My book “2008 Philadelphia Phillies – A Poetic Season” – “The story as told from a fans perspective” is now available for sale. Orders can be placed at www.authorpotter.com or www.authorhouse.com. Hardbound copies are 19.99 while paperback copies are 12.99. The book is a diary of the 2008 world championship season as seen from a fan’s perspective. It includes game stories of every game, roster moves made during the season, profiles on players, coaches and the skipper as well. It has excerpts from this very blog site.

Please give it a look and purchase a copy, I think you will like it as a reminder of the great Phillies season from one fan to another!

We are in a recession right ? Baseball and in particular one team seems to not realize that ! The Yankees recent free agent signings indicates that they have more money than they know what to do with! Mark Texeria, C.C. Sabbathia and A.J. Burnett have all been set up for life financially, not to mention thier agents as well, by the folks running the team in the pinstripes. Who is next, Manny Ramirez ? Not a stretch, would it seem, as the Yankees claim they are still below the 2008 payroll and have some wriggle room!

I saw a TV interview with the owner of the Boston Red Sox who was attempting to cry poor by claiming he could no longer compete with the Yankees revenue stream…….PLEASE!!!!, tell that to the fans of the Pirates, Royals, Rays, Marlins, etc., come on with that BS, get over yourself sir!

Baseball does not have a salary cap and most likely never will as both the Players Union and the teams with deep pockets would be very much against it. They will cite teams like the Rays who went to the world series with one of the league’s lowest payrolls as indication that a cap is not needed. What they are failing to account for is that albeit the Yankees paid a “luxury tax” penalty this year of close to $30 million it still does not dent the cost of attendance for an average fan. That $30 million merely spreads the wealth to either the owners or players and does not decrement the cost of a family of four who are recession hindered from paying the support needed for the league to stay in existence, perhaps they do not care ! Also, in comparison the Yankees ability to spend over $200 million per year on payroll is not comparable with the $30 million they give to the other 29 “partners” of MLB.

I think a salary cap is indeed warranted much like the NFL has, stars will continue to get paid their worth and affordability of access for fans can be better controlled. The NFL thrives by revenue sharing and has a robust fan base, MLB is enacting upon a TV network in the same design that the NFL has so why not follow the path with a cap as well ? The Yankees have always bought other teams best players dating all the way back to the Babe but baseball historians can cite those times as lean for the game as well in regards to collective league wealth and fans ability to attend games. Baseball is not presently hurting but the continued ramp up of insanity regarding payroll and subsequent needs to then pass the buck to the fan base may soon find MLB in a hole too deep to climb from without streamlining the league itself, in my opinion no one wins in that regard!

Here are the recently released payrolls of the 30 MLB teams for 2008.

According to the AP, the figures are for 40-man rosters and include salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses, earned incentive bonuses, non-cash compensation, buyouts of unexercised options and cash transactions. In some cases, parts of salaries that are deferred are discounted to reflect present-day values. The gap between the Yankees and No. 2 Boston of $75 million is more than the entire payroll of nine teams.

1. N.Y. Yankees $222,519,480
2. Boston 147,075,645
3. New York Mets 144,693,962
4. Detroit 136,198,404
5. Chicago Cubs 130,508,691
6. Los Angeles Angels 128,142,467
7. Los Angeles Dodgers 125,864,496
8. Seattle 120,456,113
9. Chicago White Sox 113,641,026
10. Philadelphia 112,654,711
11. St. Louis 109,989,046
12. Houston 100,189,948
13. Toronto 98,343,520
14. Atlanta 92,494,314
15. Milwaukee 90,324,347
16. Cincinnati 82,886,440
17. San Francisco 82,074,873
18. Arizona 80,998,526
19. Baltimore 78,888,250
20. Cleveland 78,663,582
21. Texas 78,640,138
22. Colorado 74,791,621
23. San Diego 71,212,182
24. Kansas City 69,297,547
25. Minnesota 65,096,667
26. Washington 59,699,668
27. Oakland 55,223,294
28. Tampa Bay 51,020,720
29. Pittsburgh 50,764,410
30. Florida 27,003,450
Total 2,879,357,538

No better offseason than this one being a Phillies fan as we continue to bask in the glow of a World Series Title! This article, however, is a list of Christmas wishes as we approach Spring Training of the new baseball year in a couple months.

1. Wish the Phillies would sign Derek Lowe. Albeit they seem to be set with a rotation of Hamels, Myers, Blanton, Moyer and either Carasco, Kendrick, Park or Happ no team ever has enough starting pitching, especially quality starters like Lowe. I think that the market for Lowe is not as great as it once was and his price is down. It sure would be sweet to add him to the rotation this year…. plus it would keep him from the Mets!

2. Wish that Chris Coste gets an opportunity at the big league level next year. Rumors are that the Orioles are interested in trading for him. The Phillies have Carlos Ruiz, Lou Marston and recently traded for Ronny Paulino so Coste will have a battle to make the roster. He is used to it though and is a genuine team player, if not on Phillies roster I hope he gets a shot with another team!

3. Wish that Pat Burrell gets a fair deal somewhere else now that the Phillies have moved on to Raul Ibanez. Rumors are that Tampa Bay is very interested in him as a DH. That would be a great spot for Burrell as he owns a home already in Clearwater, FL and could live there year round. Burrell got what Philly is all about and seems to be a genuine good guy and hard worker. I hope that he does well but would like to see it in the American League so that it does not bite the Phillies!

4. Wish that Chase Utley has a speedy recovery. Utley is a tough tough man to have played thru the hip injury and pain that he did last season. He is a throwback player and is a core part of the Fightins team. I have no doubts that Eric Bruntlett or Jason Donald should be able to fill in short term for him but the team will struggle if he is out for more that a short time.

