The Phillies took a pass on re-signing Brad Lidge, but jumped at the opportunity Tuesday to add another veteran arm to their bullpen by signing righthander Chad Qualls to a one-year deal worth $1.15 million.

The team announced the deal this morning and said it also includes performance and award bonuses.

Qualls, 33, went 6-8 with a 3.51 ERA in 77 games with the San Diego Padres last season and has a career record of 38-34 with 51 saves and a 3.78 ERA.

He has pitched at least 70 innings in five of his eight big-league seasons and has made more relief appearances (512) over the last seven seasons than any pitcher in baseball. He had two of his best seasons with Arizona in 2008 and 2009 before struggling in 2010. In his final 19 appearances with the Padres last season, he posted a 1.96 ERA and opposing hitters batted .219 against him.

The addition of Qualls puts the Phillies' 40-man roster at 39 and probably leaves only one relief spot open for competition in spring training.

You can read more about Qualls in Wednesday's Inquirer.

There is no edict that says the Phillies must remain under the mythical barrier of the Competitive Balance Tax, better known as the luxury tax. The team is not required to open its books to anyone, so we cannot be sure what sort of profit margins exist at 1 Citizens Bank Park Way. Needless to say, times have never been this good for the money machine. And, in turn, the Phillies' payroll has never been higher.

But $178 million remains the ceiling set publicly by Ruben Amaro Jr. "Luxury tax" has replaced "revenue sharing" as the buzz phrase in South Philadelphia, the surest sign of changing times. (In fact, under the new collective bargaining agreement, the Phillies are ineligible to ever receive any revenue sharing money should times be tough again.)

Amaro has often said this winter that his team is up against the tax threshold. That has been met with skepticism because in actual dollars, the Phillies will pay their current roster approximately $156 million in 2012. 

But that's not how the payroll is calculated for luxury tax purposes.

Last season, the Phillies fell short of paying luxury tax by less than $1 million, according to a baseball source. Two payments totaling approximately $8 million from the Houston Astros to offset salaries for Roy Oswalt and Hunter Pence ensured the Phillies could stay under the $178 million mark.

The complication lies in two factors: Major League Baseball recognizes contracts by their annual average value (AAV) — not by the dollar amount the team is actually paying that player. So, for example, Cliff Lee earned $11 million in salary last season because the Phillies back loaded the contract. But under the guise of MLB, Lee accounted for $24 million in payroll because of the AAV of his five-year, $120 million deal.

In some instances, that can benefit the Phillies. Chase Utley made $15 million in 2011 and $15 million in 2012, but he counts for only $12.14 million against the luxury tax.

Ultimately, the two figures do not differ greatly.

* = estimated salary at major-league minimum of $480,000

So for 2012, the AAV is $3 million more than actual payroll. But we're still well shy of the mythical $178. 

That's where Hunter Pence, who remains unsigned, factors. Pence is in his third year of arbitration and his agent Rick Thurman (who just negotiated a mega-arbitration deal for Tim Lincecum) submitted a salary request of $11.8 million. The Phillies countered at $9 million, a difference of $2.8 million. (Pence made $6.9 million in 2011.)

The Phillies typically avoid arbitration hearings at all costs. They can be messy and detrimental. Since arbitration began in 1974, the Phillies have entered eight hearings. They have won seven and lost one, that one being the most recent in 2008 with Ryan Howard.

Thurman showed a willingness to go to a hearing last winter when he took Pence up against the Astros and won. That's not to say a hearing will happen again in 2012, but that $2.8 million could be quite important to the Phillies for luxury tax purposes.

Why? Well, every payroll (as recognized by MLB) must include monies for player benefits. That number, according to a source, typically amounts to $10 or $11 million per season. That's why the Phillies were so close to the limit last season, even with the Astros subsidizing a large chunk of salary.

So if Pence makes $9 million in 2012 and $10 million in benefits is added, the Phillies hit that mythical $178 million figure. If he's at $11.8 million, they could go over.

Again, we'll stress these are rough calculations and plenty of things can change between now and the end of the season, when MLB does its accounting. But this paints a clearer picture of how the Phillies actually toe the line between paying the tax and not.

