Arbitration avoided: Mayberry, Phils agree to deal

Beerleaguer’s favorite Phillie has avoided arbitration.

On Friday, the Phils announced that they have agreed to a one-year, $1.587 million deal, which includes award bonuses, with John Mayberry Jr.

Last season, Mayberry, who hit .227 to go along with a .286 OBP, made $517,000.

That’s quite a raise.

Like we previously wrote, the Phillies have a track record of avoiding arbitration. With Mayberry and Kyle Kendrick signed, Ben Revere and Antonio Bastardo are left. Don’t be surprised to see them signed soon.

Buchanan coming to camp
David Buchanan, a 24-year-old right-handed starting pitcher, has been added the Phils’ spring training camp as a non-roster invitee, the club announced Friday.

Buchanan finished last season with Triple A Lehigh Valley.

Charlie’s back, as reported
Also on Friday, the Phillies officially announced Charlie Manuel’s return to the organization, as CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury reported on Wednesday.

According to the team, Manuel will serve as a senior advisor to GM Ruben Amaro Jr. and will work with minor-league hitters, scout at both the major and minor-league levels as well as being a consultant for the baseball operations staff.

Comments

[LorecorE]

awh: no, we wont. Bastardo could repeat 2011 or fall off completely - and there still is no way either one of us can point to a dozen or so winter league innings as to why.

Not being a dbag, a bunch of us tried telling you how silly it is to cite winter league stats as having any relevance the first time you did it. I thought you back pedaled then, or pretended to be joking or something - but apparently you still believe its a worthy sample.

[derekcarstairs]

The Phils look like a 70-75-win team to me.

I see an improvement in the bullpen as the young arms develop, but improvement nowhere else.

The rotation should be about the same. Lee and Hamels should be good; Kendrick, mediocre; and the other two starters, bottom of the league.

The defense may be slightly better because Byrd should be an upgrade in RF. In 2013, the Phils had five other weak spots defensively, however, and it is not clear how much improvement, if any, there will be at these five positions. Moreover, it is reasonable to expect some slippage at catcher and 2B.

I don't see any improvement in the offense unless there is a platoon at first base. I do not expect a platoon, but that would be a pleasant surprise.

[bullit]

a full season of diekman pitching from his new and improved arm slot should be an upgrade.

[bay_area_phan]

"a full season of diekman pitching from his new and improved arm slot should be an upgrade."

It's the same arm slot he has been using since 2010 -- and the same arm slot which produced a 7.2 BB/9 rate at LV last season.

[Cyclic]

Wonder how many on Beerleaguer will be predicting 80-90 wins again this March/April.

Somehow I don't think it will be as many as last year.

Hard to believe that even someone who thought they'd win 79 games last year was being too optimistic.

That's to say, when the 65-75 win predictions come rolling in, I hope that they are just as off, only in the positive direction this time.

[bay_area_phan]

"Amaro is IMHO gambling on a lot of things . . ."

"Gambling" is the wrong word, as it implies that RAJ made an affirmative off-season choice to bring back the same team that lost 89 games in 2013. In reality, his past choices, coupled with the diminishing budget he has been handed, have largely forced him to hope that all of these things break right.

[bullit]

you would know, bap. but i thought there was talk last year about raising his slot from near side arm with an unpredictable release point, to a more 3/4 slot, over which he had more control. did i dream that?

[bay_area_phan]

bullit: I don't recall seeing him throw from a 3/4 slot last year.

You can count me as a major skeptic on all these relievers, including Diekman. It's certainly possible that something clicked for Diekman in the last 2 months of 2013. But it's far more likely that it was just a two-month aberration and that he'll go back to being an AAAA pitcher who can throw hard but has absolutely no idea where the ball is going.

[Meyer]

Slot Machine Odds - 2014 Phillies

[MG]

bap - Yup. Amaro is basically hope this team is .500 or a few wins better and all signs point to this team being worse than that.

[MG]

'most signs' I don't disagree with Montgomery either when he said that the current payroll should be enough to field a competitive team. It should even at $160M which will should a Top 5-6 payroll to start the season.

[bay_area_phan]

"I don't disagree with Montgomery either when he said that the current payroll should be enough to field a competitive team."

Monty is using sleight of hand to shirk responsibility for the Phillies' present situation.

If every player in baseball became a FA at the same time, and you had $160M to spend, then, yes, $160M would certainly be enough to field a competitive team. But when you entered the 2014 off-season with 122.5M in present commitments, plus arbitration-eligible players who will make around $12 to $13M, then you don't have $160M; you have around $25M. The question that some writer should ask Monty is: is $25M enough money to fix a team that lost 89 games last year, had the worst bullpen in baseball, had only 2 reliable starting pitchers, and entered the off-season with no starting catcher or right fielder. And if the answer to that question is no (which it is), then it leads to one of two conclusions: either payroll needs to be increased to keep the team competitive or the GM who left the team with a million holes & only $25M with which to fill them, needs to be canned for gross mismanagement. Which brings us back to Monty . . .

[bay_area_phan]

The funny thing is that, as I was writing that post, this thought dawned on me: if every player in baseball became a free agent tomorrow, and RAJ had $160M to spend, he would probably use that $160M to sign Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Jonathan Papelbon, Kyle Kendrick, etc.

[LorecorE]

So tired of that statement. Its not like the team has a fresh $160M to spend this year. About 80% of the 2014 payroll was locked by last summer.

THe phrase that 'they have to just spend it wisely' is ridiculous, since it's already unwisely spent.

[LorecorE]

bap: so true.

[awh™]

Lore, it's nice to know that you think it's pointless for any team to scout players in the Winter leagues, because you don't think they can learn anything from doing it.

