Part four in the Report Card series features the NL East, where the Phillies still rule with an iron fist.
**Please note unsigned players do not yet count as a loss.
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Major Signings: Placido Polanco, Danys Baez, Ross Gload, Brian Schnieder, Jose Contreras
Major Trade Acquisitions: Roy Halladay
Major Losses: Cliff Lee, Pedro Feliz, Clay Condrey, pedro Martinez, Brett Myers, Scott Eyre, Eric Bruntlett, Matt Stairs, Chan Ho Park
Report: On the surface, it appears that the Phillies did really well for themselves. Coming off a second straight appearance in the World Series, there wasn't much to really do, but then they went and got Roy Halladay. A fanatastic move that unforunately gets kind of negated by the subsequent move of trading away Cliff Lee. This team was on the prescipice of having the best 1-2-3 in baseball, an almost a sure-fire third straight World Series appearance, and the clear favorite to win it all. GM Ruben Amaro apparently didn't want that, however. Since he knew he wouldn't resign Lee to the money he would garner, he opted to replenish a farm system that traded for both stud pitchers within 6 months. Not the worst idea, but none of the prospects in the Lee-to-the-Mariners trade were better than any they gave away, and again he let a sure thing go away. The thing about it is that they would've received 2 draft picks when Lee got signed next offseason anyway, so it didn't make much sense to trade him now. One extra prospect as compared to another Championship is absolutely nothing. Amaro was being too crafty for his own good. Moving on from there, they replaced Pedro Feliz with Placido Polanco in another move I don't like. Adrian Beltre and Chone Figgins were on the market, remember? Weird. Some interesting smaller moves could be good like bringing in Jose Contreras to pitch where ever they need him, and Ross Gload as a bench upgrade to Matt Stairs and Eric Bruntlett. Overall: Again, to me the Halladay/Lee trades are latteral moves, and the only thing that's a positive is that Doc is signed for the next three years. Oh, and duh, he's Doc freakin' Halladay. Otherwise it's been a mediorce offseason.
Grade: B+ *they also extended Joe Blanton, which changes my initial rating of a B to a B+. Thanks, Mike!
FLORIDA MARLINS
Major Signings: Mike MacDougal, Mike Lamb, Seth mcClung, Jose Veras, Derrick Turnbow,
Major Trade Acquisitions: Hunter Jones
Major Losses: Matt Lindstrom, Nick Johnson, Kiko Calero, Ross Gload, Brendan Donnelly, Jeremy Hermida
Report: Well, you really didn't expect the Marlins to do much, did you? They're cheap, and they're going to get by with their growing core of youngsters behind Hanley and Josh Johnson, and see where they go. Can't really fault them with the latter part of that.
Overall: When you know what you're getting into prior, you can't really call it bad, but you can't call it good either.
Grade: C
ATLANTA BRAVES
Major Signings: Billy Wagner, Takashi Saito, Troy Glaus, Eric Hinske
Major Trade Acquisitions: Melky Cabrera
Major Losses: Javier Vasquez, Boone Logan, Rafael Soriano, Mike Gonzalez, Kelly Johnson, Garret Anderson, Adam LaRoche
Report: The Braves made some cost-cutting moves this offseason, but maybe not the right ones. Trading Javier Vasquez coming off his best year was probably a mistake. They should've tried harder to get rid of Derek Lowe instead. Melky Cabrera was the only major league ready component of that trade, and he may finally get a full season to prove himself. In the NL, he may just do that, but will it be worth it for the Braves? We'll see. They also let their prime-time closing team of Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez go to the AL East, and replaced them with the aging, but reliable, closing group of Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito. Was this a wise move? As far as experience, yes since these guys are proven commodities, but Wagner is still returning from major surgery, even though he looked good for the Red Sox down the stretch last year. They also signed Troy Glaus to play first base, a position he has some experience in, but not much. I thought Adam LaRoche should've been resigned here, but he didn't fit into the budget.
Overall: It's hard to say. They've added risk in Wagner, Saito, and Glaus, but when they are on they are very good players. Trading Vasquez, to me, was a mistake, though, and that drops them a bit.
Grade: B-
NEW YORK METS
Major Signings: Jason Bay, Rod Barajas, Mike Jacobs, Hisanori Takahashi, Frank Catalanotto, Shawn Riggins, Henry Blanco, Chris Coste, Fernando Tatis, Josh Fogg, R.A. Dickey, Kelvim Escobar, Ryota Igarashi, Alex Cora
Major Trade Acquisitions: Gary Matthews Jr.
