MLB Trade Rumors: Philadelphia Phillies Should Be Cautious Trading Cliff Lee

Coming into this offseason, the Philadelphia Phillies were a team hunting for some assistance in the outfield.

With B.J. Upton and Shane Victorino both off the market, Michael Bourn likely to sign elsewhere and Nick Swisher demanding a price that Philadelphia probably isn’t willing to pay, it seems as though the options are drying up.

So what now?

Well, there’s always the trade market.

According to a tweet from Pedro Gomez of ESPN on Tuesday, the Phillies may have been looking to making a splash, as they discussed potentially swapping Cliff Lee for Justin Upton of the Arizona Diamondbacks:

 

Phillies and Diamondbacks are discussing Justin Upton for Cliff Lee. Money coming to AZ would also be involved.

— Pedro Gomez (@pedrogomezESPN) December 4, 2012

 

This wouldn’t just fill the team’s need for a big bat in the outfield, it would instantly bolster Philadelphia’s lineup in a way that none of the aforementioned free agents could (with the exception of a few of those names being switch-hitters).

At just 25 years old, Upton has averaged 23 home runs and 77.5 RBI, while swiping at least 18 bases in each of those seasons.

Upton has been sensational since arriving at the major league level.

It would surely be worth giving up Cliff Lee for him, right?

Lee is 34 years old and will be 35 by the time the 2013 season wraps up. He was injured this past season and costs Philadelphia a good chunk of change.

Trading him is not that simple, though.

If the Phillies were to trade Cliff Lee, they’d lose an integral part of their rotation.

They would still have dominant, ace-caliber starters in Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay, but Halladay is no spring chicken, either. He had a poor, injury-plagued season as well.

It’s also worth noting that Halladay will be a free agent after the 2013 season, meaning the Phillies could be faced with losing two of their best pitchers, which would make them very thin in terms of starting pitching after 2013.

Should they be able to re-sign Halladay or feel fairly confident that they can pick up a second or third starter either this offseason or next (perhaps a guy like Shaun Marcum or Brandon McCarthy), the trade would seem much more feasible.

Until then, Philadelphia would be wise in approaching this potential deal—or any potential deal involving Lee—with caution.

 

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Phillies Rumors: ‘Fact or Fiction’ on All the Hottest Rumors in Philadelphia

Any time you put baseball’s most prominent front office executives, owners, agents and free agents under the same roof, you can expect a storm of rumors—some believable, some not so much—to be tossed about the Internet like a rag doll.

Welcome to Major League Baseball’s winter meetings. 

The Philadelphia Phillies arrived in Nashville, Tennessee this week—site of baseball’s winter meetings—with not a single need scratched off of their to-do list. Normally, that would be troublesome, but this is a deep free-agent market as far as they are concerned. 

With Michael Bourn, Angel Pagan, Josh Hamilton and Shane Victorino still on the market, the Phillies are confident they can find a center fielder. Could Kevin Youkilis play third base? Will the Phillies find their setup man on the open market or attempt to swing another trade? 

These are all questions that could be answered this week, so with that in mind, what better time to update you on the “fact or fiction” of all the latest rumors surrounding the Phillies?

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Is Philadelphia Phillies’ Offseason on the Verge of Being a Disaster?

As each day goes by, more and more key free agents are being acquired by teams all over baseball, and more importantly, within the same division. With the way things have gone so far, it’s not looking too promising for the Phillies. 

The Phillies’ key offseason target, B.J. Upton, has recently signed with the division rival, Atlanta Braves. To add more salt to the wound, reigning NL East Champion Washington Nationals recently traded for Twins‘ center fielder Denard Span.

With Upton signing and the center field market shrinking, the Phillies had to look to other options. One name they may have had interest in was Angel Pagan. That is, until today, when CSNBayArea’s Andrew Baggarly posted on his Twitter account that Pagan signed a four-year, $40 million deal that that included a $5 million signing bonus.

With almost all of the modestly priced free agents off the market besides Shane Victorino, the Phillies are left in quite the predicament.

Do they concentrate on the corner outfield free-agent market? Do they make a trade? Or do they let the market play out and see where what it looks like a month or more from now?

One thing we all know is that general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has to do something. This team, as is, will have a lot of trouble competing in the NL East, let alone the rest of the National League. If Amaro is unable to bring anything of value to Philadelphia in 2013, we may be looking at another third place finish for the Phillies next season.

Amaro has seemed oddly patient so far this offseason, maybe a little too patient, but if history has taught us one thing, it tends to repeat itself. So, Amaro may have an unexpected ace up his sleeve, we just don’t know which one yet.

This is going to be an interesting week; it’s only Monday and the buzz is already heavy. Look for Amaro to use this week not only to see what the free-agent market is looking like, but to also lay groundwork for several trade possibilities. Alfonso Soriano, Michael Young and Peter Bourjos could all be fits for the Phillies. 

