Phillies sign Ibanez - 3 years and $30 million

[GoudaBrew]

Per Rosenthall...

 

Link

This is a curious move as the Phils were looking for a righty to go along with Howard and Utley. Why they didn't stick with Burrell is a little strange.

 

Burrell is:

 

Much younger

Has better on-base and slugging skills

Hits more HRs

Doesn't cost draft picks

 

Ibanez is a lefty, but Burrell's splits are absolutely adequate to play every day (.854 OPS vs. righties the last 3 yrs; compared to Ibanez's .735 OPS vs. lefties over the same period). Ibanez actually hit lefties better than righties this year, but in every other year in his career he hasn't hit them well at all.

 

Neither is very good in the field, right? How much is Burrell expected to make?

[MillerParkSouth]

well I'm happy if for no other reason than this keeps him away from the Cubs. although it would have been hilarious defensively to see him and Soriano patrolling the corners at Wrigley.

[brewjihad]

Both are absolutely terrible in the field, about -15 to -20 runs, but Ibanez will be 40 by the end of this contract and isn't likely to get better. Another reason this is weird/dumb for the Phils is they didn't even offer Burrell arbitration, and they have to give up their first-round pick to get Ibanez.

[bklynbrewcrew]

I dont like this move at all from the Phillies standpoint. Burrell could have been had for a similar deal if not less and they gave up a draft pick. Add in the fact that Ibanez is much older and just as bad in the field and it all adds up to a bad deal.

[joepepsi]

I like it when contending teams make boneheaded moves.

[bbrauch2000]

Buster Olney's article following up the winter meetings said that he would expect Burrell to get no more than 2 years and have to take a significant paycut. I really covet the guy and I would think that his ending our season last year would make him enough of a name to draw the attention of the fan base

[CportBadger]

If the Phillies offered arby, Burrell may have taken it. This is a bad move on their part, but I was hoping he would have ended up in Chicago since his age could make this a bad contract.

[JohnBriggs12]

Ibanez has driven in 338 runs the last 3 years compared to 278 for Burrell.

 

Burrell walks a lot, but he batted behind the big boppers in the Phillie lineup so he had lesser guys behind him and therefore could be pitched around some and the value of the walks was diminished some.

 

As to Ibanez being lefthanded, well last year the Phils brought in Jenkins to play RF. However Jayson Werth emerged as a full time player and with switch hitting Victorino and Rollins and RH Feliz, they are covered especially considering that Ibanez hits lefties well as does Utley.

 

Ibanez is worth $10 million a year. He's shown absolutely no sign of aging. The Phillies now have 3 guys in their lineup (when Utley gets back) who combined for 360 RBI in 2008.

Offhand only the Met trio of Beltran, Wright and Delgado comes close to that in the NL.

 

This does seem to make Greg Dobbs expendable and Dobbs wouldn't look bad in a Brewer uniform.

[jjfanec]

This does seem to make Greg Dobbs expendable and Dobbs wouldn't look bad in a Brewer uniform.

Dobbs can play 3B so he would be a great fit for this team. A left-handed hitting 3B, but I wonder with Feliz's injury questions if they will keep him around. They definitely do not need another left-handed bat though. I wonder what he would cost in a trade. He would be a better option than Mike Lamb for a platoon with Bill Hall.

[GoudaBrew]

JohnBriggs12 wrote:

... Ibanez hits lefties well as does Utley.

Ibanez hit lefties well this year with a .305/.371/.497 line, but in every other year of his career he has struggled against them. Including a .650 OPS in 2007 and a .663 OPS in 2006. In 2004 and 2005, he had a respectable .780 and .769 OPS respectively.

 

Meanwhile Burrell has posted at an OPS of at least .820 since 2004 against righties and crushed lefties every year.

[Ennder]

RBI is why he is good? Really? So you are saying he is good because Suzuki gets on base a lot.

 

Ibanez's defense will pretty much make that a bad signing if his offense slips even a tiny bit over the next 3 years. If his offense slips a lot he is probably a 1 win above replacement player and worth about $5M a year.

[TooLiveBrew]

I'll echo what others have said. Thank you, Philly, for signing an aging player to a horrible contract. Also, thank you for not just retaining Burrell. As long as the Cubs don't snap him up, that will be helpful (not that MLB rules would let both Burrell & Soriano man LF at the same time...)

[Ennder]

http://i27.tinypic.com/28akex2.jpg

 

Saw a thread with a whole bunch of movies about his terrible defense but that one was the funniest of the bunch.

[Invader3K]

Hah...that reminds me of a throw I probably would have made in tee ball league.

[RU Rah Rah]

http://i27.tinypic.com/28akex2.jpg

 

Saw a thread with a whole bunch of movies about his terrible defense but that one was the funniest of the bunch.

Looks like a QB changing his mind in mid-pass or something.

[Brian the Automator]

http://i27.tinypic.com/28akex2.jpg

 

Saw a thread with a whole bunch of movies about his terrible defense but that one was the funniest of the bunch.

At least he was able to stop the clock.

[zzzmanwitz]

Intentional Grounding, loss of down

[CheezWizHed]

(not that MLB rules would let both Burrell & Soriano man LF at the same time...)

Actually, I don't think there are any rules against that. But your CF will have to cover a LOT of ground to cover RF, too... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[trwi7]

Pretty obvious that he was distracted by bugs like Joba Chamberlain was. Problem was, there was no bug spray.

[nate82]

I wonder if this will set the bar for Dunn and Burrell. The Brewers could afford 3 years $36-39 million for Dunn. I'm starting to get obsessed with Dunn here now.

[zzzmanwitz]

Dunn..... mmmmmmmmmmm Donuts

[trwi7]

I wonder if this will set the bar for Dunn and Burrell. The Brewers could afford 3 years $36-39 million for Dunn. I'm starting to get obsessed with Dunn here now.

 

I don't want a player who doesn't care about baseball on the Brewers.

[fondybrewfan]

I wonder if this will set the bar for Dunn and Burrell. The Brewers could afford 3 years $36-39 million for Dunn. I'm starting to get obsessed with Dunn here now.

 

I don't want a player who doesn't care about baseball on the Brewers.

As long as said player is willing to punish the baseball by hitting it about 500 feet I don't care if the player likes the baseball or not.

[Brian the Automator]

I wonder if this will set the bar for Dunn and Burrell. The Brewers could afford 3 years $36-39 million for Dunn. I'm starting to get obsessed with Dunn here now.

I'm not sure how the Brewers would score runs with those bases so clogged up.

[nate82]

I'm not sure how the Brewers would score runs with those bases so clogged up.

Hamburgers and veggieburgers?