Phillies Baseball

It was reported early on Friday morning that the Phillies and free agent outfielder Raul Ibanez have agreed to a three year, $30 million deal.

This signals the end of Pat Burrell’s tenure in Philadelphia.

Ibanez, after passing a physical, will become the Phillies everyday left fielder, replacing Burrell.

Ibanez hit .293 with 23 homeruns and 110 RBIs in 2008 for the dismal Seattle Mariners. He is familiar with outgoing GM Pat Gillick from their days together in Seattle.

He also posted a .358 on-base percentage and a .472 slugging percentage in 2008.

He spent the previous five years in Seattle. Ibanez is a left handed hitter that will be added to an already potent left handed hitting lineup.

Ibanez drew interest from the Mets, Angels, Cubs and Braves.

He is one of only five outfielders in the Majors to drive in 100 runs or more in each of the past three seasons.

The other four outfielders are Magglio Ordonez, Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Lee.

The Winter Meetings came and went without the Phillies making a splash in free agency or via a trade but the team did acquire a couple of new players.

On Wednesday night the Phillies swapped catchers with the Pittsburgh Pirates. They sent Jason Jaramillo to the Pirates for Ronny Paulino.

Jaramillo was drafted by the Phillies out of high school in 2001 but he didn’t sign. He decided to play collegiately at Oklahoma State. The Phillies then drafted him again in 2004.

He had since been passed on the organizational depth chart by Lou Marson.

The Phillies also acquired three players in the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday morning.

The Phillies took Robert Mosebach from the Angels organization in the Major League phase of the draft. He will be expected to battle for a long reliever spot in the bullpen when Spring Training rolls around.

The Phillies also took two players in the Minor League phase of the draft. Second baseman Kyle Haines from the Giants and outfielder Javis Diaz from the Padres were also selected by the team.

In the draft the Phillies lost catcher John Suomi to the Royals and right handers Brett Harker and Ronald Hill, both by Florida.

All three of these players were taken in the Triple-A phase of the draft.

The Phillies have been involved in plenty of rumors during the first two days of the Winter Meetings and Tuesday got really interested really fast.

More than one source has claimed that the Phillies are the third team involved in a deal for Jake Peavy. The deal would be between the Cubs, Padres and Phillies.

One rumor had the Phillies sending JA Happ and another prospect to the Cubs, who would send Mark DeRosa to Philly in return.

The Cubs would then send those two players plus a couple of their own to the Padres for Jake Peavy.

Nothing has come of this rumor yet but it should continue to get interesting the rest of the week.

Another rumor involving the Phillies is trading Ryan Madson to the Cardinals for outfielder Rick Ankiel. Ankiel is a former pitcher that the Phillies would place in left field.

They might not want to part with Madson until they were able to find decent arms to replace him in the bullpen.

The Cardinals view him as a closer in the future.

This is another story to keep a close eye on the rest of the week.

Also, Pat Burrell wants a three year deal from the Phillies, which pretty much takes them out of the Burrell sweepstakes.

It has also been reported that Burrell has yet to receive any offers from any of the other 29 teams in the league.

The Phillies are reportedly one of the four teams interested in free agent infielder Mark Loretta.

As of this writing Loretta had not been offered arbitration by the Houston Astros, who offered it to him in 2007 and accepted the deal.

The other three teams interested are the Dodgers, Pirates and the Diamondbacks. Loretta would be a perfect replacement for Chase Utley or Pedro Feliz, who had surgery last week.

Utley will be out until June but Feliz should be ready by Spring Training but Loretta would be a nice security blanket in case he isn’t.

Loretta hit .280 in 261 at-bats with Houston in 2008. He smashed four homeruns and knocked in 38 runs.

As of this writing, the Phillies have yet to offer arbitration to Pat Burrell or Jamie Moyer.

It has been reported around the world of Major League Baseball that Phillies free agent left hander Jamie Moyer could be close to signing a multi-year deal with the Phillies.

Moyer, who led the team in wins with 16 in 2008, is looking for a two or three year deal and would prefer to stay with the Phillies until his career is over.

Moyer was the second half of a stellar left handed duo in the Phillies’ starting rotation in 2008 alongside Cole Hamels.

Moyer is a native of the Philadelphia area and attended Souderton High School in Pennsylvania.

Supposedly Moyer is close to signing at multi-year contract and that contract should be coming from the Phillies.

We shall see what the coming days bring in the world of free agency for the Phillies.