[LorecorE]

speaking of 'every player became a FA' - do you think payroll would go down or up? Or in other words - would the $$ saved from overpaid veterans be more or less than the $$ spent on arb players?

Mike Trout would get a $300M deal, but Pujols would have his $200M deal nixed, and so on.

[bay_area_phan]

awh: Did you scout Bastardo in the Winter Leagues? Because you seem quite certain that he'll be fine this year.

[MG]

LoreCore - Yeah they did but you still have to judge them by aggregate spending.

[Meyer]

Ugh. To fight Baseball Alzheimer's this morning I unscrambled Brignac-Negrych and came up with a Company Anagram "Grinch Arb-gency".

[LorecorE]

awh: No, it is not pointless to scout players year round in any aspect. The more you scout a player, the larger sample you see a pitcher and can in turn make better inferences on where he is at.

You are going purely off results of a ~15 inning sample. He could have been throwing 80mph from a submarine arm angle for all you know, yet you've made multiple references of why the org can be confident of his abilities in the 2014 regular season because of those DWL results. That's the issue I'm calling you out on, nothing else.

[awh™]

"The rotation should be about the same. Lee and Hamels should be good; Kendrick, mediocre; and the other two starters, bottom of the league."

derek, last season the Phillies got 236.2 IP from Halladay, Lannan, Cloyd and Martin, with a cumulative ERA over 6.00. If you toss in Kendrick's post concussion 6.49 ERA in 69.1 IP, the Phillies got 306 SP innings in 2013 of an ERA over 6.00.

While there is certainly no guarantee that it won't or can't happen again, it will be pretty hard for the Phillies SP to be that bad again.

Even if Faunandez repeats what he did in 2013 - 151 IP, 4.89 ERA - that would actually be an IMPROVEMENT from what the Phillies got last season.

Yep, that's not saying much, but that's how bad it was.

[awh™]

bap, your 12:02 post is dead accurate.

I have been stating here for a while now:

Montgomery gets far too much of a free pass, here, and especially from the Philly beat writers.

[awh™]

lorecore, you keep proving that you're a member of the Moronocracy with limited reading comprehension. Seriously.

Where did I state anything definitive about Bastardo, or that I had scouted him?

TO refresh your limited memory (with the hopes that you might FINALLY be able to comprehend it) here's the extent of my Bastardo comment:

"After his performance in the DWL, they're probably somewhat confident he can pitch at a high level..."

So, I used the contraction "they're", and I used the word "probably".

I guess in your alternative universe they mean something else.

Have fun trolling, d'bag.

[aksmith]

I wonder about Bastardo and the roids, too. But I have yet to see definitive evidence of players plummeting after stopping them. Yes, some players do plummet because their bodies have broken down, whether still using or not. But I wonder if anyone's really looked at it analytically. For instance, Ryan Braun hasn't exactly fallen into the abyss post-steroids. And on that exact thought, I have always wondered if there's at least a one season carryover where you've stopped, but the effects are still helping you before you revert to the pre-steroid body. Because it's not an overnight thing.

Also, I don't think the Phillies are actually improved. I think that they're worse in some ways and better in others. So, about the same. It's not likely there's another Pettibone to handle reasonably competent innings. That guy would have been Morgan and he's likely done for most of the season at least. MAG is the wildcard, but from the pronouncements by Rube and the lack of recent pronouncements from the pitching coach, I have to wonder what they have there. Kendrick and FaustoWhatever are likely to be just about what they've been.

Byrd will be an improvement defensively, but not necessarily offensively. One season does not a trend make. And Ache's defense should be somewhat of an improvement over Sieve Young at third. But Young hit better than we thought he would. So, how much improvement can we count on there?

Hernandez and Galvis as the utility guys may be adequate, but not likely more. And Nieves is the kind of guy I always like watching on the other team. It gave me someone to sit back and thank goodness he was butchering balls for someone other than the Phillies. Yeccchhh.

I do think that Chooch on Adderall is a big improvement over the beginning of last season and Chooch on his return defensively. The way he was catching, I have to think he was loosing his concentration.

Maybe Howard stays healthy? But at this point, I don't think that's necessarily a positive.

So, mixed bag. Still a losing team. So, what are we really arguing about? They still need a good starting pitcher. Their pen couldn't be worse than last season, so nothing to exactly brag about. The defense may be better at two positions, but Howard is worse than anyone at first and Rollins is another year older, and who knows how Revere will come back from his foot injury.

Going to be a very long season. If ever a team needed Tanaka, if for nothing else to energize the fan base again, this is the team. And it's not going to happen. Very sad.

[awh™]

" For instance, Ryan Braun hasn't exactly fallen into the abyss post-steroids. "

Smitty, with the ARoid/Bosch revelations, that there is testosterone that can be taken a couple of hours before a game that cannot be detected in a urine ample afterwards, and the fact that Braun was a Bosch client, I'm not so sure that we can be certain that Braun has ever been PED free.

Just sayin'.

[awh™]

All of you Cesar Hernandez lovers can take solace in the fact that he's not listed as one of the top ten 2B prospects on this list:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2014/#list=2b

[Meyer]

The Cardinals Incoming Pipeline. The Phillies have a pipeline too.

[aksmith]

News Flash: The Phillies' moves for the rest of the offseason are likely to be minor, per Todd Zolecki. Very reassuring. I suppose that's a shock because of all the MAJOR moves they've made so far.

In other words, Zolecki is telling us that Tanaka will be going to a good team. And Garza will also likely be going to a good team. And that lefthanded bat bench they're reportedly looking for, when signed, will make us throw up in our mouths.

What a time to be a Phillies fan. I feel like it's 1965 again. And that's not good. But at least in 1965, I didn't realize what was ahead for the vast majority of the next fifty years. Of course, being in elementary school helped me keep the blinders on a little. I also thought I knew how a bill becomes a law.