Werth offered arbitration; Durbin not
As expected, the Phillies will offer Jayson Werth arbitration before tonight's midnight deadline. They will not offer Chad Durbin arbitration. Werth, a Type A free agent, will net the Phillies two draft picks if he signs elsewhere. He will likely not accept the one-year arbitration unless the market for him completely collapses in the next seven days. So, yeah, that's unlikely. Durbin, a Type B free agent, can still negotiate with the Phillies, but this decision shows the team isn't willing to offer much of a raise from Durbin's 2010 salary of $2.125 million.
Werth offered arbitration; Durbin not
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
As expected, the Phillies will offer Jayson Werth arbitration before tonight's midnight deadline. They will not offer Chad Durbin arbitration.
Werth, a Type A free agent, will net the Phillies two draft picks if he signs elsewhere. He will likely not accept the one-year arbitration unless the market for him completely collapses in the next seven days.
So, yeah, that's unlikely. Durbin, a Type B free agent, can still negotiate with the Phillies, but this decision shows the team isn't willing to offer much of a raise from Durbin's 2010 salary of $2.125 million.
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Have your say: Phillies Stay or Go surveyComments (43)
No-brainer on both fronts.— EL Zorro- Absolutely a no brainer! Why would they want to keep Chad "Home Run" Durbin?!— erniebanks14
- They seem to have lots of live arms in the AA-AAA levels. Looking forward to seeing which are worthwhile to keep. I could see Durbin being the kind of guy to take a one year deal from whatever bottom rung team offers him decent bucks to pitch the 7th or maybe 8th inning, and hope to be traded at the deadline. I guess it's not even worth talking about Jayson. He's either long gone or a very nice man who wants to be a Philly hero for nothing more than being slightly less rich for slightly less time than he could have been elsewhere.— B in DC
- ernie, I agree with the moves but Chad "Home Run" Durbin only gave up 7 homers in almost 70 innings.— hey buddy
- i would actually like to see Werth go to arbitration so SOMEONE can tell him he is nowhere near worth what he is seeking— seaonasdad
- I'm not surprised by the move. I'm guessing the Philles would like to keep Werth but he thinks (as does his agent) that he can make a killing in the market. I'm sure that someone will pay him mega bucks but will he be on a contender? I'd like to be like seaonasdad and believe that he isn't worth what he thinks he is but as I said above, somebody will offer him the $$$ he is looking for.— pahawk
Durbin was a solid guy out of the pen overall. Two innings does not make a body of work.- Yankees sign Lee & their own free agents, Sox's now need a catcher along with resigning Beltre & going after Crawford, Tigers get Martinez, Benoit & are close with Dunn, Angles never never over pay....who is left to go after Werth?— cannon00
Hopefully Werth will take note of how Boras overstated the market for Varitek last year. He ended up signing for much less than the original offer the Red Sox gave him.— Boto
Yeah, the whole "Werth" word-play needs to go away, it's lame.- When will the Phil's fans learn that solid pitching is just that, solid pitching. Durbin needs to be brought back. A few years ago, people were writing about how the Phil's rotation would be made up of all home-grown talent like Hamels, Kendrick (22 wins in 2 seasons), maybe Myers, Matheson, Draybek, and Haap. You can see how that changed. Hamels is set. Kendrick is on the outs.— MichaelZoe
- What a slap to Durbin, after all he did for the club over the years. What, he would have broken the bank in arbitration? I think not.— PhillieJoe
Comment removed.- Durbin was a workhorse all season, just had that one BIG "oops." He'll get a pretty decent size contract from some team. I wish we could give him Baez's money. Also, it's not a slap regarding arbitration. Most guy's would rather go to free agency.— Vote for Dickie
- Durbinator was above-average solid for two years---come on back. Sign Jeff Francouer and lets forget about Jayson Werth.— Romus
- By not offering Durbin arbitration the Phillies are not saying they don't want him back. They just don't want to overpay him. They will offer him a contract and it will be up to Chad to accept it. If he goes to arbitration he'll probably get close to $4 millions. The Phillies are not going to pay him that money when they signed Contreras, who is more valauble, because he can pitch in almost in any situation, including as an emergency closer, to a 2 year $5 million contract.— EL Zorro
- Werth is likely to get the money he is seeking and be on a contender, since Boston is a strong candidate. It is hard to envision Werth coming back to the Phillies. Our right field of Brown/Francisco does not strike fear into the hearts of opposing teams, but I hope both will play well.— JohnFC
- Durbin was a good pitcher for several years. I would have been fired up if we had him signed for two more at $2.3/yr. Werth will prove to be too expensive; but, will have some return as we'll get two draft picks. In another year, Ibanez will need replacing. The only overpaid players are Victorino and Howard. Time to get another closer and some bullpen.
