Manuel, Gillick Honored by MLB.com

MLB.com each year has the fans vote to honor players, coaches, executives, and even plays and moments each year. This year, 2 Phillies were recognized by the fans and there are still a few more awards to be handed out. Charlie Manuel was voted best manager of the year and Pat Gillick was voted best executive.

We all know what both men did for the Phillies organization. Manuel led the Phillies to their first championship in 28 years and first in the city in 25 years and Gillick assembled that team. Gillicks most notable moves were trading Michael Bourn in the off season for perfect closer Brad Lidge, who is up for best closer and his final out is up for best moment in the playoffs. His other notable moves include the signing of Matt Stairs, whose home run in the WS is up for best moment in playoffs and Scott Eyre and resigning JC Romero.

Other Phillies up for awards:
-Ryan Howard lost to Albert Pujols for best hitter
-Lidge is up for best closer
-Lidge's final out in Game 5, Carlos Ruiz's walk-off dribbler in Game 3, Matt Stairs' go-ahead homer in Game 4, and Chase Utley's throw home in Game 5 are all up for post season moment of the year.

Get out and vote!

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Peace Eaton...Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

Start the parade. Adam Eaton, one of the worst free-agent signings, in Phillies history has been optioned to the minors. He has accepted this assignment and there it has yet to be made clear on which level he will be going to. [Daily News]

Now of course, we should say something about Eaton accepting the demotion. Good for him, I guess, but it shouldn't have happened of his pitching was not downright pathetic and I do mean pathetic.

In his career, Eaton had allowed 182 runs in 268 career innings with the Phillies. Over 1 and a half years, he had a combined record of 14-18. Not only did Gillick sign Eaton and his terrible pitching, but he helped inflate the price on the rest of the pitching market. Good job Pat! At least you're somewhat trying to fix this mess now. However, I am not sold on Eaton's replacement, Joe Blanton, just yet.

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Phillies Rumblings

When he's right, you have to give him credit.

"Our problem is not money. Our problem is talent," Gillick said yesterday.

"I think if we indicate that there is talent there, we will spend the money. But this talent pool is not the greatest right now. It's tough to get in bed with someone for 4 years when you know it's not the right thing to do. It's easy to spend the money right now and then a year from now, wish you hadn't spent it."

You cannot argue with that. This free agent class is very thin, though there are has been a lot of talk involving the Phillies. The off-season will pick up shortly however with the Winter Meetings soon to start.

"When you don't have the quality starters . . . somebody has to keep you in the games," Arbuckle said. "So when the number of starters aren't available and you can't get your hands on one, you have to get it in the bullpen and those guys become hotter commodities.

"That's why you see a lot of these middle-of-the-road-type relievers getting more money and longer contracts. If it was a better starting-pitching [pool], those guys would be less valuable."

Shouldn't they be adding more quality reliever then instead of guys like Shane Youman, a left-handed reliever who gives up a lot of walks and hits? I mean what is the difference between Youman and Matt Smith (the gem from the Abreu trade).

Scott Matieson will likely be up at some point next year if he stays healthy. After two surgeries, he is finally returning to form.

Apparently, the Phillies have an interest in Melvin Mora. Three problems: He's 35, owed $17 million over the next two years, and he will have to be obtained in a trade. He should be able to put up decent enough offensive numbers in our line-up to warrant the move, but his defense is well, not much of an upgrade over Dobbs and Helms. If they can make the move without giving up much, I say try it. $8.5 million annually is not too bad for an every-day third baseman, as long as he's playing everyday. His 162 game seasonal averages are as follows:

.279 avg, .357 OBP, .438 SLG, .795 OPS, 19 HR, 77 RBI, 89 R, 12 SB, 106 Ks, 59 Walks

Not too bad, and you might assume he'd fair a little better in our ballpark and the National League.

Update: Todd Zolecki has come out to say there is "no chance" that Mora will end up in a Phillies uniform and it was more just wishful thinking on the Orioles part.

MLBTradeRumors.com is also reporting that the Phillies are in the mix for Geoff Jenkings.

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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.

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