Raul Ibanez reaches deal with Champion Phillies

The World Series champion Phillies have found their replacement for departing left fielder Pat Burrell.


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.

The Mets, Cubs, Nationals and Angels also were interested in Ibanez, who batted .293 with 23 homers and 110 RBIs last season for the Mariners while playing his home games at pitcher-friendly Safeco Field.

The Phillies' preference was for a right-handed hitter to go with their two left-handed sluggers, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. Ibanez, 36, is a left-handed hitter, but actually hit left-handers better than righties last season.

His free-agent value seemed to diminish after his previous team, the Mariners, offered him salary arbitration, thus forcing any team that signed him to forfeit a first-round draft pick.
Ibanez's age also figured to be an obstacle in the open market; few players in their late 30s receive three-year contracts. However, Ibanez has averaged 26 homers and 113 RBIs the past three seasons, and teams value his professionalism and character.

Fox Sports..

i think this is a very good signing, but seriously, $10M a year for Raul, I look forward to baseball running into serious problems in the next few years.

bigtendominator

i think this is a very good signing, but seriously, $10M a year for Raul, I look forward to baseball running into serious problems in the next few years.

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If the Mariners had not offered him salary arbitration (meaning the team that signed him other than Seattle forfeited a 1st round draft choice to Seattle) he would have taken home around $12M a year.

The Mariners cost Raul a big chuck of change over three years by using the salary arbitration option, especially if they had no intention of being competitive in the bidding.





wil..

Excellent addition to the Phillies...now hopefully a starting pitcher is next...

VIEJO DINOSAUR said:

Excellent addition to the Phillies

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Defensively quite an upgrade to Burrell. And I'm really curious to see, which power numbers Ibanez can put up in Citizen Bank after constantly delivering more than solid numbers at Safeco.

wilheim said:

If the Mariners had not offered him salary arbitration (meaning the team that signed him other than Seattle forfeited a 1st round draft choice to Seattle) he would have taken home around $12M a year.

The Mariners cost Raul a big chuck of change over three years by using the salary arbitration option, especially if they had no intention of being competitive in the bidding.





wil..

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The signing team doesn't lose draft picks. Seattle would have gotten a sandwich pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds. A team cannot trade picks in baseball.

Sad day for the Cubs and a great day for the Phillies. Cubs really wanted Ibanez.

FairWarning

The signing team doesn't lose draft picks. Seattle would have gotten a sandwich pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds. A team cannot trade picks in baseball.

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According to Fox Sports.com

His free-agent value seemed to diminish after his previous team, the Mariners, offered him salary arbitration, thus forcing any team that signed him to forfeit a first-round draft pick.



Maybe Fox has it wrong.

wilheim said:

According to Fox Sports.com

His free-agent value seemed to diminish after his previous team, the Mariners, offered him salary arbitration, thus forcing any team that signed him to forfeit a first-round draft pick.



Maybe Fox has it wrong.

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Kind of a dumb rule. It must have been changed lately. The Phils do lose their first rounder, but get the sandwich pick. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_Draft

Compensatory Picks

Teams can earn Compensatory picks in the draft based on departing free agents. Free Agents are ranked by the Elias Sports Bureau based on their previous two years of playing, and against players of similar positions. Players are categorized as either Class A or Class B, or they fall into the category of all other players. Below is a description of each free agent class and the compensation the free agent's former team received when the player signs with a different team.
• A Class A free agent is ranked in the top 30 percent of players at their positions. A team that signs a Type A player gives its top draft pick to the club that the player is leaving. The "losing" club also receives a supplemental pick in the "sandwich" round between the first and second rounds. <sup id="cite_ref-law_23-0" class="reference">[24]</sup>
• A Class B free agent is ranked below the top 30 percent but in the top 50 percent of players at their positions. A team that loses a Type B player receives a supplemental pick, but the signing team does not lose any picks.<sup id="cite_ref-law_23-1" class="reference">[24]</sup>
• All other players, who carry no compensation at all. There had previously been a third class of "Type C" players, but that was eliminated in the new CBA.<sup id="cite_ref-law_23-2" class="reference">[24]</sup>
To earn a compensatory pick, a free agent must either be signed before the arbitration deadline in early December, or be offered arbitration by their former team but still sign with someone else.
Compensatory picks that one team gives another via this method are the highest available pick that team has. If a team owes two other teams draft picks via Type A free agents, the team whose departing player had a higher score gets the higher ranked pick. A team cannot lose picks it has earned via compensation. Also, the first 15 picks in the draft cannot be lost via compensation, so a team that is in that rank would give up their second round pick.
The order of the supplemental round between the first and second rounds is determined by inverse order of the previous year's standings. All the Type A picks are done first, and then the order resets for all the Type B compensation picks.
Teams can also earn compensation for unsigned picks from the previous year's draft. If a team doesn't sign a first or second round pick, they will get to pick at the same slot plus one the following year. For instance, if the team with the #5 pick does not sign that player, they would have the #6 pick the following year. The regular draft order would continue around those picks. For compensation for not signing a third round pick, teams would get a pick in a supplemental round between the third and fourth rounds. If a team fails to sign a player with one of these compensated picks, there is no compensation the following year.

FairWarning said:

The signing team doesn't lose draft picks. Seattle would have gotten a sandwich pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds. A team cannot trade picks in baseball.

Sad day for the Cubs and a great day for the Phillies. Cubs really wanted Ibanez.

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Yep but Cubs were not going to go 3/30. Cubs just hoping that doesn't raise the bar. I think they're looking at Milton Bradley probably in the range of 2/16 or so.

D2bets said:

Yep but Cubs were not going to go 3/30. Cubs just hoping that doesn't raise the bar. I think they're looking at Milton Bradley probably in the range of 2/16 or so.

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Milton Bradley? How many games will he be able to play in a row?

VIEJO DINOSAUR said:

Milton Bradley? How many games will he be able to play in a row?

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That's true, but I think the Cubs can accept someone who might just play maybe 100-120 games, let's say. They can always play Fukudome in RF, plus they have Reed Johnson, plus DeRosa can play RF as well. And if Pie isn't traded... So I think the Cubs feel they have some depth to work with. Bradley is a very good hitter when he's healthy and he gets on base a lot. Maybe the Cubs need someone who's a little crazy to shake things up. Too many "nice guys" on the team.

Cubbies also have Hoffpauir as another backup option in their system. Lacked some defense last year, but looked quite good at the plate after his callup and played a great season in the Minors.

As a Phils fan I love this move. I really think Ibanez is an overall upgrade over Burrell and at a cheaper price tag.

- R. Ibanez homered to deep right, S. Victorino scored


6-3 Phils ALDS

Congrats on 2,000 hits

The Mets evened up their interleague series at a game apiece, but it wasn't easy. Valverde came on in the ninth to protect a 6-3 lead for Jonathon Niese, but the 41-year-old Ibanez drove Valverde's 1-0 pitch deep into the right-field seats after David Freese singled with two outs and Erick Aybar walked. The homer was Ibanez's 302nd in the majors -- and his 2,000th hit.

BREAKS HIS OWN RECORD-- maybe he will do it again--
Raul Ibanez homered to break his own franchise record for oldest Royals player to clear the fences, and Kansas City beat the Oakland Athletics 1-0 on Friday night.

5teamparlay said:

breaks his own record-- maybe he will do it again--
raul ibanez homered to break his own franchise record for oldest royals player to clear the fences, and kansas city beat the oakland athletics 1-0 on friday night.

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booooooooooooo