National League East time Im going to start off with the Washington Nationals Now, as much as I hate to say it, Mike Rizzo is one of the best GMs in baseball. The defining moment in the Nats offseason was they trade for Doug Fister. Now, I love Doug Fister and I have for a very long time. He is an under the radar kind of guy who can strike you out in so many different ways. Rizzo snagged him from Detroit for next to nothing. They did not make any huge signings, however, they really didnt need too. However, as good as Fister is, some of the Phillies have had success against him with a career 16 for 50 against him (.320 Batting Average!!). Also, be on the lookout for reliever Xavier Cedeno. He was claimed off of waivers by the Nats last season and he posted an ERA well under 2 in AAA. He will almost certainly see extensive major league time. Now, lets talk about the Atlanta Braves The Braves have been very quiet this offseason, which may puzzle some people. They lost Brian McCann and Tim Hudson, arguably two of the best players at their positions in the game. Let me tell you why. Jason Heyward, Andeltron Simmons, Freddie Freeman, Julio Teheran and Craig Kimbrel. All 5 of these young corner stones either are or will be eligible for arbitration. Their raises will be massive, and for a team who sells less tickets per game than the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, it wont be easy keeping them all on the team. I know that Kimbrel has already asked for $10,000,000 in his first season of arbitration. They are knocking down Turner Field in Atlanta and they are moving to another stadium just outside of Atlanta due to financial issues. This team has very little support from the fans and it is really hurting them as an organization. They Rays and the Marlins deal with the same issue. There just isnt that much support coming from that area of the country. Ok, time for the Mets Fun Fact: Did you know that they got the name The Mets from the word Metropolis. Anyway, the Mets have made two major moves. The first was the signing of Curtis Granderson. Now, This move will work out great for them on the first year of the deal and maybe second, however, Grandy is already 34! I dont believe that it was smart to give him a big 4-year contract. Especially when you have so many young and upcoming kids from the minors like Wheeler, DArnaud, Syndergaard etc. I think that the Mets should have played a little bit of small ball and gone with a guy like Mike Morse. There is a ton of risk in this Granderson contract. Second, was the signing of Bartolo Colon. 2 years/$20,000,000 for a 40-year old man who caught lightning in a bottle last season. I dont think that he can repeat the same year that he had last year and I dont know what the Mets are going to do when Harvey returns. They will have Colon, Gee, Niese, Syndergaard, Harvey, Wheeler, Meija and Torres. All of which are functional choices and all of which deserve a spot in a rotation. I think that they should have gone one year with an option or just gone for Paul Maholm or Bruce Chen. Miami time Miami has one of the brightest young cores in the league, however, this season is another one for rebuilding. They have made a flurry of offseason signings in Rafael Furcal for second, Casey McGhee for third and Garret Jones for first. This tells me that they are just about ready to compete, they just need a year or two more of preparation. They are looking for Adieny Hechavarria to have a big season this year and they are looking for Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Fernandez to repeat what they did last year. They are two of the most talented kids in the game and they are both still under 25. Yikes! That trade with Toronto last season was very smart for Miami. They are only going to get better and I believe that after 2015, once all of the core players from Atlanta and Washington are traded due to cost concerns or hit free agency, they will be the team to beat in the NL East. Now, the moment that you have all been waiting for, my report on the Phillies. Ok, after a 73 win campaign in 2013, the Phillies went into the offseason with the same mindset that they have had since after the 2008 season, which is, lets spend crazy money and go win a championship. That mindset was great back then and even until after the 2011 season. They win 102 games, have a heartbreak loss and figure that they can do it again. Hey, it was worth the trial and error. I was even okay with them doing it last offseason thinking that the .500 finish was because of all of the injuries. Well, it didnt work out, there were some poor trades made, nothing we can do about now. We come to the end of a bleak 2013 with all of that knowledge and despite knowing all of that, we repeat the same song and dance with a core group who just isnt what they used to be. Im going to start with the moves that came directly after the season. After game 162, we still had that hope that the team had potential to climb out of their hole with the young kids in Pettibone, Biddle, Cloyd, Asche, Franco, Revere, Hernandez, Joseph, Valle, Quinn and so on and so forth. The First offseason move was releasing J.C. Ramirez, a 25 year old reliever, who could throw well over 100 and had some control issues. The Indians picked him up almost immediately. He was signed on November 1st!! You cant teach a kid how to throw 100 miles per hour, it is a pure gift. Also, he was a lefty, and hard throwing southpaws dont grow on trees. They should have stuck it out with him and waited to see if he could find his control. He hasnt been given all that much of a chance, and now the Indians have him. The Indians also made us pay for another one of Rubes mistakes. Remember Tyler Cloyd? He wasnt great last year, but he had some good moments and he flashed potential. You dont put a youngster like that on waivers. Especially when he has two minor league options left, which means, he doesnt have to start the season in the majors for two more seasons. He will now pitch alongside J.C Ramirez in Cleveland for the Tribe. That is two major loses and we havent even reached the first week of free agency yet. Ok, so, our first minor league signing was Marlon Byrd. Byrd is a 35 year old outfielder who found power in his bat last season after changing his swing. I love the fact that we got Marlon Byrd, and if I were the GM I would have pursued him as well, however there was a problem. We paid $16,000,0000 over two seasons for a 35 year old who had a lightning in a bottle campaign, which is $8,000,000 a year. 1-yr/$8,000,000 would have been fine by me. We use him to fill a hole for either Gillies, Leandro Castro, or Zach Collier for half the year and then we could probably trade him upon good performance. However, two years means that we have him for all of this year at least. Now, if he plays well, then he may draw some interest in the trade market come next December, thats assuming that he doesnt get hurt, and does what he did last year. Next year he will be 36, and trust me, teams arent going to drool over acquiring a 36 year old outfielder who is owed $8,000,000 for that year. The return wouldnt be great. It also blocks a spot for Cesar Hernandez or one of the guys who I mentioned above. Moving on, later in the offseason, the Phillies inked Roberto Hernandez to a major league contract worth $5,000,000 deal over one year. You may know him a little bit better as Fausto Carmona. He had a name and age scandal, back in 2011. With this move, I would like to see a Kendrick trade. Why? because we have Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, Jonathan Pettibone and now Fausto Carmona and also Jesse Biddle waiting in the wings. However, that didnt happen. Kyle Kendrick was given an arbitration contract near $8,000,000 after pitching to the tune of a 5 ERA last year. In conclusion, the Phillies signed many old players to multiyear contracts when they should be turning the page. Rather than living in the past, they should be taking advantage of the good youth that they have and they should be grooming them to fill in the shoes of the players that have declined since our hay-day. Also, with the Mets and the Marlins both coming close to finalizing the rebuilding process and the Braves and Nats right in the thick of their primes, they shouldnt be sitting back any longer and if they fail to make the post season this year or even fall out of contention before August, like last season, then Montgomery should really consider getting a new general manager. Years ago, when Ed Wade was the GM, we had a similar situation. The GM was not making the right moves for the position that we were in (which was right on the brink of contending) back in 2004-2006. The fans stopped attending games, which killed all profit and payroll flexibility and it caused for the owners to have no choice but to fire Wade. Loyalty is a double end sword. Its great to have it, but too much can bite you in butt, and that has always been the case with David Montgomery and the Philadelphia Phillies. I believe that we need to hit a reset button. Even if it means, a few years of poor baseball, then so be it, however, we cant just continue relying on this once great squad as they age. Tomorrow I will be reporting on the NL Central
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 01:14:30 +0000
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