Winter Meetings: Cleaning up

Who would have guessed that the team that made the biggest splash at the winter meetings was the Phillies?

Anyone?

But unless Barry Bonds decides to snap his fingers for that mysterious deal to conjure itself from thin air, it appears as if the trade to bring Freddy Garcia to Philadelphia was the thunderclap of the week.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t all sorts of stories floating around. Like that one that has Jon Lieber on his way to the Brewers in a trade that may or may not include both reliever Derrick Turnbow and slugger Kevin Mench.

Or the one that has the Phillies in the mix to make a deal with the Blue Jays for Vernon Wells or the Nationals for Ryan Church.

Finally, how about the one in which Aaron Rowand – even though he didn’t wind up back in Chicago – could be on the move to Texas for one of the Rangers’ relievers.

According to a story by Joe Cowley in the Chicago Sun-Times, Rowand has mixed emotions about the trade talk:

Now hearing that the Phillies have been shopping him this week during the winter meetings, with both the Sox and the crosstown-rival Cubs as possible suitors, Rowand is doing his best to keep his emotions in check.

"There is reason to speculate that I could be traded because [the Phillies] have a guy in Shane Victorino that can fill my spot and comes a lot cheaper than myself," Rowand said Tuesday. "And I know they wouldn't mind bringing in another pitcher to try and make the club better."

Sox general manager Ken Williams often talks with Phillies GM Pat Gillick, and Williams said of Rowand: "Would I be interested in somebody like that? Yeah, I would."

Gillick told Philadelphia reporters that trading Rowand would leave the Phillies short on outfielders, but he said he would like another starting pitcher -- of which the Sox have a surplus.

The major stumbling block in a Rowand reunion? Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.

"I love Aaron Rowand," Guillen said of the trade talk. "[But] I wouldn't trade Rowand for one of my pitchers. Hell, no, he's not that good. And I love Aaron, and he knows that."

So for now, Rowand sits and waits.

"I was a rumor for five years before [a trade] happened," he said, "so I'm not going to get emotional over rumors one way or the other."

Sorry, Freddy
Jayson Stark had a great quote from White Sox GM Kenny Williams on the Garcia trade:

"Man, Freddy Garcia was so great," the White Sox GM said, his voice literally quivering with emotion, Wednesday night, "he thanked me for the opportunity to come over and win a World Series. He asked me, if he saw me in a bar, could he sit down and buy a drink for me. By the end of the conversation, he had me apologizing for trading him."

One man’s opinion
I’m not a big fan of overweight right-handed pitchers. I figure that if a person’s job is to be an athlete, being fit is the easiest thing to do. That’s especially the case with baseball, football, basketball and hockey players who have the best facilities and the best health care in America. Get in shape… how hard is that?

I’m funny like that, I guess.

Nevertheless, when Jon Lieber is healthy and pitching well he’s tough to beat. In fact, the Phillies might be a better team with Garcia and Lieber… if Lieber is fit.

But relief pitchers aren't free. Sometimes they cost a lot.

Add Brett Myers into that mix, too. Aside from his legal trouble, Myers’ fitness was a serious question mark as well. Plus, Cole Hamels has pitched just one complete season of professional ball – is he headed for an injury?

Along those lines, when has Adam Eaton ever been healthy?

It’s kind of funny that the guy in the best shape (Jamie Moyer) in the Phillies rotation is the team’s weakest link.

Elsewhere

Barry Bonds to the Cardinals? If that happens would there be a team that Philadelphia fans dislike more this side of the Cowboys?

The funny thing is that when asked if the Cardinals were interested in Bonds, GM Walt Jocketty said, “No.”

It’s hard to read anything else into that.

According to a report on ESPN:

The Giants appear to be the only option for Barry Bonds at this point. The Cardinals are out of the running, and the A's, Angels, Dodgers, Padres, Rangers, Orioles, Red Sox, Devil Rays and Mariners -- all teams loosely considered open-minded -- did not take a meeting with the seven-time MVP when he was in Florida for the winter meetings, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

Bonds is seeking a one-year, $18 million contract with a vesting option that could bring a similar salary in 2008. The Giants don't want to pay that much and are offering around $10 million in guaranteed money, so the two sides remain far apart on a deal.

How funny would it be if the only offer Bonds gets is from the Devil Rays?

Could Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens be on the way back to the Yankees? It seems possible.

Three years and $34 million for Vicente Padilla?

Gillick standing pat no more

Just when it looked as if the Phillies were settling in for a quiet time spent in a posh resort in Disney World, general manager Pat Gillick pulled off a deal.

