I will have a book published soon about the 2008 world championship season. The book is due out some time in mid january. If you have interest in purchasing the book please contact me at spotter721@aol.com to pre-order. The book depicts the season from a day by day perspective containing articles of each game as well as stories throughout the season as they occured….e.g the Brett Myers demotion to the minors, the J-Roll flareup, etc.

Let me know if you have interest.

The Phillies traded minor league outfielder Greg Golson to the Texas Rangers for minor league outfielder/first baseman John Mayberry Jr. Both young men were prior first round draft picks of their respective teams. Golson’s main assett is his speed, he has not shown thus far the ability to hit consistently but is a very good defensive player and an excellent base runner. Mayberry is a big man standing 6 feet 6 inches and is a prototypical power hitter that projects to have 30 to 40 homer potential. He is a right handed hitter.

Mayberry was added to the Phillies 40 man roster and was assigned to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs roster at Triple A.

Hot Stove Cooking

Rumors persist that the Phillies may have interest in free agent outfielder Raul Ibanez. Ibanez would fill the potential hole in the outfield if Pat Burrell is not resigned. Stories are also circulating the the Fightins may have interest in Marlins outfielder Jeremy Hermedia. Hermedia is a left handed hitter who is arbitration eligible thus Florida is willing to trade him for prospects…….perhaps the acquisition of Mayberry is part of that equation.

Chase Utley is going to have hip surgery which will require a 4 to 5 month recovery. Utley will miss the early part of the 2009 season, as much as 2 months worth. The Fightins must consider a short term replacement, Eric Bruntlett filled in admirably last year when Jimmy Rollins went down with injury and perhaps he could do so as well for Utley………… time will tell what direction the team intends to take.

Less than 24 hours now till baseball free agents are allowed to negotiate with other teams directly. Not sure who the Phillies will pursue if anyone. I have seen rumblings that they have been in contact regarding trades with the White Sox and Rockies. The Sox are dangling Jermaine Dye supposedly, he is signed for two more years at around 11 million a year. The only problem with that is the rumblings are the Sox would want Shane Victorino in return and I hope that the Fightins would not depart with the flying Hawaiin!

The Rockies rumblings come from a Denver newspaper where the story says that the Phillies have strong interest in 3rd baseman Garrett Atkins. Not sure why they would be going after Atkins with Pedro Feliz signed for another year but maybe a funnell effect in mind of getting a new third sacker………e.g. Feliz to be traded somewhere as well to acquire pitching ?

Jamie Moyer has not signed yet and most certainly will draw offers from other teams if allowed to hit the free agent waters. Scott Eyre was resigned to a one year deal, good move as he solidified the pen by becoming the second lefty out there with J.C. Romero as the primary.

Pat Burrell has not been contacted yet by the team, they may be waiting to see what kind of offers he gets, I think perhaps Tampa Bay will go after him with a sweet deal.

I am in Tampa this week playing in a baseball tournament, it is neat to get on the spring training fields the big boys use! Not alot of rumbling here when I wear my Phillies “world champions” stuff around! The economy has put a hard hit on things around here as many of the restaurants have been forced to close due to lack of tourism this past year.

In a perfect world would like to see the Phillies go after Manny and C.C. but new GM Ruben Amaro is hand tied a bit as he has 10 players eligible for arbitration and all have winning cases to get raises. Victorinio, Jason Werth, Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard are all in that mix so the team has some major money to put out to keep core intact.

Worse case scenario is to just keep what we have, not so bad………..we are “world phreakin champs” you know!

Lets see what cooks up on the hot stove!