The Zo Zone

Well, finally. I like both choices but, but, still think they should look at another pitcher. And the younger the better as to who is left in the market. I am thinking Silva but who knows how Pat and Amaro will go. Perhaps one of the 19 people invited including an OF will be added to or perhaps one of those guys, a P will be added. Who knows with the Phils?

Just a thank you for your outstanding coverage and insight into the workings of the Phillies. Best wishes for the New Year and I look forward to your ongoing coverage and thoughts.
Richard Hess
Charlottsville, Va.

Silva signed a 4 year 44 million deal. Not worth it at all. Lohse is gonna get a similar deal. Still not worth it. Benson still has a way to go but he should be cheap and take a 1 year deal... I would like that route

As for Jenkins, I think he is a perfect signing. He and Werth perfectly compliment each other and should make a very productive RF.

The Phillies pull off a major transaction as they
signed former Milwaukee Brewer and USC Trojan Geoff
Jenkins to man their right field. As for the Chad
Durbin signing it is ok, but a better signing would
of been Former Cubbie, Mark Prior. I think that I
would make 2 more moves if I were The Phillie GM.
I would try to sign 40 year veteran Kenny Lofton as
my Center-fielder as he still has some speed and
game winning base hits. a bolder move would be to
sign Ex-Baltimore Oriole Center--fielder Corey Patterson as he has loads of talent. secondly, I would
sign Ex-Pirate Shawn Chacon as my starter.. that's about it...

Lofton in CF???

Why would we do that when we have Victorino who would be a better defender and probably has a better bat at this point in Lofton's career.

A one-year arbitration-eligible deal (which will probably be around $1m) for Durbin makes a lot of sense to me...he started for the Tigers until Kenny Rogers came back in mid-June...after his first 3 starts (where he gave up 16 ER in only 13.2 IP), he did a pretty decent job until Rogers rejoined the rotation (a 3.06 ERA in 11 starts after the first 3 starts). His WHIP was 1.43 - right around the AL average, and WAY better than either the "other" Durbin (1.65) or Eaton (1.63)...and it was actually even better than both Moyer and Lohse (both at 1.44). Even if all the guy does is replace Alfonseca (he of the 1.85 WHIP), it is a nice price/value deal. This way, if Eaton still looks bad or Moyer gets hurt, there is no need to rush Carrasco...we cah at least let him start in triple-A and get some more starts under his belt (in a perfect world, we don't need him until 2009).

Jenkins is fine. Victorino will be as good or even better in CF than Rowand, And Jenkins/Werth sould come close to approximating the NORMALIZED production that you would get out of Rowand...and we're not on the hook for 5/$60m....now, if we can just tweak things at 3B a little, then Gillick will have had a pretty decent off-season.

i agree we should sign chacon and patterson they would be good fits for our teamm all patterson needs is a good club house to be in he was wit the cubbys wen they sucked and was wit the orioles and they suck if he comes into a winning team mabbe he can turn his career around and chacon jus for depth u can never have too much pitching

I'm just hearing this rumor now, but any thoughts on the Phils/M's trade which is pretty much Eaton for Beltre? I'm probably a few days behind.

http://www.sportspot.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=12256

610 WIP and ESPN Radio report that the Phillies could be close to a deal with Seattle. The deal would send Adam Eaton along with pitching prospect Carlos Carrasco over to the Mariners for Adrian Beltre and Horacio Ramirez. The Phils are willing to take on a large portion of Beltre's contract.

Howard, Chase, Jimmy, Pat, Shane, Brett, and Cole.

All of those players I adore.

The rest of the roster, always, I'm never fond of.

I want to want to love everybody on the team.

Drew -

You are late on that deal. It makes no sense for the Ms. They would be insane to do that.

In a perfect world we could get that deal done, but why would the Ms sign silva and then be concerned with dumping money?

Do the Phillies and Eagles shop at the same discount dollar store?

I'm glad we landed Jenkins rather than Cameron. I like Cameron's glove, but I don't like his often subpar batting average and that fact that he'd be unable to play the first 25 games. Jenkins' bat better fits the Charlie Manual profile of hackers. I know little about this Durbin, but I wouldn't mind seeing the Phils continue to pile up pitchers with major league experience. Someone's bound to have a good year out of that bunch.

No thanks on that Beltre trade. He's a longtime dog.

