Third Base
According to Jim Salisbury, “people who have spoken about the subject” with Ruben Amaro believe he is zeroed in on either Adrian Beltre, Mark DeRosa, or Placido Polanco for the vacant third base spot. Figgins and Tejada appear to be on the periphery at the moment; for Figgins, at least, the issue appears to be cost – he may want as much as $10 million a year for a longer term than the Phillies would like. I have to reiterate that Beltre seems like the best option of these. His offense is likely to rebound from an injury-hampered season to something that is an unquestionable improvement over Feliz, and his glove is one of the best in the MLB. Polanco is a former Phillie second baseman, traded to the Tigers in 2005 when Chase Utley began his ascension. He should have no problems moving to third base – in his 322 career games played at the position he’s managed a UZR of 9.9. He hit .285/.331/.396 in 2009 with 10 home runs (compare to Feliz’s 2009: .266/.308/.386 with 12 home runs). Bill James projects Polanco to hit .296/.343/.403 next year, although his projections tend towards the optimistic. Mark DeRosa, with the Indians and Cubs in 2009, hit .250/.319/.433 with 23 home runs, but has struggled at third base in his career, posting a -6.5 UZR in 311 games.
Bullpen
The only bullpen name the Phillies have been linked to specifically so far has been Fernando Rodney, and I have to wonder why. Rodney simply isn’t the caliber of help that the bullpen needs right now. He posted a 4.56 FIP last season in 75.2 relief innings, and walked almost 5 hitters per nine innings. That’s questionable for any relief pitcher, never mind one coming to a Phillies bullpen that walked 4.08 hitters per nine innings in 2009, good for 9th in the MLB. No thank you. Buster Olney did write on ESPN Insider that “The expectation among some rival executives is that the Phillies will be aggressive in signing a set-up man/closer safety net” with Brad Lidge’s health and effectiveness in question, but then again, Rodney’s name is mentioned right after that, and I don’t consider that aggressive, so who knows (thanks to The Sound of Philly for catching that quote).
