New Phillies

The Phillies signed this guy.

Just before noon today I sent a text to my buddies asking, "Is there a reason we aren't signing Burnett?"

My friends met this text with skepticism but within the next half hour the news broke that the Phillies had gone ahead and signed 37 year old AJ Burnett for 1 year and 16 million dollars. I can't say that I ever liked AJ Burnett, he always seemed like a prick to me but I'm going to liken this signing to the Cleveland Indians bringing in Jack Parkman.

"It's funny how a new uniform can change your opinion on a guy."

"He's still a dick."

The thing is, the Phillies needed AJ Burnett. They needed him before the worst news of the season hit. Yes, the Phillies got borderline horrible news today, the first day of pitchers and catchers, that Cole Hamels would not be ready for the beginning of the season due to bicep tendinitis and general soreness in his throwing arm. Excuse me I'm going to go stick my head in an oven. More on that later.

Back to Burnett. Like I said, the Phils needed Burnett before the fan base got a gut punch before Valentine's Day. After Hamels and Lee the Phillies rotation looks like this: Kyle Kendrick, Roberto Hernandez/Fausto Carmona, Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, Jonathan Pettibone, and or Ethan Martin. The Phils weren't exactly starting the season with the 4 headed monster they boasted at the start of 2011.

So in Burnett the Phillies get a proven commodity to eat hopefully 200 innings that were going to be staggeringly more questionable before his addition. This is Ruben Amaro's second pinning of hope to a guy over the age of 35 who helped the Pittsburgh Pirates get to their first postseason since Big Head himself was in town. Again, just like Marlon Byrd, Ruben will hope Burnett can duplicate the success he had last year.

Since the 2008 season Burnett hasn't pitched less than 186 innings or made fewer than 30 starts. He's 10th on the active innings pitched list. He's a strike out pitcher, leading the league in strikeouts per 9 innings last year at 9.8. The Phillies got better with the addition of AJ Burnett, you can't deny that.

So Ruben threw $16 million at him? Feels like a big number for a guy who's closer to 40 than 30, but it's not our money, and it's a 1 year deal. The window of opportunity for this team is an inch away from slamming shut on Ruben's fingers and he might as well start pulling the stops to give The Big Piece and company as much of a chance as he can.

Back to Hamels, I'm still doubled over. Cole gave an interview yesterday and sounded optimistic and that he was only "8 to 10 days behind his teammates (in preparedness)." Cole has not had a shaky injury history but it's just not news you want to hear. It doesn't sound like a finite injury. And the timing of announcing it was just terrible PR for the Phillies. Let's have a clue on better timing for affecting your fan base.

Stairs at the Wing Bowl

With all the news today regarding player development, the other headline for Phillies fans was the announcement of Matt Stairs and Jamie Moyer as the new color analysts. You knew Moyer just couldn't stay away.

I don't want to say that the Phillies, and I'm sure to some extent Comcast, whiffed on these two guys. As you can see Stairs will probably be capable of mixing it up a bit. Moyer is that guy that who was around forever, forever ago. He should be able to bring an exorbitant amount of experiences to the booth, let's see how that translates to his analysis.

Moyer made his first start against Steve Carlton

I still think that John Kruk or Mitch WIlliams would have been much better for the job. Those two guys have been on TV for years now and the transition could have been seamless with two exciting and interesting personalities in the booth. Not that Moyer and Stairs should be boring, but they will both be doing their first broadcasting of any kind. There's a chance it doesn't go all that smooth. And of course it's TMac not Harry. Sigh.

It's funny to think about how these two guys wound up here. Moyer is a somewhat obvious choice as a guy who had a nice twilight to the twilight of his career here. He's also a local kid who graduated from Souderton High School and starred at St. Joe's. But Stairs. Stairs is here for one hit. One massive home run.  If that link doesn't give you a good feeling, you're not a Phillies fan.