Report: Phillies offered Ichiro $14 million
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Report: Phillies offered Ichiro $14 million
Matt Gelb
Ichiro Suzuki was rejuvenated by a mid-season trade to New York, and he will remain a Yankee with an agreement forthcoming, believed to be for one year. But, according to a report by ESPN.com's Buster Olney, Ichiro may turn down more money and a longer guarantee from the Phillies.
Olney reported the Phillies offered Ichiro a two-year, $14 million contract. The New York Times also reported strong Phillies interest. Charlie Manuel has long been an admirer of Ichiro. He would have probably batted leadoff in the Phillies lineup and played right field.
The offer is surprising for a few reasons, most notably, Ichiro is not the prototypical corner outfielder the Phillies require. He's 39 and posted the lowest on-base percentage of his career (.307) in 2012. He has a career slugging percentage of .419. (Although, in a small sample size, he slugged .454 with the Yankees in 240 plate appearances.) He led all of baseball in hits for five straight seasons from 2006-10.
Pat Gillick, special assistant to Ruben Amaro Jr., has a long-standing relationship with Ichiro and his agent, Tony Attansio, from his Seattle days.
A lineup with Ichiro would have theoretically resembled this:
1. Ichiro 9
2. Michael Young 5
3. Chase Utley 4
4. Ryan Howard 3
5. Carlos Ruiz 2
6. Jimmy Rollins 6
7. Domonic Brown/Darin Ruf 7
8. Ben Revere 8
The reported offer tells us four things:
1. The Phillies are turned off by the demands of the top corner outfielders on the market, Josh Hamilton, Nick Swisher and Cody Ross. This has long been the sentiment of rival executives, who had predicted a splash from Ruben Amaro Jr., only for silence to persist. The Phillies are wary of any commitment longer than three years to a player over 30, and in some cases, that is too long. Hamilton is seeking upward of five years. Swisher could net at least four years. And Ross is reportedly looking for three years.
2. The power must come from Utley and Howard. The Phillies are attempting to augment the middle of their lineup with hitter who put the ball in play. Young and Revere are not high on-base guys. Neither is Ichiro (in recent years). But Young and Ichiro are career .300 hitters and Revere reached .294 as a 24-year-old centerfielder. While there is a veritable lack of power on the corners, they are banking on production from Utley and Howard.
3. Had Ichiro signed, the Phillies would possess approximately $13 million to spend for 2013. With three new acquisitions for the lineup, the remaining funds could have been directed toward pitching upgrades. Amaro has stated he wants a "low-risk, high-reward" fifth starter. He could have aimed higher there and still had money for a veteran setup man.
4. They value the 16th overall pick in June's draft. This is an under-reported element of the winter's happenings. That pick is the highest for the Phillies since 2001. If they sign Hamilton or Swisher, they would forfeit that pick. They would also forfeit the bonus money that is tied to that pick, which drains their overall money pool for signing all drafted players under the new CBA. That pick holds great value considering all of the minor-league talent Amaro has dealt in the last three years.
Whatever the case, Amaro has stressed his need to be "creative" this winter. The reported Ichiro offer certainly falls in that category, for better or worse.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
No matter who the Phils get Charlie will have Rollins hitting leadoff.— towman- FINALLY! Hamilton is off the market....now the few remaining smaller fish can start to narrow their teams and get signed and off our radar, too. I really think you gotta play the young'ins and see what they got. Ruf could get you 30-40 hrs (maybe) Brown 20? (maybe)......but who knows? If they falter early, maybe Amaro (Smuggles) can make a big trade a few months into the season and change the mojo? Then again, it could be an aimless a season as last year....still with all that went wrong, all the flops, all the injuries this team put together a very strong second half without Pence and Victorino for quite a bit of it and did very well. Amaro can't sign Ross or anybody else to a FA contract if he doesn't guarantee them playing time as he did Young to get him to come here. Young even said the Rangers were only gonna give him 200-300 abs next year and that's one of the reasons he accepted the trade. Amaro guaranteed him 500 abs.....If he signs Roos, he's playing him full time for the 2-3 years he signs him for. That means Ruf and Brown platoon in LF. Might be good for Brown but stunts Ruf's development in the process. I day you gotta let'em play!— Mark1npt
- at $25mil for 5 yrs, Hamilton is signing identical contract to Howard... amazing to see morons like Clueless Rube think it's too expensive for Hamilton and defend the Howard contract -Hamilton is about 5 times better than Howard --twice the power hitter and infintely better than him at everything else (since Howard is a zero at everythign else, and there's no multiple of zero)— warbiscuit
- He's so worried about the 16th pick, let he moved 4 great young arms for Revere (no HRs in his career and a pedestrian OBP) and a rapidly declining 3rd baseman. Attaboy Ruben...you're quickly moving into Ed Stefanski territory.— vdstrading
- I think it 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
- @bisquit.......I def agree with you on this one. You don't give a 1 tool player $25 mil/per. That's the kind of money you give a guy with 3,4,5 tools, not 1....and it's a fading 1 at that. I was crucified here the last 2 years for saying that, but I'm sticking to it.
