Philadelphia Phillies Offseason Tracker: Hottest Free Agency News, Trade Rumors

The Philadelphia Phillies‘ aging roster isn’t making things easy for the front office, so it’s not clear how active the team will be this offseason.

Philadelphia was expected to be one of the most active teams at the trade deadline back in July. Instead, the team did nothing. That may be because they didn’t get any offers that they felt were fair. Many of the team’s veteran players have some type of no-trade clause in their contracts. That makes completing deals that much tougher.

With Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and Jonathan Papelbon, the team has some attractive trade chips. It’s just not clear as to how eager the team is to move any of those star players. The club may be more willing to deal some players more than others, but then the finances complicate matters.

The Phillies already have a lot of money committed to the 2015 payroll, and with an aging roster that is less competitive than it was when the big contracts were handed out, the team is in a tough spot right now.

Stay tuned throughout November to see what is going on with the Phillies.

 

*All stats are via MLB.com

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Grady Sizemore Re-Signs with Phillies: Contract Details, Comments and Reaction

The Philadelphia Phillies liked Grady Sizemore so much they decided to bring him back.

On Thursday, the team announced it re-signed the 32-year-old outfielder to a one-year, $2 million deal, per Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan:

According to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo, Sizemore’s deal can be worth up to $5 million if he cashes in on various potential bonuses:

Sizemore is the classic case of what could’ve been. In eight years with the Cleveland Indians, he was a three-time All-Star and won two Gold Glove Awards and a Silver Slugger Award. One of the most dynamic players in the league between 2005 and 2008, he was a true five-tool player.

Then injuries derailed Sizemore’s career. He appeared in 210 regular-season games between 2009 and 2011 and failed to play at all in 2012 and 2013.

Sizemore spent parts of the 2014 season with the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies. After a rough 52 games with the Sox, he arrived in Philly, where he played in 60 games, hitting three home runs, driving in 12 runs and boasting a slash line of .253/.313/.389.

Hardball Talk’s D.J. Short was a bit underwhelmed that the Phillies viewed re-signing Sizemore as a top task in the offseason:

On the contrary, Rotoworld’s Matthew Pouliot thinks re-signing Sizemore could be a low-risk, high-reward proposition:

Holding onto Sizemore will do nothing to dispel the notion that Philadelphia has become a haven for aging/oft-injured stars.

However, the team isn’t making a massive financial commitment to the outfielder, and in time, he could grow into a serviceable bat in the lineup with average to above-average defense.

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com