5. Wish that the team has the same energy and desire that it had last season to win the championship. With new blood like Raul Ibanez hopes are that he is the locker room leader that I read about and that his desire to win combines with the defending champions to keep the drive alive. Don’t want to wait another 28 years to have another parade!

6. Wish that my new book “ 2008 Philadelphia Phillies – A Poetic season” does well on the market. It will be released soon and available on www.authorhouse.com for 19.99 (hardback) and 12.99 (soft cover). It is the story of the season as told by a fan. I think it is a great read and hope that others will find so as well.

7. Wish that Ryan Madson and Brett Myers have big years on the mound as they work towards big contracts in thier free agent years. Myers wears his emotions on his sleeve and if focused is a very good starter, hope that he harnesses that more this year. Madson at the end of the year seemed to finally trust the heater and was popping it at 95 + consistently. I hope that he continues down that path and along with Brad Lidge continues to make games only 7 innings long for the Fightins!

8. Wish that the Phillies would lock up Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels for the long term. Players with the talent of these two don’t come along all that often and albeit both are under contract long term it is harmful to egos and perhaps performance to continually go to annual arbitration. I would think it prudent that the Phillies make these two young stars happy with deals so that they are secure and can excel without concerns over thier deals.

9. Wish that Cole continues to be the big game pitcher next season. Last season I had my doubts that he didn’t take the ball when needed but the playoffs and series proved different. He seems to be a guy that needs the extra days rest so it will be up to Charlie to work out the rotation so that Hamels can go on a full four or five days between starts.

10. Wish that Jayson Werth has a real breakout year. I think he has the talent to be a 30 + home run and 100 + RBI guy and seemingly will be given a chance next season to play every day from the start. Also hope that Shane Victorino can continue to excel like he did in the second half of the season and be injury free the whole year.

11. Wish that the lefties hit lefties consistently! Raul Ibanez gives us three lefties in the middle when coupled with Utley and Howard. I am not a big proponent that left/right matchups make a consistent difference but there are key points late in games where it will matter. I hope that Ibanez can come thru as advertised and that Howard/Utley pick it up a bit in those spots for 2009.

12. Wish that J-Roll leads like he can as he is indeed the true key to our team. If J-Roll has the success he is capable of then indeed we might have another party next October/November!
Ultimately I wish that could happen again!

Those are the 12 christmas wishes of this Fightin Phils baseball fan! I hope that all have a great holiday season and that all experience a similiar joy we Phillie fans felt when our team won the title……..yes even you Met fans out there! Have a great holiday season and God Bless the U.S.A.!!!!

The Philadelphia Phillies have signed their new left fielder. Raul Ibanez and the team came to terms Thursday night on a three year deal that will pay him $10 million per year. Sounds pretty expensive for a 36 year old. I would have preferred to have a one or two year deal.

Ibanez hit .293 last season, with 23 homers, 110 RBIs, a .358 on-base percentage and a .472 slugging percentage. He is one of just five outfielders who have driven in at least 100 runs in each of the past three seasons.

The Cubs, Mets, Angels, and Braves were also talking with Ibanez but he had been telling his friends that he would prefer to go to the Phillies.

What’s your opinion on this signing? Is it too much money for an older player?

Phillies Blog

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Ruben Amaro Jr. is in Las Vegas this week attending his first winter baseball meeting as the General Manager of the Fightin Phillies. The entire setting is not new, however, for Amaro as he was given plenty of responsibilities in his role as Assistant G.M. under recently retired Pat Gillick in times past.

The Phillies are in search of perhaps two starting pitchers, a long man for the bullpen, a utility man and an outfielder to either start or platoon in one of the corner spots. It appears they have decided to part ways with Pat Burrell as it would seem that he will get higher offers from other teams to either DH, play first base or left field. Burrell may end up with the Giants or Angels I have been reading. I like him alot as he is one who always got what Philly was about and actually liked playing here for us “passionate” type fans! Same goes for Jamie Moyer and albeit it seems as if the Phillies want him back it may be perhaps not at his price or length of contract. Moyer seems to want more than one year and the Phillies seem to only want to sign him for an additional season. They seem a bit apart on money as well. I am hopeful they can work it out but would not be surprised if they do not.

That being said other outfield options are Raul Ibanez, Rocco Baldelli and Juan Rivera as free agents. My question is if the Phillies are willing to sign a lefty like Ibanez why not take a run at old buddy Bobby Abreau ? Abreau could play right field and Jayson Werth could switch over to Left field in that scenario.

In regards to pitching it has been rumored that the Phillies have talked to Derrick Lowe but it does not seem likely that they would meet his length of contract or money demands. Lowe reportedly wants five years at around 90 million total! We are in a recession right ? More probable to me would be Bradon Looper or perhaps a deal with Texas for old buddy Kevin Milwood.

Nick Punto has been rumored as a name the Phils might pursue as middle infield support but how bout that Damien Easley ? Russ Springer is a name that I have read as a potential add to the bullpen.

I have always liked that Ryan Freel from Cincinatti, wonder if Ruben could work something there for that guy, he would be a great sparkplug type for the Fightins. It seems that Jason Donald is somewhat of a hot commodity in regards to potential prospects to be dealt. The Baltimore Orioles apparently have some interest but not sure what Donald would fetch in a deal.

In any regard the week should be fun and interesting for us “Hot Stove” followers. The big names should go first, Sabbathia, Rodriquez, Ramirez, Burnett, Texieria and Lowe… after that then the deals should move a bit. I don’t think that money will fly as freely as in past years albeit Major League Baseball is coming off a record setting revenue year where gross receipts gained the league around 6.6 billion dollars!

Let the stove fire up, go get them Ruben! We are the champions but sure would be sweet to set us up to stay there!