Reading Eagle cohort Brian Smith and I had the privilege of getting some quality one-on-one time with Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. at tonight's winter caravan stop in Reading.
Brian arrived at the media session a little earlier than Beerleaguer and asked Amaro about new acquisition Jose Contreras, which was officially announced by the Phillies today: "It's interesting," Amaro said. "From the time that we were going our advance scouting on Colorado our guys
really, really liked him, especially with the transition going into the bullpen
at that time. He was very effective. We knew he was very durable. We felt like
he could help us. He actually was one of the high-level targets for us. We just
couldn't match up his expectations on the contract with ours, but sometimes
patience kind of pays off. We ended up getting him under a contract we felt very
comfortable with and feel that he can give us versatility."
Beerleaguer: Contreras's deal came in at $1.5 million, which is a real steal. Label me legitimately excited to see what the 38-year-old will bring to the 'pen now that we know the extent of the Phillies' interest. I mean, the Phillies are already talking about him as a late-inning option. More reports from the Winter Tour to follow ...
A real steal would have been signing Contreras for $1M as initially reported. Getting him for 50% more is less astonishing, but the deal is still a good bargain for the Phillies. Even if he has an age-related decline from last year and pitches only 60 innings, he should provide very good value; especially if he's going to be used in high-leverage situations.
My only concern is that there are no relievers with good command in the BP with the exception of Madson. Lidge, Contreras, Durbin, Romero, Bastardo (possibly), and Baez (less so), are all big stuff, poor command pitchers. We could see a lot of walks and strikeouts this year, which I guess is better than hits and CBP big fly specials. Still, it'd be nice to get someone like SD's Adams or Mujica in Philly.
Posted by: TNA | Friday, January 29, 2010 at 12:18 AM
TNA, You're tough to please!
Posted by: Bedrosian's Beard | Friday, January 29, 2010 at 01:04 AM
I like the signing because he has a proven, big league arm even if the results can be spotty. It's also an amusing signing since it reflects Ruben's alleged predilection for signing 38-40ish year old ball players.
Posted by: Hugh Mulcahy | Friday, January 29, 2010 at 06:59 AM
Hugh, I suspect Ruben's "predilection" for those older guys has to do with the fact that any younger guys who can pitch - say, Ryan Madson's age - have been locked up by their teams and are not available.
For example, the Rockies tendered a contract to Taylor Buchholz, even though he is coming off of TJ surgery and didn't pitch in 2009.
The younger guys are just too valuable, and don't hit the market.
Posted by: awh | Friday, January 29, 2010 at 07:18 AM
Great signing...even at the "inflated" price.
Aging vets are an underpriced commodity right now in baseball. Rube recognized that and struck. The odds are in Contrera's favor of being quite effective out of the pen. Heck, he was sitting 95/96 on his fastball in relief last year. For a guy like Jose, that's huge. He gets a lot of Ks and he's got a big fastball with movement. And he can spot-start. For that price, I'll take it.
Can we go get Damon to be our 5th OF now? That would be hilarious. Offer him $2-3 million to sit the bench, spot start for Ibanez and DH during interleague. (only half-serious). Maybe he could give leadoff hitting lessons to Shane and Jimmy too.
Posted by: NEPP | Friday, January 29, 2010 at 07:40 AM
I completely recognize the value village element of signing older players. I just find that complaint about Amaro to be amusing. It's not as if Contreras is 56 years old like Moyer.
Posted by: Hugh Mulcahy | Friday, January 29, 2010 at 08:06 AM
I am NOT that excited about Contreras. Am I supposed to be thrilled with a 38 yr old pitcher with near 5 ERA--- for his career? He is NOT a strikeout pitcher (about 6.6/9IP) He does have good control overall... Yes, the price was right, only because that's exactly what these types are worth. So, it seems that we got what we paid for. An average reliever/starter at a market price.
Posted by: Robby J | Friday, January 29, 2010 at 08:10 AM
BP projects a negative VORP for Contreras, one of but a couple for the whole team.
Posted by: SmokyJoe | Friday, January 29, 2010 at 08:54 AM
All I know is it looked like the guy was throwing the hell out of the ball in the playoffs. Same impression I had of Park with the Dodgers in '08. Hope he turns out the same, minus the starting rotation fiasco.
Posted by: Zudok | Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 07:52 PM