- Anybody who doesn't think Werth is worth quite a bit to the Phils or another team knows nothing about baseball. With or without the cute wordplay. I'm personally ok with this, we'll get a great couple draft picks if we can't sign him...but I still think they can for some reason.— PhillySubsMac
- Lets see here. Don't offer Durbin but go out and sign clowns like Baez. OVERPAID for guy's like Blanton and just ignore offering a guy who deserves a raise? Amaro is a friggin moron. He "INHERITED" a world series team and has gone sideways to downward in his dealings. Bring back our Gillick and than we can have a real GM.— twpman1
- I like Brown/Francisco as they both are near or as good as Werth in the field, both have good arms and range. How else are you gonna bring along Brown? He would be worthless on the bench, not fair to him. Send him down to have another great year? Francisco is at a point in his career, and mature, to have a great year. It would be great if both did well in place of Werth and one can move to left field the next year to replace Ibanez.— tornadochaser
- I have faith that the Phillies brass know exactly what they are doing . Look at how they added Halliday and Oswalt . Give them some slack . Sure, there may be some bumps in the road but I believe we are now in a new era of Phillies ownership philosophy . They have demonstrated that they are willing to "get their man" and win . Who can ask for more ?— Joe R.
I still think there's a chance Werth signs a 4-year, $75 million deal to stay in Philly. That gives him stability with a team in its prime and gives him a shot at one more decent contract at age 34-35.— jpk- Lets trade for the young RF from the Padres, give up werth, play Brown, and move on.— psuwelsh
- It was smart to offer Werth arbitration and not Durbin. Do you guys who say it was bad know how arbitration works? Being the Durbin earned about $2.125 million last year he will automatically get a raise in arbitration (it doesn't matter how poorly you perform, no player has ever gone to arbitration and made LESS than they did the year before). The two sides set a price...The Phillies could offer $2.75 million for argument's sake and Durbin could ask for $7.5M if he wants. They go to a room and meet with an arbitrator and both lay out their points. Durbin's agent says how great he's been, how durable, etc. etc. The Phillies talk about the home runs he gave up, how he failed in big spots, how he's not dependable, etc. And then the arbitrator decides who's more right. If it's the PHillies he gets what they offered. If they feel Durbin's right he gets what he asks...there is no "MIDDLE GROUND" once it goes to arbitration. Which is why the Phillies don't want to go that route. (And historically it's either a "owner's year" where they will the majority of the cases, or a player's year and they do. No reason for it just always happens that way. If it becomes a players year how many are going to be complaining that Durbin is making better than $6M as a middle reliever?— Eilex826
- Thanks for the memories Jason, but I hope you end up in KC.— Steve Jeltz
- tornadochaser, Although I'm OK with Francisco getting at least a chance to platoon in RF this coming year, his arm is not in Werth's league. As a matter of fact I would rate his overall defense average at best. I don't know why but for some reason I look at Ben Francisco and think of Lonnie "Skates" Smith (without the speed). As to Dom Brown's defensive skill set, there is a ton of potential but it isn't even remotely close to Werth's at this point. I see Jeff Francouer's name tossed about quite a bit on this site. Although I think his defense is better than Brown's and Francisco's right now particularly his throwing, his offense is horrendous. Talk about a "Mr. No Patient at the Plate", Mr. Frnacouer is the poster child.— DPL
This is not a move that can be criticized, except by someone who doesn't quite get the economics of the game.