Major Losses: J.J. Putz, Tim Redding, Jeremy Reed, Cory Sullivan, Brian Stokes
Report: Ah, the Mets, what can be said about New York's other team under their current management that hasn't already been said all over the place. They signed Jason Bay, a neccessary, good move, but look at the laundry list behind him. Instead of going out and signing someone of value they decided to put their strength in mediocre and under performing numbers. I mean, how many bad catchers do you need?! Rod Barajas will start, but it's anyone's guess who will back him up. They didn't address the need for a quality starter, so the number 5 starter will be a crap shoot. Carlos Beltran won't start the season because of knee surgery, which caused a mess with the team, so a combo of Angel Pagan and trade import Gary Matthews Jr. will do the honors. Needless to say, there are a bevy of question marks surrounding this team at a time where they could've used some stability,
Overall: They seemed to be in on everyone, and got virtually no one. Sure, Jason Bay gets them points, but the rest of their signings and non-signings coupled with various other issues that went on this offseason brings things down a couple of notches.
Grade: B-
WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Major Signings: Ivan Rodriguez, Jason Marquis, Chien-Ming Wang, Adam Kennedy, Matt Capps, Ron Villone, Willy Taveras, Miguel Batista, Chris Duncan, Eddie Guardado, Eric Bruntlett
Major Trade Acquisitions: Brian Bruney
Major Losses: Austin Kearns, Josh Bard
Report: I think the Nats did well for the Nats. This isn't a team that can easily lure free agents to them, but they did what thaey had to do. First, they remade their bullpen with Matt Capps taking over at closer, and Brian Bruney setting up; that's a hard throwing one-two. To their rotation they added Jason Marquis, a solid innings-eating guy, which is what they needed. He also provides some veteran presence to a young staff. Catching that young staff will now be Ivan Rodriguez, at least till Jesus Flores completely recovers from a torn labrum. That's good wisdom for Flores to absorb as well as the staff. Adam Kennedy, off a decent season with A's, takes over at second base as well, giving them another solid vet. Finally, they added a potential ace in Chien-Ming Wang, who will try to return to form later this spring. If he does, thats a huge boost to their staff.
Overall: Not bad, not bad at all. The Nats will improve this year for sure, and with some hot, young pitchers coming they'll improve even more!
Grade: B+
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2 comments:
One note on the Phils' off-season moves: Adding Halladay put them over budget, trading Lee was also about clearing payroll.
Basically, in order to get Halladay, Lee or Blanton had to go. If Blanton goes, they get a mid-range prospect, and then likely lose Lee as a FA anyway. 1 mid-range prospect and two draft picks who are years away leaves the major league-ready rotation too thin - Halladay, Hamels, and Happ (who's probably not as good as he pitched last year).
Trade Lee, sign Blanton to a three-year extension, and now the Phils have Halladay, Hamels, Blanton and Happ all under control for the next three seasons, minimum. And they've added three prospects with at least some professional track record to fill out the back of the rotation or slot into the outfield when Werth or Ibanez need to move on.
Given the options, I think Ruben did good. Sure, I'd love to take a World Series shot with Halladay, Lee and Hamels, but I prefer having three or four shots with Blanton than one with Lee.
Also, Figgins was out of the Phillies' price range for a 3B, and Polanco fits the Phillies' offensive needs better (low Ks, higher OBP - Beltre's been below .330 since 2004) and he's played there before, so they know his character and fit in the clubhouse. Again, if you concede Figgins being unaffordable, I think they did good.
Great comment, Mike, and you make very good points. However, I think the question then becomes does three years of Blanton win you another World Series? Blanton is a decent pitcher, but not a game changer.
Also, budgets are an interesting subject all to themselves, and would need some in-depth analysis of the team's revunue streams. I look at it like this: Is it fair that the Yankees were criticized for holding firm to their budget this year? Sure, but if they can get that kind of scrutiny so can any of the other big market team, especially a team like the Phillies who have been to the Series two years in a row. So it's hard for me to properly judge from a monetary standpoint. I can only see better options out there and rate on who they did get.
Weighing the Blanton extenstion, though, is a point I did overlook, and whatever impact he had doesn't change the fact he is a decent pitcher. Based on that, I'm going to revise my rating to a B+.
Thanks for posting!
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