Teams that surpass the threshold of $178 million in 2012 will be taxed 20 percent for every penny over. The ceiling remains $178 million in 2013, but the penalties increase for repeat offenders. So if the Phillies go over in 2012 and 2013, they would pay a 30 percent tax in 2013. If they go over only in 2013, it's a 17.5 percent tax.

The threshold then increases to $189 million in 2014. So, logically, it would make most sense for the Phillies to be amenable to paying the luxury tax in 2013 because with the higher ceiling in 2014, they could avoid it. Once a team skips a year in paying luxury tax, they receive amnesty and return to the original rate of 17.5 percent.

Either way, the Phillies are relegated to bottom-feeding on the current market, turning to such moves as signing outfielder Juan Pierre to a minor-league deal Friday. Pierre made $8.5 million in 2011 and always has a good rep because he puts the ball in play and can run. He'll have a shot at the final bench spot out of spring training.

The Wilson Valdez trade wasn't made solely for financial purposes, but it didn't hurt saving $500,000 on the utility infielder spot when they already had a quite similar player in Michael Martinez. The Phillies never planned on replacing Valdez with such names as Jeff Keppinger and Ryan Theriot, who both signed elsewhere in the last two days.

Neither side on the Pence negotiations was willing to comment this week beyond a standard "negotiations are continuing." It's unlikely the case moves to a hearing, but it bears watching because $2.8 million means a lot to the Phillies right now.

Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.

That Wilson Valdez started 162 games over the previous two seasons only demonstrated the Phillies' need for a durable backup to an aging infield.

But the Phillies dealt Valdez to Cincinnati for lefthander Jeremy Horst on Wednesday because they believe they have enough cheaper options to fill that role.

"We decided we were comfortable with the guys we had," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said by phone. "At the same time he had value for us. He served a pretty valuable role for us. But generally, we felt like we had coverage in that area."

That coverage will start with Michael Martinez, who appeared in 88 games last season and hit .196. Amaro mentioned Freddy Galvis, a top infield prospect, as someone who could ultimately provide depth. And the team has signed Pete Orr, Kevin Frandsen and Hector Luna to minor-league deals.

All of them are cheaper than Valdez, who signed a one-year, $930,000 deal earlier this month.

Amaro said he expects Galvis to play every day at triple-A Lehigh Valley to begin the season. But now that Jimmy Rollins is under contract through at least 2014 and Chase Utley is at second through 2013, Galvis' current path to the majors is in a reserve role (barring injury). 

"Once we signed Jimmy, we felt like we have three shortstop options in Martinez, Galvis and Valdez," Amaro said. "So we felt OK and comfortable enough to go ahead an move Valdez."

Valdez will forever be remembered in Phillies' lore for being the winning pitcher in the 19-inning game against Cincinnati. He was the first player to start a game in the field and win it as pitcher since Babe Ruth in 1921.

Amaro said Horst will be invited to camp as a non-roster player and compete for a job as a lefthander in the bullpen. In 12 games with Cincinnati, the 26-year-old posted a 2.93 ERA. Lefties had a .988 OPS against him in 22 plate appearances.

"Our reports on him is the guy had a chance to get lefties out," Amaro said, "and we'll throw him in the mix."

That mix includes Dontrelle Willis, who is on a non-guaranteed deal, Joe Savery, Jake Diekman and Raul Valdes. 

Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.

We're dusting off some of the cobwebs in here and opening up the mailbag for your questions. If you want a question asked in a future mailbag (and I promise to make this a semi-regular event in the future), fill out this entry form. Or you can ask me a question on Twitter (@magelb) and I will use it in this space.

To the questions...

Is Ryan Howard really going to play in April?
Adam from Quakertown

All signs point to, "No." And why should he? The Phillies need a healthy and productive Howard in October, not April. This team has shown a willingness to be conservative with injury timetables and Howard's recovery from a ruptured Achilles tendon will be no different.

Yes, there are some within the walls of Citizens Bank Park who will not rule out an April return because that would be a disservice to their Big Piece. But in reality, they will be thrilled if he can return at full strength sometime in May from a difficult rehabilitation process.