Make that a big deal.

In an announcement late Wednesday night, Gillick finally landed that top-of-the-rotation starter he coveted since he took over the gig in late 2005. In exchange for top pitching prospect Gio Gonzalez and former first-round pick Gavin Floyd, the Phillies received two-time All-Star Freddy Garcia.

Just 30 years old, Garcia is 116-71 in eight seasons with the Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox. Aside from an injury-plagued 2000 season, Garcia has pitched no fewer than 201 1/3 innings in every one of his seven full seasons in the Majors, including 444 1/3 for a 31-17 record during his past two years in Chicago.

"I think the Phillies just acquired a 17- to 20-game winner," White Sox GM Kenny Williams said. "We're going to miss Freddy Garcia."

Better yet, Garcia is 6-2 in nine postseason starts, including a four-hit gem in the clinching game of the 2005 World Series. Featuring a big fastball, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound native of Caracas, Venezuela has averaged 6.58 strikeouts per nine innings with just a tad more than two walks per nine innings.

"Getting a veteran guy who has been in the heat of a pennant race and done the things Freddy has done, we just felt it was the right move to make," Phillies assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle said.

In 2006, Garcia went 17-9 and earned $9 million in salary. In 2007 he is slated to earn $10 million.

"We're very pleased to acquire Freddy," Arbuckle said. "He'll fit very nicely into our rotation. He gives us innings and is a proven winner."

The trade could be just one in a series of moves for the Phillies. The chatter from the Winter Meetings at Disney’s Swan and Dolphin Resort during the past two days was that the Phillies were hoping to land Garcia so that they could deal away oft-injured starting pitcher Jon Lieber for bullpen help. Initially, reports had the Phillies sending Floyd and outfielder/fan-favorite Aaron Rowand to the White Sox for Garcia, with Lieber heading to Milwaukee for reliever Derrick Turnbow.

Instead, the Phillies get to keep Rowand, who they acquired, along with Gonzalez, from the White Sox in the deal for Jim Thome.

Now, with six starters with bona fide big-league experience on the roster, it remains to be seen if Lieber will be on the move.

"It gives us more options," Arbuckle said. "It gives us the opportunity to do more things."

With Garcia in the fold, using Lieber for bullpen help seems like it’s elementary. Sure, Lieber won 20 games once upon a time for the Cubs, and he won 17 for the Phillies in 2005. When the big right-hander is healthy, he’s a steady and consistent a pitcher capable of turning in seven innings every time out. But Lieber has been plagued by injuries during his 12 seasons. He has pitched 200 innings just four times, missed a full season after Tommy John surgery, and looks as if he’s a step away from a pulled hamstring or groin.

And frankly, the Phillies are a little concerned about Lieber's growing waistline.

According to published reports, Phils manager Charlie Manuel said Lieber’s fitness – or lack thereof – was (and is) an issue.

“He did let himself go, and he knows it," Manuel told reporters on Tuesday morning. “I think probably he's tired of hearing it.”

Manuel had talked to Lieber about his fitness during the 2005 season, too, though the pitcher didn’t seem to be paying attention then.

“From here, it's up to him,” Manuel told reporters.

Then again, Lieber could be another team’s problem in 2007.

That’s the case with Floyd, the frustrating 23-year-old righty who was the fourth overall pick in the 2001 draft. Though he showed flashes of brilliance during parts of three seasons with the Phillies, Floyd’s record indicates otherwise. In 2006 he was 4-3 with a 7.29 ERA in 11 starts for the Phillies and 7-4 with a 4.23 ERA in 17 starts at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after being demoted in June.

Though he cracked the opening day roster in 2005 and 2006, Floyd went from one of the team’s top pitching prospects to a pitcher that no longer figured into the team’s plans. That’s a severe 180-degree turn from where the Phillies were with Floyd after they gave him a $4.2 million signing bonus in 2001 to lure him away from enrolling at the University of South Carolina.

Once in the minor league system, Floyd’s ascent was quick with very few challenges. His domination in the bushes – one that included a no-hitter in Single-A ball – got to the point where team insiders and observers said that it appeared as if the tall right-hander was bored.

The difficult part, some offered, was hoping that Floyd became engaged in a game, or that his interest was piqued. Still, no one ever doubted Floyd’s talent, which is why the Phillies were loath to simply give him away.

“I think Gavin's going to be a little bit of a late bloomer,” Arbuckle said.

That very well could be the case, but in his stead the Phillies got someone who is already ripe. With Garcia joining Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Adam Eaton and Jamie Moyer and Lieber as a lure for even more pitching, the Phillies’ troublesome rotation has come a long way since last April.

