Dec 9th 2008 12:09PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
The Jake Peavy sweepstakes just got a ton more interesting. The inclusion of the World Champs always spices things up, you know. That’s right, the Philadelphia Phillies are now involved in talks with the Cubs … and the Padres … and the Orioles. The scene is now set for a blockbuster deal which would see upwards of seven or eight players switching addresses. Phil Rogers of the reports his findings from a meeting with Padres GM Kevin Towers.Towers told reporters on Monday that the Cubs were the only team he is continuing to talk to about Peavy and that making a Peavy trade was his full focus at the winter meetings. He then went out and proved it by working to facilitate a potentially four-team trade that would send Mark DeRosa to Philadelphia and Felix Pie to Baltimore and bring back pitchers Garrett Olson, J.A. Happ (the Northwestern product) and Sean Marshall for the Padres.

The key for that deal to work is for the Phillies or Orioles to take Jason Marquis, with the Cubs agreeing to eat some of his salary.I believe this would be a great deal for both the Cubs and Phillies.Continue Reading

Dec 8th 2008 3:30PM by Matt Watson (author feed)
After giving the city of Philadelphia their first championship of any major sport in 28 years, Charlie Manuel is hoping to stick around a while. His current contract goes through this season with a team option for 2010, but he’s hoping the Phillies will guarantee both years while adding another to boot.

His agent, Pat Rooney, was asked by the how negotiations were progressing:
“Slow,” he said, sounding frustrated. “We had hoped to have had this done before now. We hope to get it done this week. Charlie wants to manage another three to five years and wants to be treated fairly. He’d like to retire a Phillie.”
I’m guessing the two sides come to an agreement. The Phillies have posted a winning record every season Manuel has been in charge, winning the division the last two years. Even if they didn’t win the World Series last year, that’s enough to warrant job security beyond this season.

Dec 4th 2008 11:37AM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
With some movement on the free agent and trade markets beginning to finally pick up — instead of just the circulation of rumors — the Hot Stove season finally feels like it’s underway. Now up, Derek Lowe, who has been offered a contract from two different teams. (O)ne baseball source confirmed that free agent Derek Lowe received offers from at least two teams, including the world champion Phillies. The identity of Lowe’s second pursuer was unclear, though the same source indicated that the team was neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox, both of whom are expected to speak with Lowe’s representative, Scott Boras, later this week. Well, I’m relieved. I’d hate for the poor Yankees or Red Sox to be left out of any bidding.

Seriously, though, with a Boras client, you know both of those teams will be mentioned — if for no other reason than to drive up the price. I can’t see the Red Sox offering near the value that Lowe is going to command, but the Yankees will likely be prominently involved.Continue Reading

Dec 2nd 2008 6:15PM by Matt Watson (author feed)
All in all, 24 players were offered arbitration by last night’s midnight deadline, including 15 Type A free agents and nine Type B. Players are classified using a rating system created by Elias Sports Bureau to determine the level of compensation a team receives if a player refuses arbitration and signs elsewhere.

Most of the time, Type A free agents are elite players who are all but certain to refuse the offer in anticipation of receiving multiyear offers on the open market. This year’s Type A free agents to receive offers include: A.J. Burnett, Orlando Cabrera, Juan Cruz, Brian Fuentes, Orlando Hudson, Raul Ibanez, Derek Lowe, Darren Oliver, Oliver Perez, Manny Ramirez, Francisco Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets, Mark Teixeira and Jason Varitek.

If any of those players refuse arbitration to sign elsewhere, their new teams will have to cough up two draft picks as compensation. That said, most of them are so talented that the prospect of losing a draft pick or two won’t intimidate interested suitors. In other words, if you’re favorite team is committed to signing Manny, losing a measly draft pick or two won’t stop it. But for older players who only have one or two productive seasons left (Oliver, Varitek: I’m looking at you), losing draft picks is something worth thinking twice about.Continue Reading

Nov 25th 2008 9:30AM by Josh Alper (author feed)
For a self-proclaimed investment whiz, Lenny Dykstra sure seems to find himself in trouble because of money pretty often. The former Met and Phillie was in a Manhattan court yesterday to deal with accusations that he didn’t pay a $139,000 bill from his accountants. The two sides settled inside a courtroom, which just left more time for Dykstra, who has switched from tobacco to Twizzlers, to regale reporters with his wit and wisdom.

NBC Philadelphia compiled a heady list of his remarks, which began when he compared the firm’s bargaining strategy to that of a former Phillie teammate. DDK & Co. “folded like Mitch Williams in the ninth,” according to Dykstra, who the describes as a “paunchy fireplug.”

He addressed another lawsuit, this one for bouncing a $7,000 check to a private jet concern. “That’s my f- - -in’ ashtray money, bro.” Or his suit money. “See that purple label, bro? That’s seven large,” Dykstra said as he showed off the lining of his jacket.