The Phillies have an abundance of depth at starting pitcher in the minor leagues and could use that to help bring some much-needed talent into Philadelphia. Tyler Cloyd, Trevor May, Adam Morgan, Brody Colvin and Jonathan Pettibone could all be available.   

If the Phillies want to compete in 2013, they need to add some talent. Third base, outfield and the bullpen are all areas of major concern. The more time that goes by, the tougher time Amaro will have to fill his voids. There are big names still out there, but Amaro seems hesitant to go on a spending spree this offseason. 

The good news is that it’s still relatively early, so don’t go into panic mode yet. Amaro may have something stirring in his pot that no one in baseball is expecting; he’s done it before and he could do it again. Let’s just hope it’s sooner rather than later, for the fan’s sake. 

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Phillies Rumors: Pagan Reportedly Signs with Giants, Who Should the Club Pursue?

It appears the Philadelphia Phillies are losing another bidding war. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports is reporting Angel Pagan and the San Francisco Giants are potentially in agreement on a deal. Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports, also reported the potential deal is worth $40M over four years.

The Phillies’ soap-opera offseason continues.

Losing Pagan will not shatter the team, but the free agent list is slowly thinning.

The Phillies have been linked to all major outfield free agents this offseason, but nothing has come to fruition.

It appears Ruben Amaro, Jr., is sticking to his guns and not offering more than a player’s worth—at least not yet. The facts still remain: The Phillies are in need of outfield help.

Lately, the Phillies have been mentioned to possible communications with Chicago Cubs regarding Alfonso Soriano and interests in free agent Ichiro Suzuki. Six years ago, this would have been blockbuster news, but it’s simply not enough to excite the Phillies’ fan base. Neither will Cody Ross.

If you break down the Phillies’ main objective this offseason, it’s to sign a right-handed power hitter or a dynamic leadoff hitter. The latter of the two seems to be the most attainable.

Michael Bourn is still available and will be very expensive. Jim Salisbury also reported the club is expressing interest in trade talks for Dexter Fowler or Peter Bourjos.

If the Phillies do capture any of these three players, it will be an upgrade at the position, but at what cost?

Do the Phillies unload veteran and young pitching via trade or spend more than wanted? Or will the team sign Josh Hamilton, ignoring the needs of a right-hander or leadoff batter, and shock the world?

Stay tuned, as the Phillies’ next offseason episode unfolds.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Which Prospects Could Make the 2013 Roster?

It is often more exciting to discuss and project results for prospects than for established players.

Ask a Philadelphia Eagles fan if you doubt this. Nick Foles had an intriguing preseason while the Eagles effectively swathed Michael Vick in Bubble Wrap, trying to stave off what turned out to be the inevitable–a disabling Vick injury.

As the Eagles’ season started to unravel and Vick became more and more banged up, what started as whispers to “give the kid a chance” developed into conversation and finally ended in a full-throated insistence that Foles take over the starting job as the Eagles’ quarterback.

That said, had Vick not been concussed against the Dallas Cowboys, Foles would probably have never seen the field. Three weeks later, Eagles fans realize that maybe that result was preferable.

The Eagles still have not won a game since Vick went down. Foles finished his most recent game against the Carolina Panthers with 119 passing yards and no touchdowns.

In other words, whether you are looking at the National Football League, Major League Baseball or, really, any major professional sports league, the most popular guy is very often the new, exciting prospect who has no track record of failure.

The problem, of course, is that that same new, exciting prospect has no track record of success either.

While we are on the subject, it is normally only teams in the middle of the pack or worse that obsess over prospects. Neither the Washington Nationals nor the Atlanta Braves, both of them 2012 playoff participants, are too hung up this offseason trying to figure out how to squeeze major-league production out of untested players.

Nationals’ general manager Mike Rizzo recently took the unusual step of announcing as much, saying “We don’t have any pressing needs,” according to the Washington Post.

That stings if you are a Phillies fan, particularly since the Phillies’ GM used to say that sort of thing.

Neither Ruben Amaro Jr. nor Pat Gillick before him had that much to fix. They began with a young, productive nucleus of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Cole Hamels and built from there.

Sadly, those days are over. Oh, sure, all of those guys are back, and there are other high-profile players under contract too (Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Jonathan Papelbon, et al). But none of them are young anymore, and the piles of money it took to sign them all have left the Phillies employing a “stars-and-scrubs” strategy to field a complete team.

As such, even with well over $100 million in 2013 payroll committed to players, the Phillies still have serious holes in the outfield and at third base. Plus, they will begin the season without their starting catcher as Carlos Ruiz serves his 25-game suspension for violating MLB‘s policy on banned substances, per ESPN.com.

Because of the expensive free-agent signings and prospect-depleting trades for the likes of Halladay, Lee and Pence, the Phillies can neither spend recklessly nor part with promising minor-league talent to fill their roster gaps.

Further complicating the analysis of which Phillies prospects might make the 2013 roster is the question of whether some of the players that would have been considered “prospects” in the summer of 2012 can still be referred to as such.

