2009 Phillies Offseason Thread

[PhillyGirl]

http://www.csnphilly.com/pages/landing_09?What-A-Relief-Could-Phillies-Be-Ready-to=1&blockID=107196&feedID=704

[BigEd76]

pleasenobaez
pleasenobaez
pleasenobaez
pleasenobaez
pleasenobaez
pleasenobaez

[Seabiscuit36]

they were talking about him getting a tryout contract like Benson got. 

[mpmcgraw]

The True MVP of the 00's

Editor's note: Over the past two weeks on ESPN.com, writers and editors have been looking back at the past decade in baseball -- and looking ahead to the future. On Wednesday, Dave Cameron of FanGraphs identifies baseball's most valuable player at the close of the aughts.

Albert Pujols' greatness is unquestioned. He won his second consecutive National League MVP award this year (his third overall), and this time around, he took home every first-place vote. He's finished in the top four in MVP voting in eight of the nine years he's been in the majors, and he hasn't even turned 30. Yet there is another National League player who is just as valuable, if not more so, and receives none of the accolades. Seriously.

Chase Utley, the Phillies' star second baseman, has never finished higher than seventh in the MVP voting since he arrived in Philadelphia, but has contributed more bang for the buck than any other player in baseball. At FanGraphs, we have a metric that encompasses a player's total contribution on the field, called Wins Above Replacement. WAR, as it is often abbreviated, combines a player's value at the plate and in the field to give a better overall picture of a player's worth. (In layman's terms, "replacement," as defined by stat guru Tom Tango, represents "the talent level for which you would pay the minimum salary on the open market, or for which you can obtain at minimal cost in a trade." Mike Sweeney, who signed a minor league deal in early 2009 and produced 0.2 WAR for the Mariners, is a good example of a replacement-level player.)

By putting all players against a similar baseline, we can compare their value side by side, pitting defensive wizards against burly sluggers and finding out who actually contributes more to helping their team win. Since entering the league in 2005, Utley has added 37.9 wins above what a league minimum player would have provided, which is a tremendous total that represents his offensive prowess and Gold Glove skills at second base. Middle infielders who can hit as well as Utley are rare breeds indeed, and when you factor in his incredible baserunning -- 23-for-23 in stolen bases last year! -- he grades out as the most complete player in baseball. From that Wins Above Replacement total, we can use a wins-to-dollars conversion based on how teams have historically valued wins in the free-agent market on a yearly basis. Considering how good Utley has been since the Phillies gave him the second-base job, his performance on the field has been worth $154 million. That's about $31 million a year in production.

Top Value Since 2005
Player WAR Value Salary Net
Chase Utley 37.9 $154M $25M $129M
David Wright 29.6 $119M $14M $105M
Hanley Ramirez 24.9 $106M $7M $99M
Grady Sizemore 27.3 $108M $10M $98M
Albert Pujols 40.4 $164M $66M $98M

In exchange for that performance, the Phillies have paid Utley a meager $25 million in salary, leaving $129 million in surplus value. Pujols has been ever so slightly better on the field, producing 40.4 wins and $164 million in raw value, but St. Louis has paid him $66 million over the past five years. The $41 million difference in salary more than outweighs the 2.5 difference in wins produced on the field, allowing the Phillies to extract more value from Utley than St. Louis got from its superstar. And remember, Utley didn't land a permanent job in the majors until 2005. He has had 2,269 fewer plate appearances to work with, and still managed to get himself within shouting distance of Pujols' value for the decade. Once you adjust for games played, in fact, Utley grades out slightly higher. Utley has produced a net value of just over $35,000 per plate appearance, compared to $28,000 per trip to the plate for Pujols. While Utley hasn't been at the top of the game for quite as long, once you account for salary, he's been the most valuable player in baseball since his arrival in the big leagues.

The difference may only grow over the next few seasons. Pujols has two years remaining on the seven-year, $100 million contract he signed in 2004, but you have to believe that the Cardinals will give him a massive extension before his contract expires. He is due $16 million in each of the next two years, and the average annual salary of his next deal will surely exceed that. Utley, meanwhile, is under contract through 2013 at $15 million per year -- less than half of what he's worth on an annual basis. He may not have the trophies or the gaudy home run totals of players like Pujols or Alex Rodriguez, but Chase Utley is right there with the very best players in the game. When you factor in that the Phillies have him under contract at rates that don't even come close to his true value, he rises above the rest as the real Most Valuable Player in baseball.

[Seabiscuit36]

VORP

[PhillyGirl]

GRIT

[PhillyPhreak54]

Danys Baez sucks.

Rodney wants $6M? Damn...

[ice grillin you]

[author=jihadist monk]



   

[Rome]

AIDS

[mpmcgraw]

Rodney is a Angels. Thank god. 2/11 mil.

Dude blows.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Hefty price tag.

And it should be "Rodney is an Angel"

[mpmcgraw]

lol

[PhillyPhreak54]

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/homepage/20091223_Phillies_talking_to_MacDougal__agent_says.html

Wild as hell

[Seabiscuit36]

Jerome

[MDS]

lol @ that article

i scrolled down it and saw the value salary net part and thats all i needed to see

loser fake wanna be gms with their calculators. go away.