7:33pm: The deal is worth $8.85MM over three seasons, according to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. The contract includes a fourth-year club option of $5MM with a five-year buyout as well as performance incentives for games started.
5:22pm: The Phillies and catcher Carlos Ruiz have agreed to terms on a three-year, $9MM deal, according to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. Ruiz, who turns 31-years-old on Friday, had his best offensive campaign to date in 2009, hitting .255/.355/.425 with a career-high 9 HRs in 107 games. The deal covers all of Ruiz's remaining arbitration years.
With Chooch set to sign, the Phillies have avoided arbitration with their three eligible players. Earlier in the week, the club agreed to a three-year, $24MM extension with pitcher Joe Blanton. Shane Victorino was next up, inking a three-year, $22MM pact.
Pretty solid. They really like their three year deals.
Yep this one had to get done. They traded their top 3 catching prospects in the last 12 months so not a lot of depth behind Chooch
Good point. Jaramillo has turned into a really solid defensive catcher.
yep jaramillo trade was bad… turned him into paulino who we turned in taschner who we released.. marson looks to start for a year in cleveland (until santana comes up) and d’arnaud was a necessary piece in the halladay trade.
Yeah, sorry i keep changing catchers on you but I think from the Indians perspective, The Cliff Lee trade was terrible. Marson seems to be nothing more than a Jose Molina but a bit more athletic. A catching combo of Ruiz and Jaramillo would have been great for several seasons.
Marson is underrated. I think he’s like the Mets prospect Thole, he gets undervalued because of a perceived (and some actual real) lack of power. Catcher is such a valuable position and if either develops into a solid defensive backup, at worst you’ll save a significant amount of money for a few years over paying a no-hit veteran like Bako/Zaun/Molina, etc.
Yeah, Ruiz is a very valuable catcher. Good job Roob!
Now try to get werth to an extension
Man, I have a feeling they are going to let Jayson Werth walk after 2010…
Domonic Brown will be ready by then. I’m not saying he’s better than Werth…He’s not, but The Phillies can sacrifice a bit offense to get a bit more speed and defense in the outfield…Jayson Werth is a 5 tool player but he’s going to cost 15 million dollars a year more than Brown.
Only hope of keeping worth is to convince him to take less in 2011 and then bump up 2012 on. Got Ibanez to do it (contract was like 6.5-11.5-11.5) but that’s really the only chance for them to keep him. OF is a depth spot in organization but werth-victorino-brown looks better than brown-victorino-ibanez and needing to replace ibanez the year after
“werth-victorino-brown looks better than brown-victorino-ibanez” I completely agree with that but maybe they will need to unload Ibanez’s salary to free up some money for werth. Maybe they won’t even need to but In terms of a lot of things (defense, Speed, hitting for average, etc…) I’d rather have the Brown, Victorino, Werth outfield. Possibly Ibanez to the Giants, Tigers, Braves, or Dodgers after this season would make sense. We will see what happens but remember, The last player the Phils wanted to give up in the Halladay trade was Domonic Brown so he is pretty valuable and I’m sure the Phillies management see him in their 2011/2010 postseason and september plans.
couldn’t agree more and would love that idea. Only worry is Cot’s said Ibanez has a no trade clause. Not sure if it’s true and can’t imagine why they’d include one but if it’s true it ruins that idea. I don’t think Raul would wave it do you?
Actually I think you are right. I don’t think Ibanez would wave it unless the Phils went 0-162 which is not going to happen. This is one of those instances where you wish your Phils were an AL team so Ibanez could DH but maybe if they can’t trade him they will let Werth go, get the draft picks or trade Domonic Brown once he is Major League Ready which I don’t think is the way to go. If Ibanez doesn’t have a no-trade clause he’d probably be traded. But the Phils main target has to be to re-sign Werth if they can.
if i were you guys I would care a little more about Werth. He’s better than Ibanez overrall and really just a great club asset. However, he could end up being one hell of a trade piece to net you guys some prospects seeing as how you dumped the farm for Lee and Halladay. Tricky decision huh?