The updates on Howard during spring training will come with those caveats. Remember, despite Chase Utley's persistence, the Phillies still had him spend more than two weeks playing minor-league baseball last season. They will take every precaution with Howard, as they owe him an average of $25 million per season for the next five years.

Any idea why the Phils aren't interested in Oswalt at what I assume is a lowered price?
@angryelvis on Twitter

That Roy Oswalt remains unsigned on Jan. 25 qualifies as the least surprising development of the winter for me. His agent was trying to sell people on a three-year deal in November, lied about a proposed meeting with the Yankees in New York, and probably misrepresented Oswalt's desire to play for that long.

Most likely, some teams interested in Oswalt have asked Phillies people for their opinion on the righthander who made $16 million in 2011. The Phillies won't say such a thing publicly, but there are serious concerns about Oswalt's back holding up for an entire season, let alone three more. Now the asking price is reportedly down to one year and there still are no obvious suitors. Plus, Edwin Jackson is still out there and he's six years younger than Oswalt.

The fact is, Oswalt probably only wants to pitch for a select group of teams. (Hint, hint: St. Louis.) People have said there's no such thing as a bad one-year contract. But it would take a lot of faith for a team to invest money in Oswalt, who mentally and physically wasn't always there in 2011. 

How is Dom Brown progressing this winter? Does he have a particular training agenda he is following?
Don from Bethlehem

Brown has spent the majority of his winter in Clearwater, Fla., at the Phillies' complex. He's been doing some work with Andy Abad, who is the team's new minor-league outfield/base running coordinator. Most of the focus this winter has been on changing positions, from right to left field. 

Privately, some Phillies evaluators wondered about Brown's approach at the plate in 2011, but that was secondary to his defensive issues. And while most people are quick to write off Brown because he hit .245 in 184 at-bats, he walked 25 times against 35 strikeouts and managed 16 extra-base hits (35.6% of his hits) less than six months removed from a fractured hamate bone in his hand.

In other words, it's hard to discount six seasons of a .834 OPS in the minors for a player who just turned 24. The thing to watch in spring training will be how he handles left field. 

Did Antonio Bastardo change his number after the Phillies signed Jonathan Papelbon?
Michelle from Ardmore

We're not sure of the financial terms, but here's guessing that Cinco Ocho (Papelbon) compensated Bastardo for his old No. 58 because it means a lot to the new Phillies closer. So Bastardo will wear No. 37 in 2012 (last used briefly by Justin De Fratus in September). Just makes all of those old Bastardo shirseys more hardcore.

Some other numerology developments: Jim Thome, of course, will don his customary No. 25. Ty Wigginton grabbed No. 24. Laynce Nix took No. 7 in a clear homage to Ross Gload. Michael Schwimer changed to No. 44 and how soon we forget about Four Aces. Phillippe Aumont now has No. 43 and J.A. Happ fans everywhere shed a single tear.

Of the non-roster players in spring training, there are quite a few issued low numbers. Pete Orr keeps No. 4. Hector Luna has No. 10, Lou Montanez has No. 16, Scott Podsednik has his No. 22 and Kevin Frandsen has No. 28.

Pitchers David Purcey (39), Brian Sanches (48), Raul Valdes (46) and Dave Bush (47) all have normal numbers. Joel Pineiro is the first to be issued No. 50 since Jamie Moyer wore it for five years.

Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.

Now let's be clear: Evaluating contracts that have yet to start is risky business. Every team in baseball is 0-0 and it's Jan. 24. No one "won" the offseason. And no one knows how Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder will perform over the next decade or so.

Track records say that, yes, Pujols is the greatest active hitter. What about four years from now? Or seven? Or 10? Fielder is 27. Does that mean a longer term is better for a player like him? What about his body holding up for the duration?

So there will be plenty of judgments rendered in the coming days about how The Great First Baseman Shuffle of 2012 transpired. And those will mean exactly nothing.

But now, at least, we can put the contracts along side one another and have a basis for comparison.

A. Pujols: 10 years, $240 million
P. Fielder: 9 years, $214 million
M. Teixeira: 8 years, $180 million (began in 2009)
A. Gonzalez: 7 years, $154 million
R. Howard: 5 years, $125 million

When the Phillies signed Howard in April 2010, Ruben Amaro Jr. set the market, eclipsing the $18 million per season the Yankees gave Teixeira. Once Pujols signed for 10 years at the winter meetings, Amaro scoffed at the idea that he would have been better off waiting it out.