Hangin' in the lobby

So what really happens at Baseball’s winter meetings? Try hanging out and talking – kind of what happens when the season starts.

The only difference is that every team from the Yankees to the lowest level minor-league affiliate turns up for the winter meetings no matter where they hold them from year to year. This year, of course, the meetings are at a Disney World resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, the little burg conjured up by Walt Disney for his park. Last year baseball showed up in Dallas, and before that it was Anaheim, New Orleans and Boston.

It doesn’t seem as if baseball is going back to Boston for the winter meetings any time soon. In fact, next year they head to Nashville before going to the place the ought to just permanently stage the meetings:

Vegas, baby. Vegas.

Of course they follow Vegas with Indianapolis. That hardly seems fair for the good folks in Indiana’s biggest city.

Still, the winter meetings aren’t just a place for job seekers, back slappin’ and grab assin’. In the old days it seemed as if the winter meetings were where teams were assembled. Check out the small print on the top portion of the back of an old baseball card. Next to the agate type reading, “Acquired:” the date that follows usually coincides with the winter meetings.

That’s hardly a coincidence.

Sometimes nothing happens, too. During the past six years for the Phillies, the winter meetings have been places where things get squashed. Like in 2001 when Scott Rolen was traded to Baltimore before the Orioles backed out when they decided they probably weren’t going to be able to re-sign the third baseman.

Another year a member of the Phillies media contingent was shoved off an elevator by a colleague as it stopped between floors. Because of that incident there hasn’t been a day at the ballpark where a writer hasn’t attempted to push a fellow scribe off an elevator when the doors open on the way to another floor.

What, you were expecting tweed and elbow patches with that bunch?

Nevertheless, it seems as if there is another quiet stay at a warm-weather resort for the Phillies’ contingent at the winter meetings. Of course that could all change over night when the GMs head to another luau full of drinks with umbrellas, colorful leis and a limbo contest for guys dressed in wacky summertime shirts.

That’s not so different from the old days when GMs would wake up where they fell during the early morning hours with a trade scratched out on a crumpled up cocktail napkin.

Winter Meetings: Naming names

The names leap off the page so quickly that they make you dizzy.

Freddy Garcia.
Derrick Turnbow.
Akinori Otsuka.
Octavio Dotel.
Rod Barajas.
Preston Wilson.
Rondell White.
Kevin Mench.

According to reports there is a good chance that at least one of those players could be with the Phillies by the close of the Winter Meetings in Disney World this week. More interestingly, all of the players listed fit one or more of the team’s needs. Garcia, of course, is the top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher that general manager Pat Gillick has coveted since the first day he took the reigns with the Phillies.

Turnbow, Otsuka and Dotel are relievers who meet the team’s criteria of a set-up man, which, according to manager Charlie Manuel, means they have all been closers at one point or another.

Barajas is a catcher who could take over the starting job, while Wilson, White and Mench are veteran hitters/outfielders that provide a little depth.

In a nutshell, the Phillies would be smart to get any one of those players.

But everything has a price. In this regard the names that pop off the page are equally as compelling.

Jon Lieber.
Gavin Floyd.
Aaron Rowand.

According to the dispatches from Florida, Lieber could be dealt to Milwaukee for Turnbow. To get Garcia from the White Sox, it could cost the Phillies Rowand and Floyd.

Yikes… on Rowand.

Losing Lieber, if Garcia is acquired, is no big deal. Oh sure, Lieber won 20 games once upon a time for the Cubs, and he won 17 for the Phillies in 2005. When the big right-hander is healthy he’s a steady and consistent a pitcher capable of turning in seven innings every time out. But Lieber has been injured a lot during his 12 seasons. He has pitched 200 innings just four times, missed a full season after Tommy John surgery, and looks as if he’s a step away from a pulled hamstring or groin.

And frankly, the Phillies are a little concerned about Lieber's growing waistline.

Floyd, simply, is a huge disappointment. Yet for as much as the Phillies don’t feel as though Floyd is a part of the team’s future, they also don’t want to simply give him away.

Rowand is the tough one. Yeah, he gets injured a lot, and yes, his offensive numbers aren’t stellar. But it’s hard to deny Rowand’s influence in the Phillies’ clubhouse. Plus, it’s so clear how much the guy loves baseball. No one needed him to smash his face into a fence to see that.

Nonetheless, if the Phillies can get Garcia, the relievers they need and the extra bat or two, Rowand might have to be the casualty.

Baseball is tough like that.

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On another note, the best blog from the Winter Meetings is Scott Lauber's.