Well we were saying the complete opposite. We want to dump Ibanez’s contract. We want Werth to stay and the Farm system is still there. Brown, Aumont, Sanchez, Flande, Bastardo. we got a few good guys but Werth is “the” right handed bat in the middle of the Phillies lineup. We can’t just trade him.
dude ibanez is stayin. i dont think any team is gonna take his 11.5 million for a 38-39 year old OF. even an AL team with the DH i dont think would be too enticed. brown is definitely being slotted for werth or ibanez, both of whom will play on for at least 2010. i just dont see the phils resigning werth because they have a wealth of cheaper OF alternatives. the victorino contract will give time for the younger guys to develop, and after werth’s 2010 season in RF brown will be ready to play there. it will only be ibanez, victorino, brown for one season–2011–ibanez’s last year. by the end of that year there will be plenty of guys that can take ibanez’s place…obviously it probably wont pan out this way, but i can see from the phil’s perspective how jayson, although extremely valuable, can be replaced by cheaper alternatives
why don’t they try and trade Ibanez after his career year or next year to attempt to restock their farm system and save a little cash so they can sign Werth and have Brown in the outfield along with him? No doubt that Ibanez won’t be as good as he was last year.
apparently he has a no trade clause
Good move. He’s a solid catcher, nothing special, and the deal is right around market value. Can’t help to think that the Iannetta deal was the benchmark for the Phillies for it, and while Ruiz doesn’t have nearly the amount of upside that Iannetta does, it’s still a good deal since the Phillies can afford to spend a lot more than the Rockies can,
“with a career-high 9 HRs” lol what a joke
You can’t replace Werth with an inexperienced LH Bat in Brown. Won’t Happen. Werth must be resigned, bottom line. Let Howard walk after 2011 or trade him, but you need to keep Werth as your RH bat. Plus, you could maybe trade Howard for a young pitcher and young 1B (Rangers??)
Well what we were talking abut was trading Ibanez, not so much Werth. I agree with you. Werth is that right handed power bat they need but if they get rid of Ibanez which is going to be hard, they can but a fast, good hitting, good defensive player in Domonic Brown in left. The Phillies would have rather given up their ballpark than Domonic Brownb in any trades. I don’t think there is any sense in trading Howard or letting him walk. He could be the strongest player in Baseball and is the source for most of their offense. Think about how many times Victorino, Utley and Rollins get on-base and Howard drives them in via home run or extra base hit. He is one of the best in the game. If they can keep Utley, Werth, and Howard for the future they would have one of the best if not the best 3-4-5 in Baseball.
let Howard walk?!?!?! Are you kidding me?? Ryan Howard is a star!!! Do you have any idea how important it is to have a guy like him on your team? How about this to save salary? STOP WASTING MONEY ON MEDIOCRE PLAYERS LIKE CARLOS RUIZ AND JOE BLANTON!!!!
Derek Lowe : 4 years 60 mil
And I quote: “STOP WASTING MONEY ON MEDIOCRE PLAYERS”
or Kawakami 3 years 23 mil is that better than blanton at 3 /24???
The Blanton signing was fine. The guy has pitched in some big games for the Phillies and on the open market he wouldn’t demand much less. This contract will benefit the Phils in the longrun.
Didn’t realize the Braves’ signings had anything to do with the quality of the Phillies’ signings. Good to know.
notice how i didn’t say that other teams don’t do the same. We’re all guilty, I just figured your GM might have taken the hint by now. There’s a reason that most guys get 1 year deals in arbitration deals. To see if they are worth an extension. Victorino has proved himself and is deserving of a good deal but Blanton and Ruiz haven’t proved themselves quite yet, so take a look at them to see how they perform for one more year and then consider an extension. Why blow money on guesses when you should be saving for studs like Howard and Werth? See what I mean?
ur
ur questioning 9 mil over 3 years thats my point. Blanton was a necessity due to lack of pitchers in the upper levels of the farm systems. Ruiz has been a regular for the phils for a few years how has he not proven himself… I don’t understand it’s not like we needed to go year to year it wouldve cost us more money and there is a zero percent chance they’d non-tender him with no options in the minors
Ruiz hasn’t proved himself? I realize you haven’t watched the playoffs in a few years but please witness his .905 post-season OPS in over 30 games.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ruizca01.shtml?redir#batting_postseason
by the time howard’s contract comes around there will be alot of money coming off the books, so hopefully the lidge/ibanez/hamels/madson/baez/schneider/… money in some way can be used to offer howard a 4-5 year deal
Ben Francisco, a RH bat who had 10 hrs in his 89 games as a starter in cleveland is still on the team
if need be, trade werth at deadline for prospects in the infield
resign howard though, he is the heart and soul of our lineup
its because of howard that werth is good, not the other way around
How do you know if Brown can cut it in the big leagues. He might not be able to hit big league pitching.
could trade werth, too. howard is the key to this lineup. its not very often you get a slugger like that on your team. i want him for the long-haul. werth-type producers can be found more often than howard-type.
