Liberty Ball

Albert Pujols recently implied that he should have won the MVP award and not Ryan Howard because he played for a playoff team.  Obviously Mr. Pujols counting skills aren’t very good because the Phillies actually won two more games then the Cardinals did and they won those extra games playing in the toughest division in the National League.  Yes the Cardinals won the World Series and while I appreciate that, I don’t appreciate Pujols’ whining.  While I would have voted for Pujols, Howard would have been a close second.  More people put Howard first, so live with it.

The Phillies signed right handed starter Adam Eaton to a three year, $24 million deal.  There’s a $9 million mutual option for a fourth year that could potentially make it a four year, $33 million deal.

Eaton was actually drafted by the Phillies way back in 1996 and since then he’s played for the Padres and the Rangers.  Last season, he was pretty mediocre in 14 starts and his best year was probably 2003. He struck out 146 in 183 innings and he had a career best 4.08 ERA.

This is the new age of free agency.  A guy like Eaton, who’s never thrown 200 innings in a season, goes for $8 million per a year.  I don’t know if they overpaid but I have a feeling that this one might come back to haunt the Phillies, especially in the later years.  Then again, it’s the going price.  Danys Baez, a decent set up man, recently signed for over $6 million a year so $8 million for a starter isn’t all that bad.

Ryan Howard was announced as the surprise winner of the MVP in the National League today.  Howard picked up 20 of the 32 first place votes while Albert Pujols, who came in second place, picked up the other twelve first place votes.  We all know about Howard’s exploits but even I expected Pujols to walk away with his second straight MVP.  Congratulations to the big guy.

There’s no doubt that Ryan Howard had a historic season.  While he might not win the MVP, his peers honered him by awarding him the NL Outstanding Player and the Player of the Year award.  Howard set a franchise record when he hit 58 homeruns.  Howard also set a record for the most homeruns by a second year player ever.

At first, I was really jacked when I read this.  Then I got to thinking how while Soriano is definitely a solid player, I wouldn’t neccesarily think he’s better then Bobby Abreu.  He’s certainly younger, but with guys like Chase Utley and Ryan Howard already in the lineup, how much more power do you need.  We need a nice table setter and Abreu would have fit that bill.

Not that I wouldn’t be happy if we signed Soriano, I’m just not sure if we wouldn’t have been better sticking with Abreu.

Aaron Rowand, who was the cornerston of the Jim Thome trade, Had Rowand taken his, he would have made $3.25 million and had the Phillies taken theirs, Rowand would have made $5 million.  Instead, Rowand will head to salary arbtitration.  So you’d think Rowand would be looking for more then $3.25 million and the Phillies would come in with an offer below $5 million.  Rowand had a mediocre year and he played only 109 games because of a variety of injuries.  There’s no doubt that Rowand plays hard, but sometime it’s at his own expense.