Talk about a sports Saturday.
Leo and I will be heading down to the ballpark for our first game today. Hopefully the Phils can wake up from their most embarrassing loss of the year last night and come out to play. Good news: Halladay’s on the mound. Bad news: Phils still can’t hit.
I leave you with this…
According to this article, the Cleveland Indians are the most despised team in all of baseball. Which, of course, is true…until you get to the second half of the movie and the Indians start winning and everyone starts xoxo’ing them.
Wait, we’re not talking about Major League? I don’t understand.
The Phillies released the terms of the deal a little bit earlier . Ryan is already in the midst of a 3-year $54 million deal in which he will make $19 mil this year and $20 mil next year. The extension kicks in in 2012, when he will make $20 million. The same goes for 2013. From 2014-16, he gets bumped up to $25 million a year.
There is also an option for 2017 worth $23 million with a $10 million buyout. The contract comes with some no-trade protection and bonuses for awards.
Todd Zolecki has some really good insight up on his blog The Zo Zone about the deal.
If you don’t feel like reading it, basically what he says is that we could have done what we did; take a big risk throwing a ton of money at Howard and ensuring that we have him for the long haul; or have his contract end next year and take the chance of having him leave for the big payday (presumably to the Yankees because they’re douchebags.)
I would like to take this opportunity to recant my previous post saying I didn’t like the deal. It’s the first time it has happened on here, but knowing me, you can bet your ass it’s not gonna be the last. You can all make fun of me now.
Touche, Ruben Amaro. I don’t know why I doubted you.
The Phils signed Ryan Howard to an extension today worth $125 million over 5 years, extending his contract through the 2016 season.
I like it, and I don’t.
He’s the premier power hitter in the game. 225 home runs, 750 games. Unheard of. I want him on my team.
He’ll also be almost 36 when the deal is up. The team hasn’t announced how much they’ll be paying him per year, but if it’s a deal where he gets paid more as the years go on, we could be paying a player a few years past his prime $25 million a year. Whole bunch of money.
A player like Howard; big, strong, and thick as a mofo; shouldn’t lose too much off his numbers in his mid-30s because he’s built like an absolute monster. But paying him A-Rod-in-his-prime type dollars seems excessive.
Whatever. He’s our’s now.
This was a bad series for the Fightins.
Arizona is a middle of the pack team..when fully healthy, and they’re currently without two all-stars in Edwin Jackson and Brandon Webb. On top of that, two of the three starting pitchers this series were former Phils (Kris Benson & Rodrigo Lopez), with the former not even being able to crack our 25 man roster in 2008 and the latter being used as a spot starter in 2009. For the D-Backs, well they’re the 3rd and 4th starters, obviously!
There were not many positives in this series. Hamels went back to giving up long balls after his stellar outing last week, Kendrick went from 8 scoreless in Atlanta to letting Arizona have a 5 spot in the 5th, our offense continues to still sputter, and the bullpen cannot sustain any form of consistent pitching.
The Phils have a moderately difficult schedule coming up with the Giants, Mets (they’re playing better!), Cardinals, Braves, and Rockies. In the beginning of the year, and still my opinion now, I have the Cardinals winning the Central, Rockies winning the West, and the Braves/Giants taking the Wild Card. We’ll see how it all pans out, but there’s no denying these are the upper echelon teams in the National League.
On an unrelated note, you are a giant dick, Mark Teixeira. Grow some balls and learn to get hit by a pitch without acting like a pansy.
First off, sorry for the long absence between posts. This whole school thing tends to kick my ass every once in a while.
Good and bad news on the pitching front today. J.A. Happ was placed on the 15-day disabled list with forearm tightness while lefty reliever J.C. Romero was activated from the disabled list.
In his absence, beginning this Saturday in Arizona, new addition Nelson Figueroa will make a spot start. There is no word as of yet if Figueroa will continue in a starting role or if another player will take over in upcoming starts.
Joe Blanton will be returning in about a week and a half, so the mystery starter will only have to make about two, possibly three starts. Kyle Kendrick will then stay in the rotation until Happ gets back.
The addition of Romero is a tremendous help to a struggling bullpen. Antonio Bastardo had previously been the only left-hander in the ‘pen, so adding a veteran for the late innings is a plus. Shame we can’t have Doc throw every other day or so to give these guys a rest. Jesus Christ he’s good.
On a happier note, the Flyers keep steamrolling their way to getting swept by the Caps. As Leo said last post, they’ll be doing it without Simon Gagne and Jeff Carter, who will both be undergoing foot surgery and will be out 3 and 6 weeks, respectively.
Finally, if you’re a fan of the absolutely hysterical show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, this should make you hate Canucks fans for the rest of your life. Stop stealing our shit, Canada.
