The sports world is stunned today as they have learned that Pat Burrell plans to retire. The 35-year old has had foot problems that will just make it too painful to continue.

He told the AP back in November that it’s too problematic to keep playing, even though he wasn’t sure of his decision at the time.

“I have not decided yet, but I don’t think I can play anymore [due to a chronic foot injury]. It hurts me to say that,” he said.

He will retire with the fourth most home runs in Philadelphia Phillies history with 251. He’s behind Del Ennis, Ryan Howard and Mike Schmidt.

The first-overall pick in the 1998 draft, Burrell will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2016.

You can never have enough depth. For the Philadelphia Phillies, that depth is needed in the outfield. Shane Victorino is back in centerfield, but they are trusting John Mayberry to play a full season in left and maybe hoping that Dom Brown emerges in right after competing with some of the average joe’s they signed in the offseason.

So, why not roll the dice on a low-risk, decent-upside deal with a guy who was once a damn good player?

According to Jim Salisbury of CSN, that’s what the Phillies have done. He says they’ve signed Juan Pierre to a minor-league deal.

“Confirmed. Pierre agrees to minor lg deal. “@Ken_Rosenthal: Pierre minor-lge deal with #Phillies – @JSalisburyCSN reports serious talks,” Salisbury tweets.

If Pierre even has a decent spring, expect him to stay up with the club.

It’s a good thing that we added a question mark to our last item regarding the Philadelphia Phillies and SS Jimmy Rollins agreeing to a deal, because it never took place. It seemed like it was about to happen for a while, but it just hasn’t gone down.

Now, Scott Miller of CBS Sports is saying that not only has a deal not happened, but that it’s not close to happening.

“Phillies, Jimmy Rollins continue “dialog” but the sense is that a deal is not close,” he tweets.

Rollins’ agent is still talking to the Phillies, but he says there is another unidentified team that he’s talking to as well. Many have speculated that it’s the Detroit Tigers lurking in the mist. Whatever that means.

We’ll see what happens, but clearly Jimmy is coming back down to Earth in terms of what he thought he was going to get on the open market. Teams are filling their shortstop voids and he’s still at the prom with no one to dance with. Whatever that means.

The Philadelphia Phillies had to be seriously considering a back-up option in case they couldn’t sign SS Jimmy Rollins, who had said that he had no interest in giving the club a hometown discount. But what would that option be? Freddie Galvis just isn’t ready to take over the shortstop position for a team with championship aspirations.

But, maybe they don’t have to worry about that now. According to MLB analyst Jim Duquette, the Phils and Rollins have agreed to terms on a new contract.

“Source- #Phillies and Jimmy Rollins have agreed to terms. Announcement expected later today,” Duquette tweets.

Right now, it seems that Duquette is the only one reporting it, but that’s all we have to go on right now. And you know how we are about fact checking around here.

Our guess is that it would be around a four-year deal with a club option for a fifth. We are completely guessing, but that would seem like a fair deal for both sides.

We mentioned earlier today that the Philadelphia Phillies were reportedly moving on from Ryan Madson and focusing their attention on Boson Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. Well, that does indeed seem to be the case.

Because Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com is reporting that the Philies have reached an agreement with Papelbon and he’ll become a Phillie pending a physical.

Salisbury didn’t say what the terms of the contract were, but it’s believed that it will be a four-year deal. Probably in the $40 million range that was being tossed around regarding Madson.

Safe to say that Madson is now the ex-Philadelphia Phillies closer.

UPDATE: It’s a four-year deal approaching $50 million

It was widely believed earlier this week that the Philadelphia Phillies were poised to sign a contract with Ryan Madson for four years and about $44 million. However, some reports say a deal was never in place and that Ruben Amaro backed out of the deal.

Now, according to Jayson Stark on Twitter, the Phillies may be turning their attention to Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon as they move away from Madson.

“Sources say #Phillies showing “serious” interest in Papelbon as Madson deal disintegrates. More to come at ESPN.com,” tweets Stark.

Papelbon had 31 saves last year with a 2.94 ERA, which is decent, but he doesn’t seem to be the same shutdown guy that he used to be. Madson, meanwhile, was pretty filthy all year with 32 saves and a 2.37 ERA. However, you could always look at it like he only did it for one year. Previous efforts to have him close games did not go so well.

We’ll see what happens, but right now it’s looking less and less likely that Madson will be in a Phillies uniform next year. Luckily for him, there aren’t many good closers in MLB right now so he should find a home with a nice pay check.

The Philadelphia Phillies still have “99 Problems but a Pitch Ain’t One,” but they will have less pitching in 2012. At least, as of right now they will, but the 2011 season isn’t even over yet, so that doesn’t mean much.

The team has declined the options on two pitchers who at various points in their careers were dominant. They declined Roy Oswalt’s $16 million buyout, as well as Brad Lidge’s $12.5 million buyout.

Both moves were expected. $12.5 million is too much for an oft-injured closer who actually is a set up guy, but not really. The 34-year old will get a $1.5 million payment as settlement and then test free agency. He missed most of the season but did post a 1.40 ERA through 19 1/3 innings. Considering the dearth of closers in MLB, I have to believe that someone will give him a shot at their closer role.