"There would be three of those guys out there looking for 10 years," he said the winter meetings in December.

But once Pujols signed, it looked like Fielder's market had evaporated. ESPN's national baseball writer Buster Olney floated the idea Tuesday morning of Fielder accepting a one-year deal and going back on the market in more favorable conditions next winter. Speculation centered on the Dodgers — a franchise currently in bankruptcy — entering the sweepstakes. A fake Twitter account that misspelled Jon Heyman's name spread a fake report that Washington had signed Fielder.

Then, 112 days into free agency, Scott Boras pulled the absolute greatest magic trick yet. Detroit, seemingly bidding against itself, signed Fielder to a nine-year, $214 million deal.

That's not to say there wouldn't be people who would trade Howard's five-year, $125 million deal for Fielder's nine-year, $214 million pact. (Because there are, and they'd make a rational argument.) Howard's average annual value is the highest among the aforementioned first basemen. But his deal is also the shortest in length.

The Pujols and Fielder deals have/will be viewed favorably because we are talking about superstar sluggers. But the best analyses have come with the caveat that any long-term deal can turn ugly, especially when we are talking about decade-long contracts.

No doubt, five years and $125 million could prove to be an albatross the Phillies have difficulty shaking. Just because other teams signed rich deals doesn't devalue the fact the Phillies will pay Howard $25 million for each of the next five years. It's an expensive deal and Howard's decline in production serves as an ominous harbinger. Then again, without a Gray's Sports Almanac, we cannot talk in absolutes.

Ultimately, the Phillies picked the shortest term to invest their money. We will know in a decade, not today, whether that was wise.

Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.

Joe Jordan has spent most of his winter reading. With every report ever written on every Phillies minor-league player at his disposal, the team's new farm director started there. Then, Jordan picked the brains of his assistants and traveled to Arizona, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela to see some players with his own eyes.

It's a system that was ranked 10th in the majors by Baseball America entering the 2011 season and one that was victim of another blockbuster trade depleting it of top talent. That ranking figures to be slightly lower in 2012, but the Phillies still likely rank in the top half of the majors. 

And as Jordan, hired from Baltimore last November to replace Chuck LaMar, scanned the home clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park last week, he saw the strength. Seven of the 10 players the Phillies invited to their prospect development seminar were pitchers. Four of them -- Trevor May, Brody Colvin, Jon Pettibone and Julio Rodriguez — make up the so-called "Baby Aces." They will be in double-A Reading, possibly with the exception of Colvin who could begin at single-A Clearwater.

Jordan acknowledged the system is weighted toward pitching. Here's a brief Q&A with the new farm director, who tells us how one goes about learning a whole system.

What was your main task this winter?
JJ: I've spent a lot of the time over the last three months talking to the staff that's here — whether it's front office staff, pro staff, the scouts, the minor-league staff. I've gotten a lot of opinions on the players from them. So I've let them paint a picture. I have all of the reports in the organization that have been written on any player. That's where my familiarity has come from. I've seen a lot of them as amateurs. At Baltimore, we were in the Eastern League and the South Atlantic League. I mean, you have to see them first-hand. But I feel like I'm in pretty good shape. The staff is really good here. I'm pretty comfortable. I'm just ready to get started.

So you've done a lot of reading.
JJ: Absolutely. But it's been good. We've just been working on so many things — whether it's budget stuff, philosophy, administrative. Pretty soon we get to put that all up and turn our attention to the players. Hell, that's what it's about.

What's your initial impression of the system as the whole?
JJ: It seems like to be that there is some ability in the system. It's a little weighted toward the arms, which I don't think is very different from most systems. It sounds like there are some guys in our minor-league system who are ready or soon-to-be ready to help the major-league club when they're needed.

As far as the overall system, everyone knows Hunter Pence came from another club. We sent really good players there to get him. There have been several of those. It is what it is. We have what we have. Our job is to get them ready. That's what we'll do. I like what's here. I'm familiar with a lot of them.

***

I had a specific question for both Jordan and assistant general manager Benny Looper about how they'll handle three recent draft picks. Roman Quinn (2nd round), Mitch Walding (5th) and Tyler Greene (11th) are all shortstops. The team spent $1.95 million in bonuses to convince them to sign — specifically, Walding and Greene were rewarded well over the recommended slot for their respective picks.

Numerous team officials have expressed their high opinion on all three players. Knowing the draft compensation rules were to change in the next collective bargaining agreement, the Phillies loosened the purse strings and spent more money than usual in last June's draft. Walding and Greene were the primary benefactors. 

All three are high school players, meaning there likely isn't room for all three to be shortstops as they begin their professional careers. Looper said Walding will start spring training as a third baseman while Quinn and Greene stay at shortstop. The hope, Looper said, is that one of Quinn or Greene can show enough in the spring to warrant a spot on single-A Lakewood's roster for the entire season. The other will play for short-season single-A Williamsport.

"Shortstop, what I've heard, I don't think this organization is short on — defensively," Jordan said. "Now, the bat is going to decide what all of them are; if they are everyday players or backup utility guys." 

Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.

I know this is a baseball blog, but with the NFL's conference championships on Sunday, I've decided to relay a little story about the two head coaches in the AFC championship game.

Three weeks after the Eagles lost the Super Bowl to the New England Patriots in early 2005, I ran into John Harbaugh in a hotel bar during the scouting combine in Indianapolis. Harbaugh, then the Eagles' special teams coordinator and now the Baltimore Ravens head coach, was excited because he had just come from a conversation with Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

Harbaugh said halfway through his conversation with Belichick, he realized that the three-time Super Bowl champion coach was picking his brain and pumping him for information that might help him at some point in the future.

"So I thought, 'I have to come up with something to get out of him,' " Harbaugh told me.

At the time, Nick Saban had just left LSU to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Saban and Belichick are close friends.

Harbaugh's question for Belichick: "Do you think Saban will be successful in Miami?"

"Oh yeah," Belichick said.

"Why?" Harbaugh countered.

"He'll get rid of all the (wimps)," Belichick said.

As the Ravens get ready to play Belichick's Patriots for a trip to the Super Bowl, I wonder if Harbaugh used that conversation to help build a Baltimore team that has reached the playoffs in every season since he has been there.

Video: The Inquirer's Bob Brookover analyzes Jim Thome's return to Philadelphia as the 41-year-old first basemen prepares for spring training with a new regimen.

For more from Brookover on Thome's return, click here.

Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.

Jim Thome is so eager to get to spring training that he is heading to Clearwater Friday night.

It will just be a three-day stay for the former All-Star first baseman who is trying to complete his sparkling baseball resume by winning a World Series in his second tour of duty with the Phillies. Thome will likely take some ground balls at first base during his brief stay at the team's spring-training facility.

The big test for Thome, 41, will be whether he can play first base on occasion while Ryan Howard recovers from Achilles' surgery on his left foot. Free-agent addition Ty Wigginton is expected to get the bulk of the playing time during Howard's recovery, but manager Charlie Manuel is on record as saying he'd like to put Thome's name in the lineup on occasion, too.

During the winter meetings, Manuel estimated that Thome could make as many as 20 appearances at first base. Since leaving the Phillies after the 2005 season to make room at first base for Howard, Thome has only started four games at first base.

"Charlie and I have talked," said Thome, who was at Citizens Bank Park speaking to the minor-leaguers in the Phillies' prospect education program. "He has a game plan for me of what he wants me to do. I think the main thing for me is that I've all winter to prepare and now I can get to spring training and be ready from day one. To be honest, I don't know how my back is going to react because I haven't played (first base) in seven years, so that's going to be a phase I'll obviously have to adjust to."

Manuel said he has prepared for first base by doing more stretching -- "pilates and yoga" -- than he has in the past and he has also spent two or three days a week fielding ground balls.

"It has been indoors," he said. "When you live in Chicago, that's the challenge, but there are a couple of facilities around Chicago that have field turf and it has been pretty good. It feels good to get back out there a little bit."

You can read more about Thome in Saturday's Inquirer and, for those of you scoring at home, there are only 30 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training.