I like jenkins and durbin, i think they will contribute well. Jenkins basically takes over what werth was last year, and i think manuel managed the right field platoon pretty well. what worries me is werth, being that he got really tired toward the end of the season and really slowed down. since jenkins was a starter in milwaukee, hopefully if he is called upon to start on an everyday basis, it will work out well. one thing i dont understand is why arent the phils going after prior. i understand he has had recurring problems and injury, but he probably has the highest potential of the free agent starters like colon, benson, and garcia. why not go after the guy with the most potential, and if he goes 15-4 with a sub 3 era, you basically struck gold. if he pulls a garcia tho, its only for one year, and you can get rid of him the next. plus it wont take 10 million to get him for a year like it did garcia, and we won without garcia when he got hurt, and since we got another starter in myers, if somethin does happen to prior we can compensate. its not like benson, or colon, or anyone else is also guarenteed to not get hurt. i say go for it all, and sign prior, see what he is made of.

The Jenkins deal is okay but we have not replaced Rowand and Bourn in terms of defense, speed, and total contribution. Durbin's are a dime a dozen.

The Beltre thing is a myth made up by some Fanstasy geeks. It is not being "reported" on WIP and SR950. Callers are quoting these blogs but nothing more.

Even Jayson Stark yesterday morning on SR950 characterized the Phils as "bottom feeders". Buy cheap, get cheap. It seems as though many of our bloggers are congratulating the Phils for being cheap. One championship in 130 years. Congratulations on your brilliant strategy.

Signing Durbin opens up a new PR opportunity: Double Durbin Day. That's where one starts and the other comes out of the pen. It will be right up there with Dollar Dog Day.

I like the Jenkins signing. 2 years is excellent and I also think Werth/Jenkins won't be much of a drop-off from Rowand offensively. Jenkins can also play LF to spell Burrell.

Durbin's questionable but I agree that worst case he can provide middle/long relief. Who can complain if they got him for a year? We need to hope Kendrick is for real unless they land a more top-notch starter. I'd take Lohse back but not at what he's asking.

For those of us concerned with the Phillies finances. 2007 revenues will top $200,000 a team record. Television and licensing revenue are increasing as are some ticket prices. Some of the top teams in baseball like the Yankees and Red Sox spend 66% of their revenues on salaries. The league standard is 60%. The Phillies are easily a $120 million salary ballclub.

When do teams spend more? When they feel they are close to winning and when they know they have money coming off the books. Are the Phils close to winning? You decide. But they have $21 million coming off the books next year with Burrell and Gordon; and $15 million coming off the books the following year with Thome and Eaton.

What are the Phillies going to do with all that revenue. The owners' original investment was $30 million, which they have all made back over the past 27 years. The team's value has risen to $600 million. A good team is like a good growth stock, you buy it for appreciation value. When you milk the income out of it you are limiting growth, which is what the Phillies are doing.

If we had a good enough farm system to produce a surplus of talent that fills needs with leftovers to trade if necessary, we wouldn't have to discuss this type of spending. Look at last year's best, most exciting teams. Cleveland, San Diego, Arizona, and Colorado did it with homegrown players. Boston has some terrific home grown players and they will pay for talent. The Yankees paid for talent as did the Angels. Let's learn from this a stop helping the Phils crying poor mouth constantly.

I think Jenkins was the right pick over Cameron. The offensive side of the team is set, except for a player off the bench who can play center. The 3b position is somewhat uncertain but it is basically what they had last year and they won the East.

Now, picking up Durbin means nothing. I think he might be a little better than what the Phillies had last year but that is not say much. Even if they sign Benson, you can say the something about Benson, Hamels, Madson, and Eaton will they stay health for the entire season. If they stay health, can they pitch the entire season without getting tired. I know this can be said about half of pitching staffs in baseball. Hopefully they can stay health and consistent though out the year. Because the offense will be fine and if the pitching staff is better than they were last year there is no reason why they can not go to the WS.

