Repercussions of Hamilton becoming an Angel
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Repercussions of Hamilton becoming an Angel
Matt Gelb
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.
No post seasons for these clods. The faithful will fill the seats and only get a break on Dollar Doggie Night !— d1955h- Mailroom Boy in charge of the Eagles, Bat Boy in charge of the Phillies, Strike Boy keeping the Flyers from breaking our hearts and Idiot Boy getting fleeced for Bynum. Yep, sure is a good time to be a Philadelphia sports fan.
- This tells us a lot -- like the Phils are no longer the team of choice. The players look at Amaro's record as he looks at theirs. Would you sign with a club that has a GM with a record as bad as Amaro's? Every finish has been worse than the year before since he took over and there are no signs he's able to stabilize it, much less turn it around.— Xyzzyx
- Bro, you're dreaming if you think players care for one second about what the team's future prospects are when they sign their "long-term" deal. They only care about the green, and will demand a trade to a "contender" when they have not lived up to their contract. — kozykoz26
- I FEEL COMPELLED TO PUT THIS WARNING OUT THERE FOR ALL THOSE GIVEN TO DEFENDING THE GM NO MATTER WHAT HE DOES NOR DOES NOT DO: I'M FEELING VERY NEGATIVE ABOUT MR. AMORON RIGHT NOW. HOPE SOME OF YOU DON'T MIND. OKAY, NOW I CAN EXPLAIN:
wow, once again, a day late and a dollar short all offseason long so far.
If Amoron's goal was to do as little as possible to upgrade this team and close an almost 20-game gap between the Nats and the Phils, then he has succeeded wildly.
The final take-away here is this: despite Murphy's warnings and other posters' caution that, surely Hamilton would not leave Texas, well, he DID LEAVE TEXAS...
but not to come to the Phils. GREAT JOB, SMUG RUBEN!— advantasux - I'm typing very slowly so hopefully you can follow along. Even if Hamilton is worth 5/125 do you think that Ruben gets to pick and choose any player he wants? Maybe he wanted to stay in the AL, maybe we wanted to stay on the west coast, you just assume every player must come to the Phils when or if they make an offer. You do know there are 31 other teams in the league and they're bidding for players too? I as you have no idea the interest in the team or the player however you and your cousin tooley will find a reason to complain regardless. — DogBiscuitthedope
- And maybe, if pigs had wings they'd be able to fly. More drivel from one of Amaro's biggest fans. I agree with advantasux. This GM is a joke. This team must win NOW. Not three years from now when the window slams shut. Ruin is a small minded, uninsightful GM who really should be running a small market team with no aspirations for success. He is as incompetent as the manager he employs and I blame Montgomery for keeping Amaro on the payroll. Arbuckle should have been named the GM and Amaro should have been nothing more than Arbuckle's flunky. Anybody that thinks our Phillies have a snow ball's chance in h*ll of overtaking Washington next season is delusional.
- in 4 yrs, the ONLY quality free agent Rube has EVER signed is Lee --and that was to try to rectify his egregious mistake in giving him away for peanuts in the first place, and was instigated by Lee's wife, not by Rube ... instead of getting elite players, Clueless Rube wasted money on over-the-hill declining players (Howard, Ibanez, Moyer, Polanco, Contreras, etc), then traded top prospects in mid-season for overrated quick fixes becuase he failed to do his job in off-season (Oswalt, Pence) and then tries to save money by getting usless trash (most of everyone else who Cluless Rube gets) ...that's how he turned a once championship level team into mediocre trash with no present or future— warbiscuit
- Had nothing to do with the players performance it's all on Rube — honomugym
You shouldn't make a move just to make a move. This years market of free agents stinks. Bunches of high risk or average players asking for the moon.
Sign a couple of back end pitchers, maybe a one year starter and keep the rest of the money for possible adjustments during the season.— zubzub- You will thank Rube later for this one. Five years, $125 million for a talented but injury prone player with prior substance abuse issues, please. Cody Ross is the play; there is no way Nick Swisher is worth giving up a first round draft pick. The Phils will have a healthy Howard and Utley from day one. They still have three solid starting pitchers,a good closer and Revere and Young are good fits for this team. The Giants are proof that pitching is king and you don't need a lineup full of monster hitters to win championships. Relax, the Phillies are a good baseball team that had a lot of bad breaks last season. It won't be so easy for the Nats this year.— syddan26
- we didn't sign Hamilton because Amazing Rube is gonna get us Stanton...— AHash
- And there would be much rejoicing. — zubzub
- Clueless Rube's prior "low risk high reward" and "quick fixes": Wigginton, Nix, Thome, Francisco, Moyer, Blanton, Polanco, Martinez, Schneider, Herndon, Baez, Contreras, Willis, Qualls, Pineiro, Lindblom, etc ... and trading 3 or 4 top prospects every July to fill holes that he didn't fill in the preseason -- buy high sell low methods have left organization devoid of talent, a mediocre team with no present or future— warbiscuit
- go root for the other GM's that you think are better — honomugym