Still, Dykstra’s problems don’t appear to be ending soon. His first legal team from the accountant case resigned after accusing him of not paying his legal bills and his magazine/investment advisory for professional athletes never really got off the ground. Perhaps because he was charging usurious rates for his investment advice?

Don’t worry about ol’ Nails though. He’s pitching a video game idea to Curt Schilling which, if nothing else, will be the talkiest game ever made.

Nov 25th 2008 9:52PM by B (author feed)
When I was little, I wanted to be just like Lenny Dykstra. I wanted to work hard, practice every day, and earn the respect of my peers. Wait, no, hold on, I wanted to be just like Cal Ripken, Jr. My friend Kevin from across the street wanted to be just like Lenny Dykstra. He had a mental disease and used to put dirt in his mouth. Yeah, that’s right.

Anyway, Lenny was in the news this week because of an unpaid debt here or there, but the real news is that after this dignity nonsense is taken care of, the magazine entreprenuer and car wash mogul Dykstra is planning to expand his empire and pitch an Internet video game to Curt Schilling.

Yeah, I don’t know either. I’m just going to copy-paste the transcript of their post-trial period and let you make sense of it. I can barely even look at this guy.

Tonight’s Dugout is after the jump.Continue Reading

Nov 20th 2008 2:10PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Albert Pujols rightfully won the National League MVP this past season, but there is still a raging debate and many people think Ryan Howard deserved the award. The overwhelming majority of those people are Phillies fans, who think their team is entitled to every single award due to their World Series victory () and older writers who can’t evolve past their own stubbornness.

Murray Chass, famed baseball writer from the New York Times, falls into the latter group. His argument centers around the fact that Howard carried the Phils into the playoffs and Pujols didn’t accomplish the same feat with his Cardinals. He also accuses Pujols supporters of not being able to grasp the concept of value, and instead being obsessed with stats. Of course, later he uses September stats to explain why Howard was more valuable down the stretch.

Where I unequivocally disagree is the claim that Pujols backers don’t understand value. Isn’t this just a pompous claim, by the way? If someone disagrees with you, you just assume they are ignorant and don’t understand the intricacies of “value” the way you do.Continue Reading

Nov 20th 2008 3:02PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
The Philadelphia Phillies haven’t had much bad news in the past month and a half or so, but today they were dealt a devastating blow. Chase Utley, easily the best second baseman in baseball — with all due respect to my boy, Mark DeRosa, naturally — will undergo surgery on his right hip. Jayson Stark reports: Utley consistently downplayed speculation about his bad hip during the second half of the postseason. But the Phillies revealed Thursday that since the World Series, he has had the hip evaluated by Phillies team physician Michael Ciccotti, of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital’s Rothman Institute, and by Dr. Bryan Kelly, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

Both doctors recommended that Utley undergo surgery on his right hip. That procedure, described by the club as an “arthroscopic evaluation with treatment of any labral or bony injury,” will be performed by Dr. Kelly next week.Indications are that the Phillies expect to have Utley back for opening day of the ‘09 season, but Will Carroll of states the injury is very serious and could keep Utley out for six months. If that’s the case, we’re talking six weeks the Phillies would be without their all-star second baseman.

Like I said, a devastating blow.

Nov 16th 2008 10:48PM by B (author feed)
Great, now we’re getting to that point in the offseason where every news update is about how the Yankees are “interested in” the big free agents and how some guy from some network interviewed them and they totally said they’d love to play for the Yankees, and on and on and blah blah blah. We’ve been doing this comic long enough to know the two great truths about the Yankees, and they are presented to you in chatroom form below.

Have the Yankees considered getting new uniforms? It works for everybody else. Maybe they can get a mascot. Make him a vague, shaggy grey thing named “OPS the Dog!”

Tonight’s giant-sized Dugout is after the jump.Continue Reading

Nov 13th 2008 12:00PM by Josh Alper (author feed)

As you could probably tell from the parade down Broad Street, everything came together for the Phillies in 2008. Cole Hamels made the leap from No. 1 starter to shutdown ace, Brad Lidge didn’t blow a save from April to October and the big three in the lineup kept on churning until the Rays were dispatched and Philadelphia rejoiced for the first time in 25 years.

Hamels, Lidge, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley will all be in their familiar roles when next season opens. No matter what the Mets do, that nucleus should make the Phillies the favorites in the NL East, not to mention the two steps beyond that, before next season. That doesn’t mean there isn’t work to do.

You don’t need to look any further than Pat Gillick’s retirement and Ruben Amaro’s ascension to general manager to see how little time there is to celebrate a title before thinking about next year. The Phillies don’t need any wholesale changes, but they can’t stand pat either. Like sharks, baseball teams need to keep moving or they’ll die where they sit.Continue Reading