{"id":222,"date":"2008-12-12T11:52:48","date_gmt":"2008-12-12T16:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=222"},"modified":"2008-12-12T11:55:53","modified_gmt":"2008-12-12T16:55:53","slug":"ibanez-and-hamels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=222","title":{"rendered":"Ibanez and Hamels"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ibanez\"Ibanez signed on for 3 years<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Phillies added a new left-fielder today, signing Raul Ibanez<\/a>\u00a0to a 3-year deal worth $30 million.\u00a0 Over the last three seasons, with the Mariners, Ibanez has driven in over 100 runs each year and hit about .290 each year.\u00a0 He’s also averaged 25 home runs over that span, which could definitely increase with the move from pitcher-friendly Safeco Park to the Bank.\u00a0 All reports indicate that he’s in great shape for a 36-year-old and his injury history is virtually non-existent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, at $10 million a year for a player of that caliber, you have to say it’s a decent deal.\u00a0\u00a0There’s only one concern, and it’s a pretty big one:\u00a0he’s left-handed.\u00a0 Everyone knows that the Phils\u00a0are in need of a right-handed bat with power, and it looks like they are not going to get one anytime\u00a0soon.\u00a0 Ibanez did actually\u00a0hit lefties really well\u00a0last year, hitting .305 with a .497 slugging percentage against them, which is better than he was against righties.\u00a0 However, the previous two years he struggled mightily against left-handed pitching (.256 AVG,\u00a0.356 SLG in ’07 and .243 AVG, .362 SLG in ’06).\u00a0\u00a0In fact, his\u00a0overall career numbers show that last year’s\u00a0success against lefties was probably an anomaly, and that you really don’t\u00a0want him batting behind Utley and Howard.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, did the Phillies just pay $30 million to a 6-hitter?\u00a0 Could that money have been better spent elsewhere, on a player that fills their needs better?\u00a0 Or maybe the line-up can shuffled in a way that will make this work.\u00a0 Ideas:<\/p>\n

1. Rollins, 2. Victorino, 3. Utley, 4. Howard, 5. Werth, 6. Ibanez, 7. Feliz, 8. Ruiz<\/p>\n

1. Rollins, 2. Utley, 3. Werth, 4. Howard, 5. Ibanez, 6. Victorino, 7. Feliz, 8. Ruiz<\/p>\n

Any others?\u00a0 Also, does this signing possibly signal that the Phils are looking to move Howard, either this offseason or next?<\/p>\n

Hamels disses Mets\"hamels\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cole Hamels went on WFAN with the great Mike Francesa yesterday and called the Mets “choke artists”.\u00a0 Granted, Francesa kind of led him into saying it, but he still said it pretty emphatically.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, first of all, he’s basically stating a fact here.\u00a0 I don’t think I’ve talked to a single Mets fan over the past year (and I’ve talked to a lot) that wouldn’t agree that their team has repeatedly buckled under the pressure.\u00a0 So, the question really is:\u00a0Should Hamels have said it?\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few months ago, I would have said, No way.\u00a0 Why put a bull’s eye on your back, Cole?\u00a0 Are you willing to handle the torment and pressure you just put on yourself?\u00a0 But, just in case you didn’t catch it, in the postseason a couple months ago, Mr. Hamels made 5 starts with a 1.80 ERA and carried\u00a0his team to a World Series title. It’s fair to say he can handle the pressure and that he can throw a choke artist label on whoever he damn well pleases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ibanez signed on for 3 years\u00a0 The Phillies added a new left-fielder today, signing Raul Ibanez\u00a0to a 3-year deal worth $30 million.\u00a0 Over the last three seasons, with the Mariners, Ibanez has driven in over 100 runs each year and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[222,68,16,408],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb","tag-cole-hamels","tag-mets","tag-phillies","tag-raul-ibanez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}