Post-Trade Rumor Hangover
Not too much going on, so we'll just hit the high notes from a fine assortment of newspapers scattered throughout this great nation of ours:
From the St. Petersburg Times:
Still, Branyan would seem a good gamble. Tampa Bay likely will sign him to a minor-league contract and invite him to its major-league camp, so the upfront financial risk would be minimal. And he is versatile, with ability to play first base, leftfield, rightfield and DH.
This isn't official yet, but looks to be a done deal. If it is true that Russell Branyan is getting a minor legaue deal...I don't know what to say. Branyan would have been a very good fit on this Phillies ballclub. It appears that the Phillies had no interest in Branyan at all. Instead of getting angry, I'll just walk away...
The New York Post:
San Diego and Philadelphia are options. When Lozano phoned the Yankees on Monday, it was communicated that the catcher had one current option: as a backup with the Phillies.
Newsday:
But with the Yankees no longer interested, he could find himself in San Diego, for about $2 million.The Padres began negotiations with Lozano about a week ago, according to Padres GM Kevin Towers.
I had to sneak a Mike Piazza update in here somehow. The Phillies as an organization have interest, Charlie Manuel has said the idea of Piazza on the team intrigues him, and rumor has it a formal offer with detailed contractual parameters was even made. That's all well and good, but it looks like (as of now anyway, these things change by the minute) Piazza will wind up with the San Diego Padres. They've clearly leapfrogged the Phils in the pursuit of the catcher and must be considered the odds on favorites to land him. Good for them.
Jayson Stark at ESPN.com
But an official of one team in touch with the Phillies said they were "not real optimistic" about coming away with Rhodes or any other reliever, because they feared their portion of the trade was "disintegrating." That's because if Cleveland holds onto Crisp or winds up dealing for an outfielder like Kearns, it no longer would need Michaels. The Phillies then would probably hang onto Michaels until spring training and shop him for a setup man in the spring.
The Coco Crisp/Andy Marte/Jason Michaels/Arthur Rhodes mix 'em up between Boston, Cleveland, and Philly looks to be in serious trouble. A betting man would even go far as to say that there is less than a.....10% shot this thing comes off. I was very entertained by all the rumors at first (see any one of my 4oo or so posts on the subject), but now that they aren't quite so fresh and exciting anymore, I'm just ready for it all to stop. My attention span cooperated as well as I could have hoped, but now I'm ready to move on to bigger and better things. Like maybe starting some kind of petition to get the Phillies to sign Russ Branyan...or am I too late for that?
From the St. Petersburg Times:
Still, Branyan would seem a good gamble. Tampa Bay likely will sign him to a minor-league contract and invite him to its major-league camp, so the upfront financial risk would be minimal. And he is versatile, with ability to play first base, leftfield, rightfield and DH.
This isn't official yet, but looks to be a done deal. If it is true that Russell Branyan is getting a minor legaue deal...I don't know what to say. Branyan would have been a very good fit on this Phillies ballclub. It appears that the Phillies had no interest in Branyan at all. Instead of getting angry, I'll just walk away...
The New York Post:
San Diego and Philadelphia are options. When Lozano phoned the Yankees on Monday, it was communicated that the catcher had one current option: as a backup with the Phillies.
Newsday:
But with the Yankees no longer interested, he could find himself in San Diego, for about $2 million.The Padres began negotiations with Lozano about a week ago, according to Padres GM Kevin Towers.
I had to sneak a Mike Piazza update in here somehow. The Phillies as an organization have interest, Charlie Manuel has said the idea of Piazza on the team intrigues him, and rumor has it a formal offer with detailed contractual parameters was even made. That's all well and good, but it looks like (as of now anyway, these things change by the minute) Piazza will wind up with the San Diego Padres. They've clearly leapfrogged the Phils in the pursuit of the catcher and must be considered the odds on favorites to land him. Good for them.
Jayson Stark at ESPN.com
But an official of one team in touch with the Phillies said they were "not real optimistic" about coming away with Rhodes or any other reliever, because they feared their portion of the trade was "disintegrating." That's because if Cleveland holds onto Crisp or winds up dealing for an outfielder like Kearns, it no longer would need Michaels. The Phillies then would probably hang onto Michaels until spring training and shop him for a setup man in the spring.
The Coco Crisp/Andy Marte/Jason Michaels/Arthur Rhodes mix 'em up between Boston, Cleveland, and Philly looks to be in serious trouble. A betting man would even go far as to say that there is less than a.....10% shot this thing comes off. I was very entertained by all the rumors at first (see any one of my 4oo or so posts on the subject), but now that they aren't quite so fresh and exciting anymore, I'm just ready for it all to stop. My attention span cooperated as well as I could have hoped, but now I'm ready to move on to bigger and better things. Like maybe starting some kind of petition to get the Phillies to sign Russ Branyan...or am I too late for that?
posted by XXX at 7:38 PM
4 Comments:
I was checking out the free agent list to see who remains. The Phils could always sign Antonio Alfonseca as there 8th inning pitcher. Just kidding!! I don't know how you feel about him, but I was so mad when the Braves signed him in '04. He was too inconsistent to be a closer, but ended up having a decent year in Atlanta. Last year he had some injury or sickness and the Marlins deducted his pay but when he came back he wasn't very good.
Sometime by Spring, the Phillies will get a relief pitcher and Madson will be in the rotation. They have gotten to close to give up now.
Wow, over at rotoworld the latest rumor is that the Crisp to Boston for Marte/Mota deal maybe complete. There's a contingency that if Mota hits the DL alot this year, then Boston must send another player to Clev. Rhodes apparently is in Philly today for a physical. Once again, it's just a rumor and not confirmed. I thought this had died.
The Phillies' descent into oblivion continues unabated.I held out some hope that if the Crisp deal collapsed, Phillies fans might dodge the Michaels-for-Rhodes bullet (make that a Howitzer shell), but Gillick in his borderline-senile determination to load the staff with aging mediocrity has shown great tenacity in getting this fiasco finalized. Two years ago there was great optimism in Philadelphia, with a new ballpark, new attitude and new hope. Now it has disintegrated into more of the same as the losingest franchise in pro sports history plods along at its normal one-legged pace. . .Tom Gordon, Chris Booker, Ricardo Rodriguez, Julio Santana, Ryan Franklin, and now Arthur Rhodes. This garbage truck of a franchise almost makes this lifelong fan want to start chanting "Let's go Mets".
Braveswin -
Funny you mentioned Antonio Alfonseca - he just signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers not too long a go. It always works out that way too - as soon as you think of or mention a guy you haven't really given more than a second of thought to over the past few months, there he is in the news. Things lot that always happen to me.
Good call on the Sox/Indians/Phils trade triangle thing being revived. I go to class for a few hours and I come back to see everything about the deal being dead has changed. There is a lesson in there somewhere (don't go to class?)...
Anonymous -
I love it. Beautifully negative, just the way I like it. People from all over the country dump on Philly sports fans for being too loud, too pessimistic, too angry all the time, etc...but being a Philly sports fan is something that you can't really judge unless you know it first hand.
Anyway, I think your comment was a lovely mix of old school Philly venom and good solid knowledge of the situation - well done and thanks for chiming in.
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