out of sight. We will be a small market team in that kind of environment for sure.

Baseball owners should look at the NBA for a model of what NOT to do, but I fear they are too stupid to learn from anyone else's mistakes.

Maybe collusion wasn't such a bad thing after all.

What a silly idea. Get the best 3B available AND pitching. This is the Phillies, for heaven's sake. There's no chance. That would be the BOLD thing to do, not the SAFE thing.

Haven't overall payrolls gone out of whack already? It won't make much difference if A-Rod gets his $30M/year...and does anyone really think he won't?

This is idiocy. A-Rod is the best player in baseball why would you not "pursue" him. Now I don't think the phillies would/should give out a $300 mil deal. I am not 100% sure he could handle playing in Philly. I doubt he would agree to remain at 3B. Now those are the reasons why the Phillies won't sign him.

But, why not at least talk to the man? Give his agent a call and say listen lets just sit down and have a talk. Will it work? no Is it worth it? yes

Oh so many years ago the phillies passed on Frank Thomas because we had Rickey Jordan in the minors. The way I see it, is make a sales pitch and when it fails so be it, but why not try to get the best talent.

And while we are on this subject avoid Lowell, Atkins, and Blalock. Focus on the Miguels Tejada and Cabrera and after that don't let gillick trade or sign any one for more than $1.5 million a year he's not so good at those acquisitions

Stay the course , smart moves, pitching. Phils drew 3 million fans. A-Rod isn't gone to draw much more. I personally would go after an established catcher, that would have an immediate impact with our pitching. Ruiz will get better , but the urgency should pe put to the present. Where's he rank among National league catchers ? Get my drift ? I've read that he doesn't even speak English..

Jimmymack,

MLB's revenues keep growing at a staggering rate. The money is there for them ... the problem, as I see it, is that it's not equal across the board. MLB is the only major sport in America without a cap. The revenue sharing was supposed to have helped but it didn't. The vast majority of successful teams are those with $95+ million in payroll. I have no problem with A-Rod making $30 million. The money either goes to the owners or the ballplayers. As a fan I should care less ... as long as my team has a chance to WIN the World Series each year (not just be competitive).
To your point about being "a small market team" ... that's the decision the Phillies owners make. Nobody has a gun to their head saying that we can ONLY spend $95 million. The issue is that they DON'T want to spend more money. They could go in to each year losing $25 million a year if they wanted to do so. Problem is they don't (not that I don't blame them ...) but wouldn't it be nice if you had ownership with DEEP pockets and willing to lose money if that is what it took to win a World Series? We all know that you can't buy a World Championship but looking at the Phillies having A-Rod at third AND 3 new quality starting pitchers WILL make them a better team. Steinbrener does it with the Yankees. Why can't Bill Giles and Company do it for the Phillies? ... it's either because they won't or they can't. If they won't ... why own a team? If they can't then sell the team to someone who can.

Any Phillies fan that wants ARod for even $20 million a year is insane. As Buster Olney has pointed out at ESPN, ARod's salary is higher than the Padres pitching staff--total. One player, no matter how many stats they produce, is not worth 25-35% of a team's salary. Even if the Phillies suddenly raised payroll $50 million, he'd still comprise 20%. Following Ramirez and ARod's first contracts 5 years ago, no one has come close to approaching these numbers, except for the ridiculous Clemens signing this year.

For $30 million, you could have Schilling (or Lowell), Rowand (or Cameron), two 7th-8th inning relievers, and a backup catcher. Not saying that the Phillies will do this, but that's what you COULD have.

And enough with the likes of Miguel Cabrera or Tejada. Not to mention the fact they have no prospects of value to obtain him, the last thing the Phillies need is an overweight corner infielder who could break down at any moment--we have one of those.

Bottom line--spending large amounts of money will not fix the Phillies problems; it will only make them worse. Their payroll flexibility was destroyed with the contracts Wade gave out. Adding an expensive veteran who could break down will only delay winning a title five more years.

The Phils can only draw a little over 3.5 million fans a year if they sell out every game. They don't have their own network, like the Yankees and Mets to generate the extra income. It would be great if Warren Buffet owned the team and could take a 25M loss every year, or a corporation like Comcast that can write it off as advertising, but we are stuck with what we have. And they ain't deep pockets. So you have to smart your way into contention with signings or non signings (Rowand), that are emotionless, well thought out and within whatever budget you can get the owners to approve. Reality sucks.

My concern is still that if salaries spiral out of control, and 30M is out of control, the ripple effect on teams without deep pockets (Phillies) will be immense. If A-Rod is worth 30M, isn't Howard worth 20M? Rollins,15 M? Hamels, 15M? That's 50M for 3 players. What you WILL get is, goodbye Ryan, see ya Cole, when they reach free agent status. I lived thru the 1960 era Phillies once, that was enough. Maybe A-Rods extra offense would have won us some more games, but we would really have to win 11-10 every night.
I am not a fan of this ownership group, I wish they would spend more but nobody can make them sell. So let's deal with what we have and hope Gillick can make some smart moves this winter and get us some pitching. And some more pitching. And some extra pitching.

Todd- finally got you linked up on my blog (don't know what took me so long, you're more than worthy).

Anyway- A-Rod is probably the marquee free agent of all-time, but the money he wants is crazy and for the Phils or almost any of the other 29 teams to throw that kind of cash at him would really make them cut back in other areas around the diamond.

I can't believe we are actually entertaining this thought. Like ARod coming to Philly will ever happen. That is like the Eagles signing a big time free agent wide receiver. Let's stop wasting time discussing ARod's possible future as a Phillie, and start talking about how to rebuild the Phillies pitching staff and bullpen.

Can we please drop this notion of signing a new catcher? Ruiz is fine. We don't need the absolute best at every single position. Everyone is acting like a bunch of kids arguing over how to spend their dead grandparents' inheritance money.

I love this logic: We'll never get A-Rod. We shouldn't get A-Rod. But lets' talk to A-Rod. Beautiful. Maybe he and Boras will toos all the other offers and just come to Philly for kicks. Oh, and I'm sure he won't disrupt the chemistry of the club at all. Please.

This team is in pretty good shape. They're close... IF we get real pitching help.

Sign Rowand. Overpay a bit if you have to- that's how it works. Go after Schilling. Todd makes a great point about the one-year deal. I have to believe the Yankees will keep Rivera, but if he's truly available, go after him and put Myers back in the rotation.

As for 3rd base, Lowell would be great, but not sure he's affordable after winning the World Series MVP (just our luck!). I'd be up for bringing back Nunez at a lower pay scale and using him to shore up the defense, a la last year.

Bottom line: Don't waste time on A-Rod.

All of you keep forgetting that the Phillies payroll is set ... BY THE PHILLIES!!!!! Not MLB or their mommy and daddies! It could be $220 million IF they wanted it to be ... problem is we don't have the Steinbreneurs in ownership ... we have Jed Clampet (Beverly Hillbillies).

Tell me why we can't have A-Rod AND 2 pitchers, someone new in the bullpen, a new thirdbaseman and Aaron Rowand?

Not being a complete nitwit I realize that we don't have that type of ownership in Philadelphia. That being the case STOP LETTING THE OWNERSHIP OFF THE HOOK ON THE PAYROLL!!!!

Make them tell us why they won't spend $150 Million a season!

SCOTT BORAS SHOULD BE SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!