Phillies Offseason Thread

[SD]

If Ruben is as crafty as he thinks he is he can find a way to make it work. The luxury cap has raised every season, last season it was raised $6 million (from $172 million to $178 million) so I'm sure this season they'll follow suit. The Phillies have over $50 million coming off the books. I know Cliff Lee's contract goes up $14 million and Howard's deal raises $5 million plus Hamels and Pence are in need of extra money but there's wiggle room there to make it work. I agree with munson in that I don't think they'll go over the luxury cap limit.

[MDS]

lol @ dom brown for matt kemp

jesus

[SD]

lol @ dom brown for matt kemp

jesus

I guess you missed the + sign you dirty jew. And the Dodgers are in financial trouble, so why wouldn't they take one of the top ranked prospects + for Kemp?

[ice grillin you]

dom browns stock has falling thru the basement and mlb runs the dodgers now....this isnt the devil rays we are talking about...bud selig will not let the dodgers just give away an mvp candidate

[Sgt PSN]

Rube isn't moving Dom during the offseason.  There was an article I posted earlier in this thread where he talked about wanting to give Brown a full year's worth of at bats in Triple A.  Now will he stick to that and keep Brown in the minors that long?  I doubt it.  If he's tearing it up around mid-season then he either has to bring him up and see how he does or work a trade.

And Matt Kemp almost certainly isn't going anywhere before the season starts either. 

However, a potential trade sometime next year could be Brown and Victorino (and maybe a throw in from AA or A) for Kemp.  I like Victorino despite his stupidity, but yeah, I'd be all over that trade in a heart beat. 

[ice grillin you]

i dont care what the current financial situation is the dodgers are not trading a 27 year old mvp candidate who has very few statiscal comparisons in mlb and a franchise cornerstone for shane victorino and HOF....they arent the astros....if kemp is dealt and i highly doubt he is he is going for over market value

i fully expect him to be extended this offseason

[Sgt PSN]

You may be right on Kemp's trade value, he could fetch more than HOF/Vic/throw in.  It's pure speculation at this point.

I think you're dead wrong on him being extended during the offseason though.  I don't see MLB making any long term commitments to players for a franchise that they don't control long term.  If they are able to force McCourt to sell the team, a new $100mil deal for Kemp could scare of potential buyers. 

As a fan that probably doesn't make sense.  Why wouldn't someone want to buy a franchise that has one of the games best young players locked up long term?  But I'm sure there's a lot of businessmen out there who would look at it strictly from a dollars and cents perspective and not want to buy a franchise that automatically comes with a $100mil debt.   

[ice grillin you]

kemp would be one of the reasons new owners would want the team...the dodgers are a money making machine not in frank mccourts hands so a big deal to one of the best players in the game is not a worry at all to a potential buyer...

ned colletti has said they have the money and intend on signing him this offseason and kemp has said he doent wanna leave

i dont think its a mortal lock but probably 80% he resigns with LA...i think the bigger questionmark is andre eithier

[Sgt PSN]

Eithier is all but done in LA imo.  There's a vibe going around Chavez Ravine that Eithier kind of quit on them during the year.  He wasn't very productive, had injury problems, etc, etc.  I'd take him in LF.   

[ice grillin you]

oh i didnt hear anything about him quitting...i was going on the obvious fact that if monotarily someone has to go its obviously him way before kemp

[Sgt PSN]

Yeah, even without the whole "quitting" thing, if you had to pick between the 2 you're going to take Kemp every time.  Some light drama started with him early in the season, maybe even still during spring training that revolved around some comments he made about being a free agent next year and that he expected this year to be his last in LA.  Things kind of snowballed from there and other than the early season hitting streak he had to start the year, he didn't really produce very much.  His numbers, especially hr and rbi have been on the decline over the last couple of years.  And he's only played more than 141 games 3x in his career (07-09).  You could almost make the argument that when the team isn't very good, he's not getting on the field as often as he could or should. 

Still, he's 29 so if the Phils offered him 3 years/$24mil with some incentive clauses (or something in that ballpark) and he took it, I'd probably be good with that.   

[ice grillin you]

so during this phillie golden age the texas rangers and san franciso giants are going to have as many titles as the fightins

[QB Eagles]

so during this phillie golden age the texas rangers and san franciso giants are going to have as many titles as the fightins

The Rangers already have as many trips to the WS.

[Sgt PSN]

I wonder if Texas fans are mocking Cliff Lee? 

[SD]

I'm gonna catch flak for posting this but Mike Miss hits the nail on the head with this Rollins article. I'm as big of a Rollins fan as there is but he's dead on accurate when he talks about his attitude. And I know there are a ton of Phillies fans who are douchebags but I never understood his resentment towards them. Is he too sensitive? I think that's part of the problem. He's definitely not underappreciated and the fans worship him.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20111016_Phillies__Rollins_deluded_on_five-year_contract.html?cmpid=131298144

I still say he's a goner, they trade for an outfielder, then sign a stop gap guy at SS.