Or maybe he hasn't.

The team announced last night that it had declined the third baseman's $5.5 million contract option for 2010. Feliz, who becomes a free agent, will be paid a $500,000 buyout.

With the move, the Phillies will look for an alternative at third base. It the team does not find one, it can re-sign Feliz to a new contract, probably for less than the $5.5 million he would have been guaranteed had the Phils exercised his option.

"This doesn't preclude us from bringing Pedro back," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "While this allows us to explore other opportunities, we will keep the lines of communication open with Pedro and his representative."

Amaro and his assistants will travel to the general managers meetings today in Chicago. Finding a third baseman now becomes one of the team's priorities. Several are on the free-agent market, including Chone Figgins, Adrian Beltre, and Mark DeRosa.

The Phils could also have interest in free agent Miguel Tejada, a longtime shortstop who is open to playing third base.

Second baseman Placido Polanco is another free agent who could find his way to third. The Phils explored the idea of trading for Tejada and moving him to third several years ago, but he was not open to changing positions at the time. Polanco played some third base for the Phils from 2002 to '05 before being traded to Detroit.

Amaro indicated last night that he had already covered some ground in his search for a third baseman.

"We've already had a couple of teams approach us about trades involving third basemen," he said.

Feliz, 34, played two seasons with the Phillies. He came to Philadelphia with the reputation of being an outstanding defender with some pop in his bat. He upheld his defensive reputation - in fact, he was superb with the glove - but showed only occasional power, with 26 homers in two seasons. Before coming to Philadelphia, he had four straight seasons of at least 20 homers with the San Francisco Giants.

Overall, Feliz hit .259 with a dreadful .306 on-base percentage in two seasons with the Phils.

He hit just .167 in the postseason this year, but he did tie Game 4 of the World Series with an eighth-inning home run. The Phillies ended up losing when the Yankees scored three runs in the ninth.

Feliz was a postseason hero in 2008. He drove in what proved to be the winning run in the Phils' clinching Game 5 win over Tampa Bay in the World Series.