Repercussions of Hamilton becoming an Angel
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Repercussions of Hamilton becoming an Angel
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
Sure, the Phillies were intrigued by Josh Hamilton. But the sense from front office officials was his price would never sink to a level with which they were comfortable. That sentiment was vindicated Thursday when the Los Angeles Angels reportedly agreed to a five-year, $125 million contract with Hamilton.
The aftershocks will rattle throughout baseball, and Philadelphia is included. The top corner outfielder is off the market; Nick Swisher and Cody Ross could soon follow. The Phillies are wary of offering more than three guaranteed years to any player above 30. Both Swisher and Ross are fits on paper, but not yet in reality.
Now, with Texas scorned by Hamilton and needing some sort of offensive addition, they could enter the market for Swisher or Ross. That would drive their prices up. They could also pursue first baseman Adam LaRoche, formerly of the Nationals, to fill a hole.
The Angels have a surplus of offensive pieces, which could lead to a trade of Peter Bourjos or Mark Trumbo. The timing is not great for the Phillies, who have long coveted Bourjos and may have had him valued above Ben Revere. ESPN.com reported Trumbo will not be made available in trade talks.
Even if there was a possible match there, the Phllies have already exercised almost all of their trade chips. Catcher Sebastian Valle is one remaining piece. There is some pitching depth, but it is slimmer after Vance Worley and Trevor May were dealt.
If the Rangers bid for Swisher or Ross, that could drive Ruben Amaro Jr. to improve his club through pitching additions because the offensive market is prohibitive. The GM has said he wants a "low-risk, high-reward" pitcher to be his fifth starter. There are better options out there and Amaro has money to spend.
Ryan Dempster is off the board after signing a two-year, $26.5 million contract with Boston. Anibal Sanchez, Kyle Lohse, Edwin Jackson and Shaun Marcum are the top available starters.
Hamilton was the white whale, the one "difference-maker" on the market, as Ruben Amaro Jr. said. But with so much money tied into long-term contracts with players older than 30, the Phillies were merely gazing this time around.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
And I'm one bad Typer— Cactusclarke- Interesting note at MLB Trade Rumors:
... the Giants won the 2012 World Series without spending more than $1.25MM on a free agent during the winter of 2011-12. Yes, Ryan Theriot was San Francisco's most expensive free agent signing a year ago.
So I guess we just relax and pretend Charlie Manual is Bruce Bochy.
— s - Swisher will hit 30 home runs and 100 rbi's in Phillies tiny ballpark...plus Swisher is a switch hitter that can hit 3rd between Utley and Howard.....sign Swisher now.— jim35
- The old "tiny ballpark" theory again. Yankees Stadium: 17th most hitter friendly ballpark. Citizens Bank Park: 19th. — s
- After reading your vitriolic snd mindless posts, the cream of the Philadelphia sports fans sink to the bottom of the toilet bowl. If you people knew anything about sports, especially baseball, you'd be dangerous. Your posts all read like they were written by that Andy Reid sycophant, Howrad Eskin, another mindless Philadelphia troll. I hope I didn't use any words that were too big for you dopes.— mike 1717
- Well you can spell them, so that's a start. But if Eskin is a sycophant then his commentary on Andy Reid would be the complete opposite of vitriol. So I'm going to flunk you on this little essay. — s
- Ricky Roma, from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross: Oh, what a big man you are! "Hey, let me buy you a pack of gum. I'll show you how to chew it."
Best fans in major league baseball! Most passionate and caring and they're right here. I've read the boards from other major league cities and you'll find no one more knowledgeable then the ones here. It's a pleasure to come here everyday and catch up on the latest and what everyone thinks. And every family must have a Warbiscuit and Dogbiscuit at the after dinner discussions, no? - Oakland is not a tiny ballpark...yet Swisher hit 35 home runs in a season there....of course it is easier to hit home runs in Phillies tiny ballpark...ask John Smoltz former Braves great pitcher who said Phillies park was too easy to hit home runs.— jim35
- from 4/23/2012: "everything I said all winter was proven accurate beyond anyone's worst nightmares --instead of attacking the messenger, fans who really cared about the team who would have applied minimal critical analysis would have realized I was correct..a fan's "obligation" is not to support the team right or wrong but to urge them to get it right -Warbiscuit"— warbiscuit
- Use your critical anylsis find a team that makes the decisions you would approve and root like hell for em — honomugym
- from 4/24/2012 "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.... Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."—Dietrich Bonhoeffer...for years Harry Markpolos tried to tell people that Madoff was a fraud and you couldn't get such results legally playing by the rules.. for years I and others have been trying to tell people that you couldn't win a championship putting all your budget into a couple of starters and aging former stars while having no clue how to evaluate talent, no idea how to put together a team with depth, balance, bench and bullpen and then just trading away all your top prospects to try to cover your mistakes, that it too was a ponzi scheme and that it would come back to bite you ... I can stop posting these annoying and repetitive postings when Amaro is fired and acknowledged as the incompetent fraud and charlatan that he is— warbiscuit
- from 4/25/2012 " my name is dopebiscuit and I'm a sad human being so I feel better about my miserable existence by making moronic baseball commentary". — DogBiscuitthedope
- I'm trying to stop laughing at warbiscuit's rambling trolling - er, posts. You always complain about Amaro making stupid decisions by overpaying for over the hill players, but now you complain that he didn't sign a 32-year-old with a history of substance abuse problems who has also averaged only 129 games per season over the past 5 years due to a litany of injuries to a 5 year deal that will pay him over $25 mil at age 37... Also giggling at the idea that we traded "top prospects" for Roy Oswalt (who was lights out for the team in 2010 after the trade, btw). Where are all those "top prospects" now? Go back under your bridge, not signing Hamilton is the smartest thing RAJ has done so far this off season.— Dante1138
- I predict a sea of warbiscuit jerseys at CBP this year.— s
- Also, I really wish all these "baseball fans" would actually learn a thing or two about their own ballpark - CBP is actually HARDER on power hitters than the average ballpark. The concept of the park being a bandbox is about as old and tired as watching all the post-'08 bandwagoners complain about not winning the WS every year in December. The fact is that the Phillies is a flagship organization that has brought a sustained run of excellent baseball to the city for the first time in their existance over the past 6 years. They have made good trades, bad trades, excellent free agent signings and bone-headed ones. They've had good luck, and they've had bad luck. They play a sport with 31 other teams and the only thing that kept them from a 6th straight division title was having crippling injuries to EVERY TOP PLAYER on the team. Their success this year will be dictated by the health of their core players, not on who RAJ adds this offseason. Small, complimentary moves are all that's needed. And a dose of luck. Which EVERY team needs EVERY year.— Dante1138