I would disagree with you. Howard isn’t the key to the lineup. He is very good, one of the best, but not the key. The key to this lineup is Chase Utley, hands down. Utley has had an OPS over .900 for the last five years (.902 career) at a position that is a non-traditional OPS position. (Only other 2B with .900+ ANYTIME in the last five years is Brian Roberts in ’05.)Howard has had a .961 career OBP in 5+ years. In that same time 29 1B have put up seasons of .961+ (Pujols 5 times, Ortiz 3 times (mainly a DH), Teixeira twice, Fielder twice, Berkman twice, Derrek Lee twice, Hafner twice (mainly a DH), Giambi twice (mainly a DH), Thome twice (mainly a DH), Votto once, Pena once, Helton once, Delgado once, Youkilis once.) 22 of these have bested Howard in the same season that is being counted.Basically, what I am saying is that Howard is good, but first base production is more common than second base production, so losing Utley is WAY more effective to the lineup than losing Howard, even though Howard’s career numbers are slightly better head to head. If you take into account defense, and Howard is getting better, but Utley separates himself even more. Although to drastic to let walk, Howard is WAY more replaceable than is Utley, so Utley is KEY to the lineup.
As far as Werth is concerned, the only thing that makes him more attractive is that he is cheaper and right-handed, both of which are negated by Howard’s production, firstbase or not.
Agreed, the Blanton signing was dumb.
Why?
the amount of money he got was dumb. Solid middle of the rotation guy but not for 8 mil a year.
Yes, he is worth 8 mil a year. It’s simple math too.
Blanton has been a ~2.5WAR/yr pitcher for his career. According to FanGraphs, 1WAR is worth around $4 million (on the low side).
Therefore, Blanton has a value of about $10mil/yr on the FA market. 3yrs/24mil is a good deal for a guy who not only pitches consistently, but seems to be injury resistant up to this point in his career.
Try again.
Furthermore, there were only 40 pitchers in MLB who pitched 190+ innings and had an ERA+ over 100. Blanton was one of them. That means that he is a QUALITY starting pitcher and is worth 8 mil. a year.
Haha at both Braves fans failing to construct a decent argument.
Do you really think front office people use fangraphs to decide how much to pay someone? You are completely misusing that feature.
ok then allow me to try again. You guys had better hope that your team stays healthy because you don’t have any backup!!!! Injury filled seasons are killing the NL East lately. Braves in ’08? Mets in ’09? Phillies in ’10 doesn’t sound too farfetched to me. I know you guys think that your precious players are invincible to the problems of mere mortals but what if your entire core gets injured like the Mets? Or if the rotation gets nailed with the injury bug like the Braves had? You can’t argue with that!!!
Wow, your reaching man. Of course injuries are an issue for every team and in the past the Phillies have overcome them (See: Utley, Chase (hip) and gotten some luck. However, if you’re talking quality of backups that’s something where the Mets got caught last year – though there injuries were far too staggering – and the Phillies have addressed consistently. Guess who has the last two NL pinch hitter leaders? Phils with 3B Greg Dobbs and 1B/OF Ross Gload. Further, OF Ben Francisco acquired shrewdly in the Indians deal, could nearly start for the Braves or Mets.
Huh? No backup? No offense, but if that’s what you think you don’t know the roster very well. As a fan of another team, that’s perfectly understandable…but you’re just wrong on this.
1B: Ross Gload, one of the best PH in baseball last year (and a + UZR/150 at 1B)
2B: Juan Castro, Cody Ransom
3B: Greg Dobbs (top PH in ’08), Cody Ransom
OF: Ben Fransisco, Ross Gload, Mayberry Jr.
C: Schneider
pitching: Kendrick, Bastardo, Escalona, Contreras, Vogelsong, Carpenter, Mathieson
Are any of these guys STARS? Of course not, but they’re serviceable players. I didn’t even list any of the top prospects either.
Depth is NOT an issue for the Phils; far from it. That was the first thing Amaro addressed this offseason…they can now give ANYone on the diamond a day off, or cover for an injury, without crippling the defense. Offensively, they can handle an injury or three and still be very good.
