Phillies Sign Ibanez

[Flip217]

From FOXSports:

"...Free-agent outfielder Raul Ibanez has reached preliminary agreement with the Phillies on a three-year, $30 million contract, according to major-league sources.

The deal, pending a physical, was reached early Friday morning at the winter meetings in Las Vegas. Phillies executives and Ibanez's agents stayed an extra day to complete the contract..."

Phils Sign Ibanez

Interesting -- goes against what their GM was saying publicly, both in terms of cash and getting another LH bat. But the article says Ibanez hit lefties better last year. I like Ibanez, but I'm surprised by this a bit.

[Migrant Redbird]

So who's going to sign Burrell and Abreu? They've kind of been below the radar of all the rumor mongers so far.

[GeorgiaBird]

Not to mention Dunn. I think once Bradley signs (the Cubs?) you will see the others fall in line pretty quickly. A lot of the teams in the market for an OF had Ibanez and Bradley at the top of their list.

The interesting thing is this sort of sets a ceiling on the OF market, at least from the GM perspective. I think certain small-market teams in search of an OF/DH type have to be jumping for joy at this contract.

PS: To answer your specific question I think assuming Bradley goes to Chicago, the Rays are going to push hard to convince Burrell to take a 1 year or short term deal with the argument that he needs to weather the economy and a good season in Tampa will make his value even higher next year.

[PapaRick]

Rosenthal says that the Phils and Raul Ibanez reahed a 3yr/$30M deal - so scratch any possibility of using Luke Scott to get Jason Donald.

Source: http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8931496/Sources:-Ibanez-reaches-deal-with-Phillies

[Dirtyburnie]

There goes one of LA's back-up planes.

[Biff Tannen]

Yep.

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73357

[adamwolff11]

This is nice signing for the Phils. Ibanez was a lone bright spot last season in Seattle, and with better protection in the lineup, I think he should thrive in Philly. Nice move.

[DrungoHazewood]

From FOXSports:

"...Free-agent outfielder Raul Ibanez has reached preliminary agreement with the Phillies on a three-year, $30 million contract, according to major-league sources.

The deal, pending a physical, was reached early Friday morning at the winter meetings in Las Vegas. Phillies executives and Ibanez's agents stayed an extra day to complete the contract..."

Phils Sign Ibanez

Interesting -- goes against what their GM was saying publicly, both in terms of cash and getting another LH bat. But the article says Ibanez hit lefties better last year. I like Ibanez, but I'm surprised by this a bit.

Good. That's one mistake the O's won't be making. I suppose some teams need a 37-year-old defensively-challenged outfielder who hits okay. But not the Orioles.

[GeorgiaBird]

This is nice signing for the Phils. Ibanez was a lone bright spot last season in Seattle, and with better protection in the lineup, I think he should thrive in Philly. Nice move.

I get what your saying, but he is older than Burrell, just as bad defensively and probably cost the same amount Burrell will get, if not less. Was he really worth giving up a first round pick for? Seems to me they would have been better off re-signing Burrell and keeping the pick.