2009 Offseason: Phillies ink Ibanez, Rule 5, potential non-tenders
Ibanez signs with Philadelphia
Ruben Amaro, Jr. has found his replacement for Pat Burrell in Raul Ibanez. The Phillies agreed with him on a 3-year deal worth $30M. He doesn’t have Burrell’s power, he’s not exactly cheap, and he costs them their first-rounder next year. Adam Dunn is better, currently undervalued and wouldn’t have cost them the draft pick. I’m sort of scratching my head over this one. At least he’s more durable.
Ibanez: .287/.356/.485 with 25 HR and 114 RBI in 614 AB
Dunn: .258/.391/.546 with 42 HR and 100 RBI in 536 AB
Rule 5 results
I won’t go over every player that was taken; instead I’ll point you to MLB Trade Rumors and a good overview by R.J. Anderson. The Brewers picked up Eduardo Morlan from Tampa Bay, and he could eventually become a closer for them.
Reds get Rhodes
Cincinnati signed veteran lefty Arthur Rhodes to a 2-year, $4M contract. I’m not a big believer in Rhodes at this age, but it wasn’t the worst reliever signing in recent history; just look down about 1 inch.
Rhodes: 27 IP, 21 H, 1 HR, 15 BB, 29 K, 3.61 ERA and 1.35 WHIP
Royals sign Farnsworth, Ramirez
The Royals signed Kyle Farnsworth to a two-year, $9.25M contract. This begs the question, why? I know they just traded away a lot of their bullpen, and God knows it’s cheaper to get free agent relievers than starters, but still. That’s no reason to go out and blow your (limited) wad on a washed up veteran reliever. To think that this signing somehow gives legitimacy to your team is just dead wrong.
Horacio Ramirez was also signed, though to just a one-year deal. That’s low-risk, though I won’t say much about reward. They could make him a reliever.
Farnsworth: 62.1 IP, 61 H, 11 HR, 26 BB, 62 K, 4.61 ERA and 1.39 WHIP
Ramirez: 59.2 IP, 77 H, 7 HR, 25 BB, 27 K, 5.23 ERA and 1.71 WHIP
Blue Jays sign Clement
Toronto inked Matt Clement to a minor-league contract. Yeah, that Matt Clement. He wasn’t impressive in the minors last season, and I don’t expect him to be impressive this year, either. But hey, if you have the space, it could be worth a shot at minimal risk.
Non-tenders
With the 40-man rosters now flush, teams will begin non-tendering players today in order to sign more free agents or promote players that will help their chances in 2009. Jayson Stark’s got his list of potential cuts ready.
There are some interesting arms in there, including Daniel Cabrera, Chad Gaudin, Brandon Backe and Takashi Saito. Marcus Thames, Willy Taveras and Jonny Gomes are among the hitters who could be released. If he moves anywhere but Colorado, I think Taveras’ fantasy value officially falls below the ownable line.
