Rollins Signs… So What’s Next?

by The Phanatic Addict, PhilaPhans’ Contributor

You really have to give Ruben Amaro Jr. a lot of credit for sticking to his guns when it comes to

It's official. Rollins is back.

his negotiations with Jimmy Rollins.  RAJ has dazzled us plenty of times, but also scares the crap out us with his wild spending. RAJ held out and got Jimmy for a really fair price.  This deal at least makes me feel a little better about overpaying for Jonathan Papelbon.  Don’t get me wrong, I think Pap will be great, but we probably could have gotten him for a pinch less.  Just look at how the market for Ryan Madson has crumbled.

So now that Jimmy is signed, what will the Phillies do now?  Will there be another splash?

I really don’t think so.

Ruben Amaro told the media at Jimmy Rollins’ Presser that he is happy with the team that he has headed into Spring Training, and if you look at the free agents that are still out there, who would you even want? The only major free agent that the Phillies were even tied to recently was Michael Cuddyer who has signed with the Colorado Rockies.

We’ve got a plethora of capable infielders with the addition of Ty Wigginton.  Our bench has some more pop with the signings of Jim Thome, and Laynce Nix. The bullpen should be interesting to say the least, with Papelbon and Dontrelle Willis out there.

So I think we’re going to just hold tight… But I could be wrong, that’s for sure.  Ruben Amaro Jr. is far from predictable.  I think that’s a good idea.   We have just enough money committed to the players that we have to give RAJ a little money to play with come the trade deadline in 2012, and if he thinks he wants to find another utility player for the outfield this Winter.

The only thing I can see the Phillies doing is talking to Cole Hamels about an extension, and it may not be a bad idea to try.

Cole Hamels is going to get to about $14MM after he goes to arbitration.  He had another great season in 2011 posting a 2.79 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 1.8 BB/9 and a 52.3% ground ball rate in 215 innings.  At 27 years of age if you tie down Hamels now you would still be giving him the opportunity to go free agency again at about 32 or 33 years of age, and as another lefty named Cliff Lee can attest, 32 is still young enough to score a decent contract.

It’s hard to speculate what a guy like Hamels could get.  Surely he would score more on the open market then the starting free agent pitchers that were out there this year.  He’s younger, and better then both C.J. Wilson and Mark Buehrle.  Buehrle has a World Series ring, and a three Gold Gloves, but even at his best was never really as good as Hamels. Wilson is a decent pitcher, but the Angels overpaid him.

I don’t really know what it would take, but I’d love to see the Phillies try really hard to keep a guy like Hamels who is a home grown talent.  Letting him get to free agency might make it tough, but there is plenty of time to try.

Other then that, I think all we can do now count down the days until pitcher and catchers report.

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Posted by Michael Herman on Dec 20 2011. Filed under Breaking News, Phanatic Addict, Phillies, Phillies News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry