Pujols to Angels; Phils go home without signing Rollins
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Pujols to Angels; Phils go home without signing Rollins
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
DALLAS -- The Phillies left the Hilton Anatole Thursday without accomplishing their primary goal of signing shortstop Jimmy Rollins, but the pursuit will continue.
"Nothing is scheduled (with Rollins' agent Dan Lozano), but I'm sure we'll be in touch with each other sometime soon," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said after the Rule 5 draft brought an official close to the winter meetings. "I'm concerned about filling that spot, but overall I'm not concerned."
The Phillies' only move here was the signing of free-agent utility man Laynce Nix, which is expected to become official after he passes a physical Thursday. That's not the kind of move that will get the folks back in Philadelphia too excited, but at least the Miami Marlins' initial assault of the free-agent market fizzled and gave way to a late surge by the Los Angeles Angels.
As teams checked out of this sprawling hotel, the news that the Angels had signed Albert Pujols and pitcher C.J. Wilson was exploding on Twitter.
This was good news for the Phillies.
"If that's the case, I'm glad he's out of our league," Amaro said when told of Pujols' agreement with the Angels.
The Marlins had been in pursuit of Pujols and Wilson and if they had landed them, the balance of power may have shifted in the National League East. The free-agent additions of shortstop Jose Reyes, lefthander Mark Buerhle and closer Heath Bell will certainly make the Marlins better as they move into their new ballpark, but the Phillies remain the team to beat.
"Our division is going to be one of the best in the game," Amaro said. "The Marlins have been extremely aggressive and they already had a pretty good, young team. To add what they've done, they'll be a siginficant challenge for us, no question about it."
With Pujols and Wilson, however, they would have become the team to beat. Now, the Phillies don't have to worry about seeing Pujols for the next decade except in a three-game interleague series or the World Series. That's a relief for every National League team except the St. Louis Cardinals, who were understandably distraught after losing their best player.
Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak left Dallas without comment.
Reports on the Pujols' deal said the Angels will pay him between $250 and $260 million over the next 10 seasons. That's roughly twice as much as the deal Ryan Howard signed with the Phillies in 2010.
One possible impact the Pujols' deal could have on the Phillies is that the Cardinals now have more money to go after someone like Rollins. They need a shortstop and the assumption has been that they would re-sign veteran Rafael Furcal after bringing back Pujols. Now, they may want an offensive upgrade at shortstop and Rollins would give them one.
It seems more likely, however, that the Cardinals would get involved in the bidding for Prince Fielder, who is now the best remaining hitter on the free-agent market.
Amaro said the Phillies could still add a veteran lefthander to their bullpen and will still be in search of some bench help, but re-signing Rollins remains the top focus.
"I don't think we have a lot of needs to be frank," Amaro said. "I'm pretty happy with our club as it stands, but that doesn't mean we're not going to try to get better."
Phils lose Castillo
The Chicago Cubs selected righthander Lendy Castillo from the Phillies' triple-A roster in the major-league portion of the Rule 5 draft Thursday.
Castillo must remain with the Cubs for the entire 2012 season or be offered back to the Phillies. The teams can also work out a trade, but Phillies assistant general manager Benny Looper said the Phillies would want Castillo back.
The 22-year-old Castillo is a converted infielder who went 4-2 with a 2.54 ERA in 21 games at single-A Lakewood last season.
For the first time since 2005, the Phillies did not make a selection in the major-league portion of the Rule 5 draft.
Now the Cards will try to sign Rollins increasing again his asking price. the need to make a singing or two after LaRussa retired and losing Alber Pujols. I won't be surprised if they go for both Fielder and J-Roll.— EL Zorro- They will sign Rollins, just have to wait till Lozano counts his 6-10 million commission from the Pujols deal. Might take awhile — TexasYankee
- thankfully Phils don't have to keep a useless Rule 5 player on their roster again this year (a la Herndon and Martinez) because of the Rube's insistence that he got a bargain for nothing and inability to admit his errors— warbiscuit
- For Warbisquit this actually qualifies as a pleasant comment...however, I understand his west coast cousin, Anaheimbiscuit posted some nasty complaints today about the Angels signings... — stan the man too
- warbiscuit, the players they picked up have helped a lot. Don't forget that's how they got Victorino, too.— Paul SoTX
- Warbiscuit - I guess you feel differently about Shano-Vic, another Rule 5 pic— andivalspoppop
- Jayson Werth was a Rule 5 pick once in his career too. — F. Harry Stowe
- Here's Warbiscuit with his usual terrific commentary. Today fans - it's those useless Rule 5'ers - Herndon with his horrible 3.32 ERA and Martinez with his Gold Glove level fielding, 3 for 3 sb's, and versatility. All you ever do is complain and you don't even know what you're talking about.— dwp66
- Herndon had a 12+ ERA in save situations and Martinez couldn't hit a lick with any sort of consistency, so lets not fool ourselves here in saying that the Phils have been 3 for 3 in Rule 5ers over the past few years. They got lucky with Victorino and if you look at all of the 5ers that have been picked since '97, the all-stars have been few and far between. — ESFjellin
- Jellin is correct...And remember Victorino was offered back, and went down into the minors...Neither Herndon or Martinez realistically carry a high ceiling...and the roster inflexibility it creates is not worth it unless the player really could amount to a future impact maker...The more I think about Mayberry going back down last June to accomodate Martinez on the roster, it makes me quiver.What if victorino doesn't do that face embarrassing face plant and go on the DL..Big John may not have come back till September, getting the same chance to impress as Brandon Moss...like 3 at bats! — bearsfriend
- Victorino is one out of 6 in the last 7 years to have any signifigant impact, and that was back in 2004. Its not the picks that is a problem, its keeping the bad ones on the roster. Send them back if they don't work.— Sidewinder7
Also lost from Reading were...Andrew Loomis (Bal); Travis Mattair (Cin); Francisco Diaz (Pit)...http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111208&content_id=26127288&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb— emoney- Roberto Clemente was the best 5 rule pick ever.— EL Zorro
- Yep, not even close. — TexasYankee
- Paul -- Gillick got Victorino and Werth -nothign to do with Amaro who got useless Herndon and Martinez and then wasted valuable roster spots on them all year--Gillick like all gm's also made his share of mistakes (Eaton) but had no porblem admitting his mistakes and moving on (dropped Eaton after 1 1/2 yrs and ate his contract)and doing enough terrific moves to win multiple WS with multiple teams; Amaro on the other hand can't admit his mistakes and compounds them and his mistakes are among the worst in baseball (Howard extension, Blanton, Ibanez, Polnaco, Baez, Contreras, trade of Lee to Seattle, Oswalt, Schneider, Gload, etc etc etc)- Amaro is unlikley to ever win a WS because he has no clue how to build a well balanced team or correct what his team needs— warbiscuit