Keep doing your job, Ruben & Company.— pigday31- I love Werth. He has proven his mettle and certainly will be missed if he is not coming back next season. I liked Aaron Rowand, too...and he, too got his big pay day...elsewhere. Durbin, as un flashy as he is, does seem to also be a huge value added member of the club. As we all know, a weak 'pen can doom the most potent offense. I'm already miffed by the Lopes fiasco, I hope this ends fortuitously for the Phils.— mebphila
- Maybe Jeter will decide to test the market and RAJ can trade Rollins & Ibanez for pitching. Who's the team Captain, Utley or Jeter?— sonnybuoy01
- At least we get something if Werth walks, although I hate to see him go. He really has blossomed into a special player. I think Durbin will stick around because he will have another chance to win the World Series, and I doubt if there will be many teams lining up for his services after last year.— flyerdup
- I always worry about the HUGH salaries players get when they hit free agency. Too often, they don't reach the level they were at after free agency. Something tells me Werth could be one of those guys. Just a hunch.— walt1
- Chad 'home run" Derby (ha) gave up 43 home runs in batting practice and was taken to the warning track more than all the other relievers combined and once blogged anonymously against the Amaro. And PhillieJoe is right that this slap is almost in league with the Lopes slap.— battery
- By the way as much as I might not like Amaro, I didn't like Harry Callas because I knew people close to him and he really wasn't such a sweet guy and his his youngest son is not a nice guy either.
— battery - werth gets arb?/ok...just resign him!
— t_darb_56 - The real problem with the Phillie is that they have 4 players grossly overpaid: Howard, Ibanez, Blanton and Lidge and the rest of the roster is fairly compensated or actually underpaid. They shouldn't make the same mistake with Werth and pay him $15-$20 million and have a fifth guy grossly overpaid. Outfielders are a dime a dozen. Give him $10 million and if he walks then so be it. The guy bats about .150 with runners in scoring position.— joeyc444
- Tornadochaser is either a jokester or clueless— djmarco
- Durbin was part of the bullpen problems last season. Send him packing.— eaglesman1
- Battery confused Harry with Maria. Too much pino too soon.— NewMick314
- I very much want Durbin back-he is a workhorse. He's pitched well in clutch situations for us for 3 years now. Everyone gives up a deep fly ball that lands in the seats (I'm over 35 and remember real home runs.)
If we re-sign Werth, say goodbye to Brown; no place else to play him. - Durbin blows. That about says it all.— Rando
- Durbin has trouble with good lefty bats. Chad has been usefull but a team with strong lefties (like the Braves will be McCann, Heywood and rookie Freeman) would give him trouble, I would prefer team sign Saito. As mentioned Bluejays Downes type A free agent, which will make him less attractive to bidders. Phills could make deal with Jays for him who dont want to pay him, White Sox Thornton also good. Hope Phills get strong lefty. It was hard to put Romero in with bases loaded because of his penchant for walks. When and if Werth departs there are good options out there. I would look for some one who hits lefties as he could be in a platoon situation. Prospects would be Yanks Rivera,& Thames, Matt Diaz And Nady. Quenton and Ludwick are 2 good bats but have strugled against lefties. Some prospects would not want to be in platoon situation. Bastardo will probably be in pen has top arm. I know some of the names mentioned wont thrill fans but all good hitters vrs. lefties, It surprised me how many good right handed hitters do better against righties. My guess is they like breaking ball away when lefties would get under there hands. Surprisingly Werth hit better vrs. righties this year.— Don w
- The proper word to use in a comparative sentence is "than" not "then."
Here is the scoop on “than“ It‘s not that hard!
“Used after a comparative adjective or adverb in order to introduce the second element of a comparison.”
Too many people make this embarrassing mistake.
— nc_bg
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About this blog
The Phillies Zone is the place for up-to-the-minute Phillies coverage from the Inquirer.
Matt Gelb
Inquirer Staff Writer
Bob Brookover
Inquirer Baseball Columnist
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