Jenkins good deal! The combos of Vic, Burrell, Werth, and Jenkins will provide a better offense than last year from the outfield. Jenkins and Werth will be facing favorable match-ups about 80-90% of the time! Vic has more speed, more range, and a better arm than Rowand. Werth can spell Vic in CF, not the best D, but it will work, plus the speed replacement of Roberson or Golson will fill in when needed.
You have to believe that the Phil's will spend some good money and get the job done with all of the money becoming available. Hamels, Howard, Meyers, and maybe Rollins will need extensions or long term deals.
Getting a lot of MLB experienced pitchers will help with the support cast of pitching, but if they want to really push for the NL East, NLCS, and WS they will need to get another good pitcher or have someone rise to the top and get it done. (Any takers on bets for who it will be? Eaton, Durbin, Durbin, Benson, Blackley, Carasco, Outman, another not yet in the arsenal???)

Jenkins is a good player but will leave the Phills susceptable to tough lefthanded pitches.this will lessen the production of both Utley and Howard. Cameron would have given them better defense and another right handed bat and better balance from both sides. Still hope they give Madson a shot in the rotation. He has th ability to win 13-16 games with his stuff then sign Dotel to replace Ryan in the pen

Like Jenkins too and Durbin's OK. Why not add an arm on a one-year deal (no risk)?

Let's remember that Dobbs also can play outfield. We have Helms and that Eric Astros guy to help at 3B, though I am not a Helms guy.

Benson should be avoided. I really see no way he can stay healthy this year. Very high-risk move and he's never been that good either. At least Garcia and Lieber were winners at times.

We should not sign Myers to a long-term contract at this point. He needs to have a 14-game win season (or more) first. He needs to put up 180 innings or more. Howard? Absolutely.

This team is getting close. One quality starter away, in my opinion.

Geoff Jenkins is is this years Wes Helms. Anothernover the hill stiff. Spend some money Montgomery and Mrs Betz answer the the next cash call you cant take it with you you old battle ax.

hopefully charlie will bat burrell, jenkins, and helms 5-6-7 i see alot of opportunities in the hit and run game. All three run well and are good contact hitters-what a joke

It bothers me that Pat Gillick says he may be finished searching for pitching. The Phils need more, more, more good arms. We can win this Division with decent pitching. Moyer is very old, Eaton is hurt and Hamels has a history of injury, Kendrick may have been a flash in the pan. What is Gillick thinking?

It bothers me that Pat Gillick says he may be finished searching for pitching. The Phils need more, more, more good arms. We can win this Division with decent pitching. Moyer is very old, Eaton is hurt and Hamels has a history of injury, Kendrick may have been a flash in the pan. What is Gillick thinking?

Gillick's thinking that there is nothing out there. They don't have the prospects to trade for Bedard or Santana, Silva got an obscene cotract froma team that isn't ready to compete in its division, and Lohse is looking to more than double his salary for the next 4 years after going 9-12 with a 4.62 ERA. If the Phillies cave and give him that deal, you'll eb complaining about him for 3 1/2 years, just like Eaton. Prior, Colon, Benson, are all injury prone, if the Phils sign one of them, and it doesn't pan out, we'll hear the same complaining that we heard about Garcia. So for all the complainers out there, please let me know that the realistic solution is to add a pitcher?

Gillick has said a lot of things that didn't turn out to be true. It helps in negotiating.
If you tell someone you might be interested in what he's selling instead of making it publicly known that you are desperate for it, the price will be lower.

Given the limited options out there this year, Gillick has done OK in picking up Lidge and Jenkins (with the added benefit of returning Myers to the rotation) without giving up too much. Of course, Lidge and Myers have to step up big-time or I don't see the Phillies repeating as division champs. Having Madson healthy will also help a lot. Still...I'd like to see the Phils take a shot at a Prior or a Benson for a year.

Given the limited options out there this year, Gillick has done OK in picking up Lidge and Jenkins (with the added benefit of returning Myers to the rotation) without giving up too much. Of course, Lidge and Myers have to step up big-time or I don't see the Phillies repeating as division champs. Having Madson healthy will also help a lot. Still...I'd like to see the Phils take a shot at a Prior or a Benson for a year.

Gillick has made some smart moves with making good additions to the already strong core. However, they are going to need a pitcher to step up and support the, hopefully, 15-16+ wins seasons that Hamels and Meyers have. I am not sure the people they have now will be able to do that. Kendrick will do well but may not win 15.
Does anyone feel among Durbin, Durbin, Blackley, Eaton, Moyer, Carasco, or Outman that one of these guys will be the one that steps up and helps the Phil's push into the NL East, NLCS, and WS?
Please do not say Madson, he is support in the pen at best!
They need another pitcher that does this, maybe they will get it through trade during the season???