I take that back. Blanton vs. Braves, 2009:
31 IP (his most against any team), 5.23 ERA, 1.48 WHIP.
BEST SIGNING EVER…for the Braves!
Even worse, against the Nationals:
26 IP, 7.27 ERA, 1.96 WHIP
Your boy Hanson was 0-2 with a 6.31 era against the Phils last year. Does that mean that Hanson is a terrible pitcher? No. The same goes for Blanton.
I like how you conveniently neglect to mention that was in 7 IP. Large sample size there.
Isn’t 31 IP a small sample size too? And 7 IP was in 2 starts, so the Phils knocked him up early and often.
31 IP was the most he had against any team last year.
Yep, and yet 31 IP remains a small sample size.
Wow – what a terrible argument.
postseason numbers, which btw when was the last time you sniffed?
2-0 with 3.89 ERA
you wanna play the team game? against better competition like per se the cardinals
2-0 1.93 ERA
1.50 ERA against the dodgers!
derek lowe is making a lot more than heavy B
Thanks for backing up my argument jkearse123. These Braves fans have to take off their hater-shades and realize that Blanton (3 yr/24 mil) and Ruiz (3 yr/9 mil) are good deals.
no problem…
all the deals that the phillies have made this offseason have been pretty good, with the exception of the lee trade which we wont know until aumont/gillies/ramirez pan out or dont
im really excited for next year and the years to come
Yeah I like the deals too. Good point about the Lee trade…at LEAST one of them will have to start for the big league club for the trade to be OK.
Words cannot describe how excited I am for this season.
heavy b? you got that right…maybe you should introduce him to Wii Fit like Heath Bell
3 years deals for Blanton, Ruiz, and Victorino.
2 year deals for Kemp, Ethier, and Broxton.
Intersting, that’s all.
the most intelligent post made on this all day
Of course there is risk in signing guys to 3 years as opposed to 1 or 2 year deals. There is also gain. In exchange for security for the player the team gets a discount and cost certainty. However, when its players who have been virtually injury free and in their relative primes like Vic, Ruiz and Blanton – the risk is really not as bad as say signing a 31 y/o RF to a 4/5 year deal who has already poor defense and such questionable knees that the Red Sox took back their offer.
I’m more surprised by the Dodgers’ MO than the Phils’. They missed the chance to lock up young guys at below-market for multiple seasons…just seems odd.
The Phils have locked up multiple guys through what SHOULD be their prime years for reasonable money…I’m not sure why the Dodgers didn’t take advantage of the chance to do the same.
can i just say to all the phillies fans who are concerned about their farm system…Most of the Phillies on the Major league roster are under team control for a while. It’s nice to have a deep system but the infield, catcher, 2/3’s of the outfield and the rotation are set for the next few years. Things should be fine.
Phillies went to back to back world series. Thanks for your input Atlanta fans. You must know more than Amaro the GM.
Can’t say I really like this deal. It isn’t the money, it is the years. Ruiz simply isn’t a player who should be getting a 3 yr. deal in my opinion. Solid player, but what happens if Ruiz doesn’t keep up his league average (at best) production? Then paying him 3 mil for the next 3 years doesn’t look that great.
Just don’t think it makes sense to lock up a mediocre player.
You have to take risks to be successful. Almost every player has zits and those who don’t get $20MM a year from the Yankees. The best Phillies example of this is Werth, who they took a chance on with a solid contract even though he was very inconsistent and injury prone in his early career. Hopefully their scouting here is on the money but the risk isn’t too bad, its not as much of a liability as the Blanton deal. Worst case scenario and this is if he really regresses after consistent growth, your eating 1 or 2MM a year – not nearly as bad as Castillo/Eaton other albatross contracts.
you must not watch the phillies
ruiz by no way is a mediocre player
he might be mediocre hitting wise
but a .994 fielding percentage and how he handles the staff are nothing to sneeze at
a typical baseball fan underestimating the intangibles and the extra stuff a catcher brings
would the yankees have won without posada? redsox without varitek?
each WS winning team needs a catcher that is able to call the pitching staff well #1, field well #2, hit well #3…
not to mention that last year with 2 outs RISP he hit .320 .541
or that his avg increases dramatically to .275 in august/september/october
I really don’t understand the Ruiz bashing. He has been one of the Phillies top offensive players in the last two World Series. The Phillies need guys to perform come playoff time. Anything extra they get out of Ruiz offensively during the season is a bonus with their offense.
