WEDNESDAY: Dobbs cleared waivers, according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki (via Twitter). Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer hears from agent Dan Horwits that Dobbs will accept a minor league assignment.
TUESDAY: The Phillies designated Greg Dobbs for assignment, according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki (via Twitter). In related moves, the Phillies activated Jimmy Rollins from the DL, put Carlos Ruiz on the DL and called up Mike Zagurski (Twitter link).
Dobbs, 32 next week, has about $770K remaining on the two-year $2.5MM deal he signed before last season. He can play all four corner positions, but has posted just a .152/.222/.242 line in 73 plate appearances this season. The Phillies rely on Dobbs off the bench, but he is just 10/79 as a pinch hitter in 2009-10. Back in 2008, Dobbs set the franchise record for pinch hits in a season with 22.
Paying seven figures to guys like Dobbs and Ross Gload when you “can’t afford” to keep Cliff Lee is pretty dopey.
The kind of chump change going to guys like Dobbs and Ross Gload really makes no difference to the bottom line, or retaining Lee. But keep chopping wood.
So on your planet money doesn’t add up? Take those two salaries given to guys you could replace with Triple-A veterans, trade Blanton instead of Lee, and Lee’s salary for the year is taken care of.
if only it were that simple. they were looking to trade blanton, doesnt seem like they had any takers at his price. the often most overlooked part of a club is their bench. a teams bench can make or break a team. the phils saw that last year. signing gload was a good move.
I’d rather have the Chris Sheltons of the world for the minimum than pay seven figures to a first base only player on a team with a star first baseman.
Being a couch GM is easy, ain’t it?
No, just picking out this one stupid assessment of priorities was. A team that claims to not be able to afford one year of Cliff Lee for $8.5 m on a win now team should not be blowing millions on pinch hitters.
gload is a professional pinch hitter type. he certainly showed his worth in the 9th against the twins on Saturday. i think everyone is in agreement that they should have kept lee, but they didnt. the phillies have a certain way they like to do business, its with a budget and a team that they know can compete. even if they kept lee, right now this team has greater concerns than their rotation.
Well, they’d be a better team with Lee. That’s the way I would want things managed.
If you followed the whole saga of the Lee deal, it wasn’t about the money. I agree, dealing Lee was probably not the best move. However, it wasn’t about the money as much as restocking the farm system. That was my beef with the whole deal. I think that if Amaro would have shopped him around more, he would have been able to match up with a top flight prospect like a Montero or a Ramos. Bottom line, the Phillies were getting the guy that they wanted all along in Halladay. He signed a team friendly deal and the Phillies new that if they were going to keep both Halladay AND Lee, they’d have to chance letting him walk to a division rival, or any other team for that matter, for nothing, and have no real prospects to develop (minus Domonic Brown.) Instead, they traded him for 3 guys with some potential. Granted, Aumont bombed in Double A, and the guys really worth watching now are Ramirez and Gillies.
I have to disagree though. Guys like Gload and Dobbs are so valuable to a club when you get them at their best. Dobbs was the best pinch hitter in the game in ’08, and I would have signed him to a multi year deal as well. No one saw this two year long slump coming. After ’08, Dobbs deserved the contract he got. In ’09, Ross Gload was among the leaders (if not the leader, I can’t remember) in pinch hits. He plays first base and the corner outfield positions, and the Phillies needed a left handed bat off the bench to replace Matt Stairs. They got the best one available in Gload.
Pinch hitting can make or break a team. The bench is like the tenth man on the field. If you want the best tenth man, you have to pay for it, and when the Phillies gave those contracts Dobbs and Gload respectively, they were paying for guys that were the best at what they do. Hindsight is 20/20. Sure, we can look back now and say, “Ahhh. They probably don’t deserve/need that.” But at the time, they were good investments, and I assure you, neither contract had anything to do with trading Cliff Lee.
i agree but i am also not completely sold on the fact that the Lee deal wasnt about money. i do believe that Lee wanted a big pay day that the phillies didnt like and ultimately found a bargain with Halladay. it only makes sense that Lee would want to cash in, to this point in his career he hasnt gotten the really big pay day that he deserves.
as for the prospects they got in return… theyre prospects. no one knows what theyre going to do. i like Aumont, people are giving up on him too easily, the kid is only 20 years old. JC Ramirez on the other hand has pitched very well in the minors. the Phillies have a SURPLUS of young pitching.
He signed a team friendly deal and the Phillies new that if they were going to keep both Halladay AND Lee, they’d have to chance letting him walk to a division rival, or any other team for that matter, for nothing
If Halladay and Lee were both on the Phillies this season, they almost would definitely be in 1st in the NL East, not 3rd and 3 games above .500. Anyways, if Lee didn’t resign Philly would get 2 draft picks for him.
Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee in the same rotation could draw comparisons to when Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in the same rotation.
Re-stocking the farm system for the sake of re-stocking the farm system is such a dumb idea for a win-now team that I’d rather give them the benefit of the doubt that it’s about money.
The team never claimed they couldn’t afford Lee. They claimed they had to trade him to replenish the lost depth from the Lee and Halladay deals.
If you’re going to arm-chair GM, at least get the facts straight.
That’s a dumber reason than money. Those prospects are worth less than Lee. On a win-now team, those prospects are worth MUCH less than Lee. Replenishing a farm system can only be done well overnight by a team that’s really in sell mode,
A dumb reason? You’re talking out of your “you know what” now. Even on a so called “win-now” team, you have to have options for the future. Keeping Lee and trading Halladay would have completely used up the Phillies farm system. Could they have done it? Yes. But at that time, you have to stay flexible. What if the Phillies had a devastating, season long injury that required them to trade for a replacement. What if someone went down and the Phils’ had to pick up a Lance Berkman, or a Paul Konerko. They wouldn’t have had the prospects to do it, aside from Brown, who just isn’t going to be traded.
As I said before, the Phillies weren’t positive that they could let Lee walk (which they would have HAD to do,) and get a top draft pick for him. Half of the first round in the draft has protected picks, so the best they could do is what, the 16th pick? Instead, they got three prospects and kept their options open. Look at them now. Our pitching is plagued with injuries, and because we traded Lee, we have the prospects to acquire some help in a Kevin Millwood, or a Jake Westbrook.
Keeping Cliff Lee, aside from the fact that they knew that they wouldn’t be able to resign him at his demands, had nothing to do with money. The Phillies have one of the highest revenues in baseball and are coming off of two straight World Series appearances. They can afford the extra 9mm it would have took to keep Lee. They restocked the farm system in case of emergency, and they may just have to pull a deal at the deadline for a starting pitcher.
I know it’s hard watching a guy like Cliff Lee get traded (believe me, I almost had a heart attack when they acquired him and a stroke when he was traded) but, sometimes in baseball, you can’t play favorites. The Phillies got baseball’s premiere pitcher in Roy Halladay (all he did for us was throw a perfect game), signed him to a team friendly deal, and traded Lee for three high ceiling players, (even though I admitted earlier, I think Amaro could have found a better trading partner) for a guy they knew they wouldn’t be able to resign after this year, and could walk to a team like the Nationals, who have been known to throw money at free agents and are looking for a solid ace (pre-Strasburg) for absolutely nothing.
I loved Lee, hated seeing him go… but, sometimes, deals have to be made. In a perfect world, we’d have a 1-2 of Halladay-Lee, a resurgent Hamels, a healthy Happ and the ageless Jamie Moyer… but, we don’t. Instead, we traded Lee and have the flexibility to make a deal. If I was going to sit here and armchair GM, and even just as a fan, I’d want Lee in my rotation over Kyle Kendrick too.
