The Phillies re-signed reliever Jose Contreras to a two-year, $5.5MM deal, reports MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. The contract includes performance incentives and a club option for 2013. Year-by-year details can be found here. ESPN's Enrique Rojas first reported last night that a deal was close.
Contreras, 39 in December, posted a 3.34 ERA, 9.1 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 0.8 HR/9, and 44.7% groundball rate for the Phillies in 2010. It was his first full season as a reliever, and his fastball played up to a 94.0 mph average. He even served as the Phillies' closer for a while in May. At just $1.5MM, Contreras was a major bargain for the Phillies in 2010. This time around the second year is less than ideal, but it was likely necessary to secure him early. Plus, Contreras' salary remains reasonable.
The Phillies' bullpen spending is far from finished. They've added Contreras and Eddie Bonine, and GM Ruben Amaro Jr. told ESPN's Jayson Stark he's contacted "40 free agents, predominantly bullpen guys." The Phils are prioritizing left-handed relief and are known to be interested in Hisanori Takahashi.
Amaro must be feeling pretty confident about this guy.
Cuban Pitchers age well ex) Livan Hernandez, Orlando Hernandez nice signing for the Phils
He’ll break apart for you.
1 year too long, as usual for Amaro. Amaro signed Ibanez, Baez, Polanco, Gload, Romero, Schneider and Moyer for 1 year too long also. Ryan Howard is signed for about 3 years too long.
Don’t forget about some of his other bad moves…Trading Lee for whats turned out to be very little, trading 3 of their top catching prospects over the past two years…I wouldn’t have traded Drabek but Halladay is going to win the Cy Young…
Might be missing one, but who’s the third catcher? I can only think of Travis D’arnaud and Lou Marson. They were both blocked by Chooch anyway, and the Phils’ have Sebastian Valle in the system.
You get one clue. His first name and last name both start with the same letter
It’s not enough! I can’t figure it out! Lmao
it rhymes with bason baramillo!
He was a flop in the Phils’ system! I don’t remember exactly when they dealt him, but it had to be more than two years ago. Lol.
It was in the winter of 08. But I believe there was a time when he was either their top prospect or very close to it.
Yea, we traded him away for the immortal, Jack Tashner.
No it was for Ronny Paulino
He was a top prospect at one time, but it was before Carlos Ruiz really established himself in the MLB. I remember when they drafted him, and a lot of people thought he was the heir apparent to Mike Lieberthal behind the plate. And believe me, Lieberthal was a fan favorite here in Philly, so Jaramillo was very hyped. Then, this little Panamanian man showed up in the bigs, and the rest was history. Haha
Give credit where credits due though. He got Halladay for a deal. The Oswalt deal was really good. I know people are going to whine about Polanco’s 3 year deal, but I think he was great this year and surprisingly a really good fielder. Also, with all his wheeling and dealing of draft picks he managed to keep Dom Brown. This is only Amaro’s second offseason. Lets give him a little more time before you start ripping him as a GM. I might be misguided and looking too short term, but when you have a core thats primed to be elite for the next two years you ride them out. Even when their getting a little old.
“Trading Lee for whats turned out to be very little.” If your saying a trip to the world series is very little than we have two extreming different ways of looking at things because theres no way we were getting there without him. Also, with all the haters of Amaro not being fiscally responsible, replacing Lee with Oswalt later in the season was a stroke of genius. An Oswalt contract which is very team friendly against a 100+ contract that Lee will receive. Not that I have anything bad to say against Lee.
It was to win the world series and since they lost it meant nothing
That’s what happens with free agents. The team doesnt always get a deal they wish for in order to secure the player it wants. Phils are aggressive in getting guys they want. Something they should be commended for.
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!
This isn’t bad. Contreras has been great out of the pen. Has strikeout stuff, can close in a pinch. Sure it would’ve been nice without the 2nd year, but it won’t kill us. I mean we can afford 10 Contreras for every Ryan howard.
Can’t imagine anyone giving this guy 2 years, especially not at this rate.
Then you have a bad imagination, because I’m sure there would be other teams willing to give it to him.
Oh so I should believe in your ability to read other GM’s minds over my own. Good to know.
Just like your comment, right?
Or you could believe Tim Dierkes, you know, the guy whose site you’re visiting right now? He predicted a 2yr deal, possibly even a closing role, for Contreras.
I disagree with Tim. He was speculating just like I was. It’s just my opinion.
I agree. First, this guy is 39, that we know of. Who knows how many miles he really has on his arm, and how many he has left.
Secondly, I can see giving your closer, or maybe your set up guy(s) multiple years, but for a team that has a ton of money committed to Lidge, and Ryan Madsen firmly entrenched as the RH set-up guy, why are they giving two years to a middle-inning guy?
Why are they giving two years to a middle inning guy? Well, this particular middle inning guy was one of the only middle inning guys they had that got them outs on a somewhat consistant basis.
By your comment, you expect teams to sign your 8th and 9th inning guys to multi-year deals and that patch work the rest of your bullpen. That’s only asking for trouble.
It’s always questionable to give contracts to people who can’t purchase life insurance.
But yet, the Phillies have been to four straight postseasons and three straight LCS’s. And the people who are saying that they continuously make bad deals seem to forget this. And then, they’ll come on here and ritualistically praise the Royals for “ripping off” the A’s in a David DeJesus trade when they haven’t made the playoffs since the Reagan administration.
Something tells me that there’s a bit of jealousy going on…