As the excitement of a great Superbowl passes into just a memory, it is that exciting time of year that baseball fans look forward to: Pitchers and Catchers reporting to Spring Training. For the Phillies, this will happen on Saturday the 14th. The big news on the Phillies front this weekend was the signing of Ryan Howard to a 3 year $54 Million deal thereby avoiding arbitration this year and the next two years. Essentially, Howard signed for the remaining years that the Phillies already had the exclusive rights to.
All in all, I think it was a great move for both sides. For Ryan Howard, it provides security which he has not had under his prior year to year deals. While the $15 Million he will receive in the first year of the deal was less than the $18 Million he was asking for at arbitration, it gives him security for the two years beyond that at $19 and $20 Million respectively. For the Phillies, it means that they won’t have to worry about Howard’s future with the team and the pesky negotiations that they would have had to undergo every year for the next three of his arbitration eligible years.
In fact, in looking back at the Phillies off-season, the Howard signing was the capstone of what was a great off-season. While they made no major signings of new players, the Phillies had multiple players who were either unrestricted or restricted free agents. They re-signed all their major contributors from last year with the exception of Pat Burrell who they found a suitable replacement for in Raul Ibanez. Howard was the latest of these signings.
It’s made me realize that I was probably wrong about the Phillies’ decision regarding their new General Manager. At the end of the season, the Phillies’ GM Pat Gillick retired and the decision for his replacement was between his two assistants Ruben Amaro, Jr. and Mike Arbuckle. I always thought Arbuckle was the better choice as he was largely responsible for rebuilding the Phillies’ farm system and as a result was a key component to building the core of the current team. However, with all the contract issues with current players, Ruben Amaro was clearly the better choice since his background was dealing more with negotiating the player contracts. That choice is definitely paying dividends during this off season.
All this brings me back to my true passion: the Eagles who are just getting ready to start their off-season. Considering how close they came, they are in much the same position that the Phillies were in and they can take some lessons towards how they dealt with their players. Like the Phillies, they still have a core of players who are very much in a position to win now. In other words, they do not need to go through a major rebuilding project. As such, they should probably eschew their usual philosophy of making salary decisions based on the long term. In other words, they need to make decisions based on the people that will help them win now.
Going into this off-season, the Eagles have 9 free agents (6 unrestricted and 3 restricted free agents). In my next post, I will break down these free agents and what I think the Eagles should do. For now, I think they can take some lessons from the Phillies and realize that keeping their core together on a winning team should be a winning formula.
All in all, I think it was a great move for both sides. For Ryan Howard, it provides security which he has not had under his prior year to year deals. While the $15 Million he will receive in the first year of the deal was less than the $18 Million he was asking for at arbitration, it gives him security for the two years beyond that at $19 and $20 Million respectively. For the Phillies, it means that they won’t have to worry about Howard’s future with the team and the pesky negotiations that they would have had to undergo every year for the next three of his arbitration eligible years.
In fact, in looking back at the Phillies off-season, the Howard signing was the capstone of what was a great off-season. While they made no major signings of new players, the Phillies had multiple players who were either unrestricted or restricted free agents. They re-signed all their major contributors from last year with the exception of Pat Burrell who they found a suitable replacement for in Raul Ibanez. Howard was the latest of these signings.
It’s made me realize that I was probably wrong about the Phillies’ decision regarding their new General Manager. At the end of the season, the Phillies’ GM Pat Gillick retired and the decision for his replacement was between his two assistants Ruben Amaro, Jr. and Mike Arbuckle. I always thought Arbuckle was the better choice as he was largely responsible for rebuilding the Phillies’ farm system and as a result was a key component to building the core of the current team. However, with all the contract issues with current players, Ruben Amaro was clearly the better choice since his background was dealing more with negotiating the player contracts. That choice is definitely paying dividends during this off season.
All this brings me back to my true passion: the Eagles who are just getting ready to start their off-season. Considering how close they came, they are in much the same position that the Phillies were in and they can take some lessons towards how they dealt with their players. Like the Phillies, they still have a core of players who are very much in a position to win now. In other words, they do not need to go through a major rebuilding project. As such, they should probably eschew their usual philosophy of making salary decisions based on the long term. In other words, they need to make decisions based on the people that will help them win now.
Going into this off-season, the Eagles have 9 free agents (6 unrestricted and 3 restricted free agents). In my next post, I will break down these free agents and what I think the Eagles should do. For now, I think they can take some lessons from the Phillies and realize that keeping their core together on a winning team should be a winning formula.
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