For example, last summer, Darin Ruf was teeing off on Eastern League pitching at AA Reading. The Phillies have a need for a right-handed power-hitting left fielder. In the minors, that is what Ruf was. He only played 12 major-league games last year.

So is he still a “prospect”? If so, you can almost guarantee he will make the 2013 roster given the Phillies’ outfield needs.

Similarly, Phillippe Aumont went from laboring at AA Reading to making 18 somewhat unexpected appearances with the big club toward the end of the 2012 season. Is Aumont still a “prospect”? Either way, he is very likely to make the team out of spring training. 

Domonic Brown has been wearing the “prospect” tag for what seems like half a decade. He is 25 years old now. He only played 56 games for the Phillies last season. Is he still a “prospect”? Because he should make the team, too.

Then there is the bizarre case of Freddy Galvis, who unexpectedly served as the starting second baseman for an injured Utley only to sustain a brutal injury of his own. Galvis‘ injury was coupled with insult when he was hit with a 50-game drug suspension by MLB in June while he was already on the disabled list, per ESPN.com.

So how do you classify Galvis? But for Utley’s injury, Galvis would probably never have seen any major-league time in 2012. He hit .226 in the 58 games he played. Is he still a “prospect”? And did he do enough to deserve a look in 2013, or is he better served finding a competent offensive game at AAA Lehigh Valley? 

Aside from these prospects, well, forgive a Phillies fan for not being too sanguine about the other prospects’ chances of making the Opening Day roster.

Tommy Joseph and Sebastian Valle are the two top catching prospects in the Phillies’ organization. But that does not mean either Joseph or Valle starts the season in Philadelphia while Ruiz serves out his punishment. They may be better off getting regular work in the minor leagues rather than caddying for the likes of Erik Kratz.

Jonathan Pettibone split his 2012 time between Reading and Lehigh Valley and pitched quite well, but when the Phillies had to replace Vance Worley, it was Tyler Cloyd who got the call.

With Hamels, Halladay, Lee and Worley more or less guaranteed rotation places, and Kyle Kendrick and Cloyd there to vie for the fifth rotation spot, Pettibone‘s odds of making the 2013 roster (absent an injury) are slim.

Beyond that, the prospects one might hold out the most hope for–Larry Greene Jr. and Carlos Tocci come to mind–are only still beginning their professional careers in earnest.

Ultimately, then, the “prospects” most likely to make the 2013 Phillies roster out of spring training are, if not familiar faces, then certainly not unknown ones.

And the only way most of the Phillies’ prospects will find their way to Philadelphia this season would be if the Phillies are once again out of playoff contention in June. Because at that point, the Phillies will start selling off veterans like Halladay and Utley for whatever they will return in trade, and someone will have to finish the season out.

Maybe hoping to see the Phillies’ prospects in 2013 is not such a great idea after all.

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25 Players the Philadelphia Phillies Should Target at the Winter Meetings

Major League Baseball’s winter meetings have become an annual source of offseason news and a rumor bonanza, and the Philadelphia Phillies are expected to be one of this winter’s most involved clubs. 

The Phillies, who set out to fill three positions—center field, third base and setup man—have come up empty so far this offseason. Now there is plenty of time remaining before spring training and the Phillies still have options, but there is no doubt that the countdown is own. 

Because each team sends an entourage of personnel to the winter meetings, they’ve become a popular source of rumors and “reach for the stars” kind of deals. The Phillies could use one of those right now. 

This slideshow will serve as a primer for the winter meetings from a Phillies perspective. This is a list of who they should target and why. If a player appears on this list, it means that he is a player that I believe the Phillies should do their best to acquire.

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Philadelphia Phillies Rumors: Phillies Reportedly Make a Push for Angel Pagan

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported the Philadelphia Phillies are believed to have made an offer to outfielder Angel Pagan. Sources claim the offer is a four-year deal. Rosenthal also reported it is believed the San Francisco Giants have made a four-year offer to Pagan.

Let the bidding begin.

This is a very important signing for the Philadelphia Phillies, especially after the brutal month the club had to endure. Losing out on B.J. Upton to the Atlanta Braves, halting a trade for relief pitcher Wilton Lopez and Chooch’s 25-game suspension would make any team miserable.

Needless to say, the Phillies are due for some good news.

Pagan would bring an interesting dynamic to the Phillies’ clubhouse. A switch-hitter with the ability to hit in multiple spots of the lineup—including leadoff. He is also extremely versatile at each outfield position. 

Now, Pagan had a great season last year and has been steady for the past three, but he is prone to injury. That’s a chief concern for the Phillies, but his potential outweighs the negative. 

Finally, the Phillies signing Pagan would allow the club to keep pace with the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals—who both have made huge splashes in the offseason, specifically center field. 

Maybe December is the month of good fortune for the Phillies. More details to follow on Pagan’s decision.

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