And all you guys who get mad at Charles for playing his veteran favorites....you gotta realize that these FA's wouldn't agree to come to Philly or sign here without the explicit guarantee of playing time throughout the life of the contract. That's why guys like Ibanez and Polanco continued to play even when they stunk. It wasn't Cahrles' managerial style as much as it was Amaro's promises to the players.— Mark1npt - Hamilton to Angels...get used to third place behind Nats and Braves.— Napa818
- Aww man.. if Rub is depending on Utley and Howard then we are in trouble..its gonna be another looong season.. we will be teased about making the playoffs untl ther injuries kick in again and we will have our hearts crushed all over again!!— nixman101
- Angels apparently signed Hamilton -5 years/125 million.— Marie Elena
- This is the case, and a great case it is!
The Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim will get to suffer through Josh Hamilton's antics over the next five years!
Hope that Cody Ross and Nick Swisher will be soon to sign somewhere ELSE really soon as well! I'm really tired of hear how those two clowns could be of any value!— BEMiller - Ichiro makes absolutely no sense with this team. They need power. If they aren't willing to shell out the cash or years to Hamilton, then it's kind of pointless for them to continue to keep this old team together. It seems like they are trying to sit on the fence here, not wanting to decide to make one last push a title or blowing things up and rebuild. They have to decide which one. As we have seen with the Eagles since 2004, there is no such thing as retooling. You put together a team, they get good and you try to lengthen the run for as long as you can, but once the run is over, it's over, and it's time to rebuild. If the Phillies aren't careful, they may find themselves in Eagle's land for the next ten years, mostly mediocre and sometimes bad. Come on Rubin, make a decision here.— Hemingway
- The Phillies are following their proven recipe for success- sign a bunch of "low risk, high reward guys" every 10-15 years you might catch lightening in a bottle and get to the World Series ('93). If you do, lock up all the players to lucrative contracts that last far beyond any reasonably expected shelf-life. Suffer a few years of horrible disappointment as the popular former stars rehab and tease at a return to form for a week or two each season, then go back to square one- sign and trade for a bunch of "low risk, high reward (aka garbage)" guys and wait for another 15 years to catch lightening in a bottle again. As Monty says, it's cyclical. — jtj06
- Nick Swisher has been nothing except a colossal bust, and most especially in October.
Cody Ross has a career that is, in substance, a single post-season series, against the Phillies. To sigh either would be a horrid mistake, on the order of giving more than a year to Laynce Nix!
GOOD GRIEF!— BEMiller - once again rube comes up short no Hamilton and this guy says no.— d1955h
- at $25mil for 5 yrs, Hamilton is signing identical contract to Howard... Hamilton is about 5 times better than Howard --twice the power hitter and infintely better than him at everything else (since Howard is a zero at everything else, and there's no multiple of zero)..another repercussion of worst contract extension in major league history: Phils unable to get a quality hitter becuase they have all their offensive budget linked for another 4 yrs to a .250 hitter with 180 k's a year who can't field, run or hit lefties.... what a joke— warbiscuit