Mets fans have no room to talk about the phillies. maybe you can argue when you sign players who play the WHOLE SEASON and not just until the last month than dont show up. Ruiz had like a .500 BA in the world series last year and as good defensively as they come. He is a very underrated catcher. (Actually started as a second baseman but the phils were concerned about his range so they converted him).
ok, you Phillies fans are starting to sound ridiculous with how much you worship your players. Can you maybe humor me and find something bad about somebody on your roster and comment on it? Please? I need to know that I am discussing with true baseball fans and true baseball fans can admit their teams mistakes
OK. Moyer was horrible. Worst resigning. Eric Bruntlett also horrible that’s why we got rid of him.
cant forget lidge…and madson…romero was hurt the whole time…pretty much our bullpen as a whole (outside of chan ho, who still thinks he deserves a starting spot which is why we didnt resign him)
Yea…in a total of 16 ABs (and it was actually .375 BA). Small sample size alert.
Ruiz is a mediocre player, and even at his best is not among the best catchers in the league as Posada, Varitek were. Can you win with a mediocre player at catcher? Of course, but you shouldn’t lock him up for 3 years.
ugh, why’d you have to taint this discussion with his name. I hate Jason Varitek. He’s gonna be next years Johnny Damon. A washed up old Boras agent that thinks he’s worth 7 mil but noone wants him for that much as a free agent signing.
defensively he’s as good as they come. Do you even know who your starting catcher is going to be? And yes only 16 ABs but he’s an 8 (or 9) hole hitter and .375 is pretty damn good for that.
Bravos fan – I was replying to someone else, but to be fair, Damon is a far superior player to Varitek at this point in their respective careers.
And you can go through history and look at tons of mediocre, even below average players who hit .375 for 16 ABs in the lower part of the order. It doesn’t make them worth 3 years. His defense may be good, but he isn’t a player you should be committing 3 years too.
let me ask again…do you even know who your starting catcher is? the pitchers love chooch he is part of the reason we had success in 08 and 09. stuff that doesnt involve numbers and ranks is what makes chooch a fan favorite and a pretty good catcher and his work ethic is second to non.
Should I even have to answer that question? What does it even prove? My favorite team is the Yankees, Jorge Posada is their catcher and he is a borderline HOFer. Would they have one all of those WS without him? Probalby not. But he is, again, a borderline HOFer. Ruiz is a borderline average player.
this whole time u were talkin like a mets fan….
dont get me started on the $400 mill yanks….my little sister could win a championship with that much money. i cant believe baseball hasnt stopped this nonsense a long time ago.
Jorge is a very good catcher I’ll agree with you on that but HOFer idk. If he were on any other team he wouldnt be regarded nearly as highly as he is now. Again, I like posada but its all about where you play. (Not just yankees but just proving a point)
You can hate on chooch all you’d like but he is one of the better catchers in the league but you cant let go of offensive production. Baseball is offense AND DEFENSE.
Oh dear, this is what I love about some of you Yankee haters. You claim we are uneducated but then go on to say we have a $400 mil team – it was less than $200 last season, and will probably be right at that mark in 2010. When the Phillies up payroll to $150 mil in 2011 (considering they already have $130 mil committed to the players for 2011) you won’t be saying the same thing.
Now, I said Borderline HOFer. Bill James has put up so many arguments as to why Jorge should be a HOFer – not that I agree with all of them, but look them up and judge for yourself. If he gets in, it certainly wouldn’t be the best decision by the voters ever, but it’d be close. Again, I said borderline.
I am fully aware baseball is offense and defense. I’m not saying the money is wrong at all. 3 mil for Ruiz could be a bargain next year, and the year after, but what if he DOES tank one of those years? Then you still have him as another player committed to in 2011.
Amaro is handing out too many long term deals – this is one of them.
we’ll aquire someone if thats the case. $3 mill is nothing anymore. the other long term deals he handed out were all 3 year deals and all to players in their primes. Halladay, Blanton, Victorino…. and i still believe he’s going to either extend Werth or trade him for something. He wants a winning team on the field for as long as possible because our farm was wiped out with the initial cliff lee and roy halladay trades.
Yeah Chooch! Get money!
Phils look solid for awhile. Can’t wait for Pitchers and Catchers!