They might have to trade for a starter BECAUSE they traded away Cliff Lee. How is that an argument for trading away Lee in the first place? Also, how do you defend getting such a so-so package of prospects for Lee? One of the things the Phillies do best is drafting high upside guys and hoping a few of them develop. It’s worked incredibly well. Several of their lower-level guys are currently skyrocketing in stock, as usually happens with them. If that’s their operating procedure, and it works, why trade great right-now value on a win-now team for modest depth? I’d rather have a year of Lee, followed by a late first round pick and a sandwich round pick, than the package they got for him. And none of these arguments for trading him is better than the rotation you described. Halladay-Lee-Hamels was sitting in their laps and they let it go.
I’m not disagreeing. I think I’ve said I’d rather have Lee in the rotation 14 times already. What I’m saying is that the move WAS justified, which is why I called you an arm-chair GM in the first place. I can’t argue to make it any more justified than I already have. There were reasons for trading Cliff Lee other than money this season. That’s it. You can’t just say “Oh, the Phils couldn’t keep him because they were saving salary. They shouldn’t spend money on bench players.” Baseball just doesn’t work like that. I also said at least twice that I think that Amaro could have shopped around for a better package than what he got for Lee. What they did get is what you just said yourself, high upside players. Do I think that trading Lee should have landed them a blue chip prospect? Yes. Did it? No. They did get two pitchers with big arms and the type of outfielder that they love to develop (along the lines of Brown, Taylor, Gose, etc.) They got 3 high potential prospects instead of the 2 that they MAY have gotten by letting him walk. A first round supplemental isn’t going to get you what they get in Aumont, Gillies, and Ramirez.
What’s best for the Phillies and what “you’d rather have” was the reason I called you a couch GM. For the 15th time, I loved Cliff Lee. He was a class act and one of the best pitchers in the game, but the Phillies were on the verge of getting the guy they wanted all along. If they had never gone out and got Cliff because they couldn’t get Roy at the deadline last year, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. They would have kept 4 prospects and wouldn’t have had to restock. Bottom line, you need prospects in your system. The Phillies best window to win may be now, but they aren’t necessarily a “win-now” team. They’ve got guys that are going to contribute over the next 5 years, with reinforcements coming in guys like Brown, a developing Singleton, and a stand out prospect in Cosart, among others. A mix of experienced veterans and talented young guys is what wins championships. The deal needed to be made, and was made. A 1-2 of Halladay – Lee was implausible, and didn’t happen.
What I said was that the Phillies ALREADY bring in so many high upside guys that they don’t need to trade a big star for less than stellar prospects. Calling me an armchair GM is ridiculous. Don’t come to these boards if you think anyone criticizing or approving of any move is inappropriate. If I were a losing team, I would have wanted more than the package the Phillies got for Lee. As a winning team, I would have been hard pressed to trade him for anything, but certainly not for that. You still haven’t convinced me that rotation was implausible and you still haven’t convinced me that trade Lee in that trade for those prospects at that time was an idea that made sense.
WIP’d
Dobbs, I’ll miss you, buddy. You won’t clear waivers. I am the only who owned a Greg Dobbs T-Shirt. I yelled from row 2 for you to turn around 2 weeks ago in Boston to see it, but you ignored me. Good night, nurse.
dobbs went from the best pinch hitter in the game to taking up space. maybe if he plays every day he can regain some mojo. may be better for the phils to clear up his salary any way even though im sure charlie wants dobbs to stay with the organization. hard to imagine that he would clear waivers. someone who needs a 1B, 3B, or OF will pick him up
This actually reminds me of So Taguchi. Best in the game in ’07 on St. Louis, Phils sign him, and he is left off our playoff roster in ’08. Chasing pinch hitting results seems to be a futile game with an ugly ending.
oh my god, so taguchi was awful
If he could play everyday, he wouldn’t be worse than the current Garrett Atkins. His defense has always been lousy though, but he has enough pop that some teams should look into giving him consistent ABs.
Go to the Pigs. Come back up in September! Dobberrrr!
wow, this is good news. hopefully playing everyday will get him going
Solution for Philly: MORE TASERS.
Something happened with Lee that only Reuben knows. I don’t care what they say about the farm team, about the money, about the bench, blah, blah, blah all of that is only a distraction so that what really happened does not surface