Gillick says NO to Lowell

Buster Olney reported that the Phillies were going to make a 'big play' for free agent third-baseman Mike Lowell.

WIP and 950-AM, reported the deal was somewhere around 4 years, $50 million.

Gillick says it is all bull shit.

“We’re concentrating on pitching right now,” Gillick said at Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies introduced closer Brad Lidge.

Phillies assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said earlier this week that the money the Phillies have left to spend has been earmarked for pitching.

Has that changed?

“No,” Gillick said. “Why would it change?”

Because the Phillies received an unexpected increase in payroll?

“No,” he said. “That hasn’t changed. We’re still concentrating on pitching. We prefer a starter and a bullpen piece. We’d prefer the starter.”

The Zo Zone

You have to love this organization. They're justifying signing pitching, but not keeping the offense at the same level it was last year. You're not improving your team when you take a hit in one aspect and slightly improve it in another. What they forget to realize was how often the offense had to bail out starters Jamie Moyer, Adam Eaton, and Kyle Loshe. I'm sorry guys, Jayson Werth is not going to replicate Rowand's numbers. Yes, I know they were a contract year, but Werth will not even replicate Rowand's career numbers. You have to replace him. Last year, the Phillies had somewhere less than 10 home runs out of the third base position. That is pathetic.

The have to improve both situations.

Lets face it folks, if we as fans ever wanted to be rewarded, we have to pray for the team to be sold.

One owner just sold his cigar business for 2.9 billion$. If he put 5% of that toward the Phillies, that give them 145$ million to spend, not just this year, in reality, if the average contract is around 4-5 years, it'd give the Phillies 25-35 million extra to spend a year.