Offseason Thread

[SpectrumDweller]

7:22pm: The Phillies, Mets, and Yankees remain in the mix for Hairston, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.

So now we're interested in Scott Hairston who is a decent platoon player. I thought we were trying to improve our team this offseason. I'd much rather have Hunter Pence to Scott Hairston. I'm starting to get this bad feeling that Ruben has absolutely nothing up his sleeve. I hope I'm wrong

[BigLee53]

ew. Hairston. gross

[sexicano31]

Love it

[BigLee53]

Yanks are "open" to negotiation for Granderson. thoughts?

[sexicano31]

Hate it

[Ender]

^This. (And thanks for the back-up on Chavez/ Figgins.)

At this point you either grab Hamilton and some combination of Youk OR a Chavez/ Figgins-type 3B platoon and leave Frandsen on the bench to spot all these old mother****ers 1-2x a week AND Swisher or go with Ruf/ Brown + marginal Pierre-type guys.

You know what I'm saying; get ALL the big guys or get NONE OF THEM.

Otherwise, I'm happy to just let guys like Gillies, Asche, Ruf and Brown play every day and see what they got. Offense shouldn't be QUITE as anemic next Spring with Chase and Ryno opening the season (as) healthy (as they get).

[sexicano31]

Im on board with giving Gillies some looks, no matter have silly it may be. Im warming up to the idea of Hamilton on anything less than 5 years

[SpectrumDweller]

Why would I want to sign someone I don't want?



I suppose. But usually by this time we're fighting over some great/ terrible signing.



If that's a swipe at me (as far as I know I'm the only person on these boards to bring up their names) then yes, I am serious. Assuming we fill CF with a big bat like Hamilton and sign another potent bat for RF or if the Phils truly believe Ruf or Brown or Ruf/ Brown can put up above avg. offensive #'s then why not find a part-time LH 3B to split time with Frandsen? Especially a guy like Chavez who is universally respected.

This was not as swipe at anybody. I was just thinking of other free agents who could play third base. I just don't want us to settle everywhere. Figgins has been hovering around the Mendoza line the past few seasons and while I like Chavez, he is another lefty in an already heavy lefty lineup. I'd rather get an everyday player there since it looks like we'll already have at least one platoon to start the season.

[Philsforever]

Amaro has been living of the Halladay and Lee moves. This team has been crying for offense the last 3 yrs. For some reason Amaro fails to spend money on players that can produce runs. Instead they will continue to score 2 or 3 runs a game and be a 500 club. This off-season there was a glaring need for an outfielder and the best free agent is an outfielder. Instead of going after him we talk about Nyjer Morgan and Scott Hairston. Not good enough for the people that fill that park every night. Why do we give Amaro a free pass?

[Philsforever]

All this talk of a Lefty heavy lineup drives me crazy. Catcher 3b and LF is Right Handed. SS is a SH. So if you sign a LH CF. You have 1b, 2b, CF, RF batting LH. That is 3 RH, 1 SH, 4 LF. How is that Lefty Heavy. If you sign a RH hitting CF then I guess we would be RIGHTY HEAVY

[phillyphan4]

^This. (And thanks for the back-up on Chavez/ Figgins.)

At this point you either grab Hamilton and some combination of Youk OR a Chavez/ Figgins-type 3B platoon and leave Frandsen on the bench to spot all these old mother****ers 1-2x a week AND Swisher or go with Ruf/ Brown + marginal Pierre-type guys.

You know what I'm saying; get ALL the big guys or get NONE OF THEM.

Otherwise, I'm happy to just let guys like Gillies, Asche, Ruf and Brown play every day and see what they got. Offense shouldn't be QUITE as anemic next Spring with Chase and Ryno opening the season (as) healthy (as they get).

Agreed with everything you said. If we are in the win it now mode just go all in and get these guys if not start getting the youngsters some game time experience and run with it. Who knows we could be the next Athletics or Rays with a couple stars and marginal platoon players. Up to this point the only thing I would dislike would be a trade for Fowler. I just would hate to see us trade young assets for an ehh kind of player. There are plenty of those ehh players as FA's that we can sign IMO without losing any specs.

[Illa215]

I really want Peter Bourjos. I think he can be a big time player next year given 600 PA's. He's awesome defensively, great on the base paths, and has shown potential at the plate.

[Ender]

This was not as swipe at anybody. I was just thinking of other free agents who could play third base. I just don't want us to settle everywhere. Figgins has been hovering around the Mendoza line the past few seasons and while I like Chavez, he is another lefty in an already heavy lefty lineup. I'd rather get an everyday player there since it looks like we'll already have at least one platoon to start the season.

Understood.

And I don't think I'd mind a lefty-heavy line-up that goes Utley-Hamilton-Howard @ 3-4-5.

Agreed with everything you said. If we are in the win it now mode just go all in and get these guys if not start getting the youngsters some game time experience and run with it. Who knows we could be the next Athletics or Rays with a couple stars and marginal platoon players. Up to this point the only thing I would dislike would be a trade for Fowler. I just would hate to see us trade young assets for an ehh kind of player. There are plenty of those ehh players as FA's that we can sign IMO without losing any specs.

My only argument is that the time to start hoarding prospects was before Lee I, when we actually had prospects. Since then, we've basically traded away a starting line-up of young guys that, had we kept them and groomed them properly (like Taylor, Drabek, Marson, Donald, Jaramillo, D'Arnaud, Singleton, Golson, etc.) would be integral parts of our current line-up or moving into full-time roles this year or next.

Now, I understand, once you do Lee I, you may as well do Halladay, Pence, etc. But there was no real impetus for Lee I as we were coming of a WS championship and were still the best team in the NL in '09 at the time of the deal. Maybe my memory is a little foggy and we absolutely NEEDED Lee. If so, I've forgotten.

Just seems odd timing to start keeping specs when we don't have any that look to be anything more than ok except for the guys who are 2-3 years away.

But... maybe they're not and next week we make 5 bold trades/ signings.

[Ender]

I also wouldn't sweat multiple platoons, presuming you do them right. The '93 team that kicked unholy @$$ had 3 and no SS until July;

2B: Duncan-Morandini
LF: Inky-Thompson
RF: Chamberlain-Eisenreich
SS: Bell-Stocker

[sexicano31]

If you can get a bunch of cheap players and actually utilize platoons(not a sure thing with Charlie) then they are a good way to go