Quote Originally Posted by zitothebrave View Post
Phillies can possibly compete but they're more like in a position we were in from 06-08 where we have some interesting young guys who you never know what can happen, and some overpaid albatrosses. Howard's contract will certainly hinder the Phillies for many years. Halladay is likely gone which is why I think they signed the Cuban pitcher. At the very least they decline his option since it won't vest.

The issue with saying the Phillies have "60 million" to spend is it doesn't factor in league minimum gues and arb raises. Kendrick, Bastardo, Lannan, Frandsen, Mayberry, Revere, and Valdez are all arb 1. If they keep all of those guys they make more than league minimum. Kendrick and bastardo are likely around 10M themselves. That's with them not picking up Halladay's option and how ever much Gonzalez will make isn't factored in.

The reality is that the Phillies have 6 players making 104.75 Million. They have about 60 million to fill out the remaining 19 roster spots. I assume Kendrick goes nowhere, that's probably roughly 6 or 7 million Bastardo at around 2-3M, Frandsen around 1M Let's presume maybe 5M for Gonzalez (hard to gauge if that's whaty it will be or not, no real details but I assume it's backloaded) so those guys I presume stick around let's say around 2M for Revere and Mayberry. If that's all true they have then about 40M for the 13 remaining players. Which basically in reality means they have about 30M to spend in FA. Not 60M.
Doubtful that they bring Halladay back and they certainly won't at 20 million. It isn't a lock that they bring Kendrick back either. Young is a FA. Phils probably will have around 40 million or more to spend this off-season and you can bet that they will spend it.