As for Oswalt, he’ll get a $2 million buyout. The reality is that he has back problems that just won’t seem to go away, and Vance Worley was the better pitcher over the course of the season. Oh, and Worley costs next to nothing.

Despite Oswalt’s injury issues, however, he still posted a 3.69 ERA. He wasn’t his usual dominating self, but he was still better than a ton of other pitchers in baseball. The Phillies are interested in keeping him, but at a much lower salary.

Philadelphia Phillies ace (one of them) Cole Hamels is coming off of his best season as a professional. He had a 2.79 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP to go with a 14-9 record. We don’t really care about W/L record for pitchers so you can throw that out. His other numbers are close to filthy.

But, apparently he did some of his pitching with a lot of discomfort and we’re not exactly sure how he did it. According to Todd Zolecki, Hamels underwent hernia and elbow surgeries on Friday.

Photo Caption: “Ha haaaa….strike two. One more and it’s butterscotch snack pack time in the dugout. If Vance touches my baseball cards I’m gonna flip the heck out.”

“Hamels had 2 surgeries today (hernia & left elbow). Had loose bodies removed from elbow and should be begin throwing in 3-to-4 weeks,” Zolecki tweets.

We don’t know the extent of the hernia, but it was obviously bad enough that they had to cut him open. Not sure how someone pitches with soreness in that area, but we give Cole a ton of credit.

This post is very funny if you go back and read it in the thin, high-pitched Cole voice.

“Hey Roy, I just had surgery on my…Roy. Roy. Cliff, I just had…Cliff.”

It’s easy to blame Cliff Lee for the Philadelphia Phillies meltdown in the ALDS because he was given a four-run lead that, if held, would have lead to a sweep. But, it’s not too difficult to blame the bats when Doc Halladay holds the St. Louis Cardinals to one run in Game 5 and they couldn’t get one lousy run.

Maybe it had to do with Ryan Howard doing nothing. Maybe it had to do with two of their batters playing with sports hernias. Placido Polanco underwent a double sports hernia surgery recently (whatever that is) and their all-important No. 3 hitter did as well. Yep, Hunter Pence was apparently playing with a sports hernia.

“Hey everyone, been hanging around Philly. My surgery went well today and I’m feeling good,” he tweeted.

While he wasn’t bad in the playoffs, he didn’t seem like his usual self. And maybe this will help explain why.

With the Philadelphia Phillies tied with the St. Louis Cardinals at 2-2 and facing Game 5 tonight, you’d think there needs to be some sort of explanation. Sure, the Cardinals have a nice team, but nothing compared to this Phillies team that is stacked to bejesus and back with pitching.

The easy scapegoat has been Ryan Howard, the team’s $100+ million man who has been awful since Game 1. In Game 1, he popped a three-run homer for the ages and drove two more in later. It looked like he would put the team on his back and carry them to the NLCS. That, ummm, hasn’t happened. He’s been terrible since then. So this has to be his fault, right?

Well, he should shoulder some blame, but no one wants to blame this pitching staff? This “best staff ever” group of pitchers that haven’t done their jobs?

In Game 1, Roy Halladay gave up a three-run homer in the first inning to get the team down 3-0. Sure, after that he settled into being Roy and carved up the St. Louis offense. The Phils were able to dig out of it and rout the Cardinals for what turned out to be an easy Game 1 win.

The second game? The team gave Cliff Lee – the mighty can-do-no-wrong Cliff Lee – a four-run lead. FOUR runs. That should be game-set-match, correct? It wasn’t. Cliff blew the lead and the Phils lost.

The only guy that did his job so far was Cole Hamels. He didn’t have his best stuff in Game 3, but still pitched six shutout innings and the Phillies hung on for the win. Roy Oswalt in Game 4? Pitched extremely well except for really one inning, when he got knocked around. Bad. He gave up five runs in five innings. They could get Randy Wolf to do that. That’s not was dream team pitchers are supposed to do.

The problem is that all these scenarios were played out before the season even started. “Boy, just give Cliff Lee a lead and than it’s lights out.” But no, that hasn’t happened and no one wants to call them out. It’s easier to blame Howard.

Make no mistake about it, if the Cardinals take down Game 5 and go on to the NLCS, this starting pitching staff is to blame. This is not what the team was expecting out of them.

In Tuesday’s Game 3 win, The Philadelphia Phillies replaced Raul Ibanez with John Mayberry, Jr. The St. Louis Cardinals had lefthander Jaime Garcia throwing yesterday, so they decided to use Mayberry’s right-handed bat.

But, with righty Edwin Jackson throwing on Wednesday for the Cardinals, the Phillies have but Ibanez back in the lineup.

In the other dugout, there is a chance that the Cardinals could get a boost to their offense. Tony Larussa has posted two different lineups today, one that has Matt Holliday in it, and one without him.

Holliday has a bum finger on his right hand and has started a game in the playoffs this year. However, he’s been available to pinch hit so he ain’t hurt all that bad. We’ll know more after today’s batting practice.

Philadelphia Phillies fans are scrambling to think of a way for their team to lost to the St. Louis Cardinal in this opening NLDS series. Does Cliff or Doc take a dump on the mound? Do the bats go silent? What could possibly happen for the Phils to lose this series?

Well, this isn’t about something that could be a detriment to the Phils, despite the lede I just wrote. It’s actually more bad news for the Cardinals.

Matt Holliday, one of the best hitters in all of baseball during the past decade, is not in the starting lineup tonight for Game 1 (finger). Of course, he still could pinch hit tonight and could be ready for Game 2, but it’s another positive sign for the Phillies.

Lance Berkman is sliding from right field to left field and Allen Craig will be starting in right.

Roy Halladay takes the mound against Kyle Lohse at 5:07 PM at Citizens Bank Park.

If any news could take the wind out of the sails of Phillies fans, it’s this. They won’t care that they’ve played like total crap this past week despite locking up the NL East and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs if their boy Hunter Pence is banged up.

And he is.

According to Jim Salisbury on Twitter, Pence is suffering from patellar tendinitis.

Photo Caption: “Let’s pop tendons!”

“Phils announce that Pence has patellar tendinitis. Precautionary MRI tomorrow,” Salisbury tweets.

The Phillies don’t seem overly concerned, but this is a big deal if he has to miss any playoff time. Regardless of what that MRI says, one would think that he’ll rest down the stretch.

There was a decent amount of debate in August and September as to who the Philadelphia Phillies should go with as their No. 4 starter in the playoffs. Conventional wisdom says that obviously you have to go with Roy Oswalt.

But, the Phillies have 23-year old righty Vance Worley, who pitched his ass off this year. He has an 11-2 record with a 2.85 ERA and this wasn’t a guy many thought would make the team, let alone dominate.

So, now it seems that the Phillies will move him to the bullpen after his Wednesday start. He’s the guy that’s getting ticketed for post-season bullpen duty with Oswalt seemingly healthy now. He’s finally got that fastball jumping around 93 mph and that was his big problem as he came off the DL.

The Phils want to get him in the pen now so he can get used to coming in with the different warmup regimen. Hopefully, he doesn’t pull a JA Happ. In 2009, Happ was brilliant as a starter but absolutely horrific out of the bullpen in the playoffs.

Last night, during the final game of a sweep of the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies 2B Chase Utley got a little bump on the noggin. A pitch came in towards his face and he turned his head in the other direction. It clanked him right on the helmet.

Utley didn’t seem fazed. It looked like he actually asked the umpire what exactly happened before he took first base.

But, because of that, they are saying that Utley has a “mild concussion.” We don’t know how serious it is, but he seemed to be okay last night.

Perhaps to provide some infield depth, the Phillies have now activated Jimmy Rollins off of the disabled list. He tweaked his groin a couple weeks ago so they sat him down for a bit.

He’s not expected to contribute right away, but it’s a good sign that he’ll be active for a tough four-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Remember the ageless Jamie Moyer? The one who retired not too long ago after pitching well into his late 40′s? Yeah, um, he didn’t retire.

In fact, after undergoing Tommy John surgery in December 2010, he’s beginning a rehab assignment for the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater, FL. Seriously. He’s 48-years old and hoping to be ready by spring training next year. Seriously.

He’s technically a free agent as he doesn’t have a contract with the Phils, but I guess they are helping him out.

“We’re providing him our space in Clearwater and our expertise,” GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said.

He would surely need to sign on with another team as there is no room in the Phils rotation for him.

If Phillies fans weren’t already jacked up at the thought of losing Jimmy Rollins for two weeks, then they’ll be thrilled now! One of their staff aces, Cole Hamels, has now been placed on the disabled list as well with shoulder inflammation.

Yay!

The injury is not thought to be overly serious. But, the Phillies have the best record in baseball and a fairly comfortable lead in the NL East. So they have the luxury of resting Hamels and making sure he’s right for the postseason.

Hamels has a 2.62 ERA this year and has been mowing people down. He’s set to return next Monday August 29th.

Hey, Phillies fans! Do you absolutely love watching the pair of Wilson Valdez and Michael Martinez playing together every night? Well, you’re going to love the next two weeks!

That’s because, according to Jimmy Rollins on Twitter, he has a Grade 2 groin strain and will hit the disabled list.

“Soooooo this is what we got…mild grade 2 strain. DL,” Rollins tweets.

So yeah, for the next two weeks, the Phils will be sans the services of Rollins. That sucks.

Philadelphia Phillies ace Cole Hamels has been dominant all season with the exception of a few starts. He’s 13-7 with a 2.62 ERA and has been mowing people down all year.

But last Friday against the Washington Nationals, his velocity was down and he got roughed up a bit. He said afterwards he wasn’t having any arm pain, but did feel like he had a bit of dead arm. Might not have been exactly the case, as Matt Gelb of the Inquirer says that an MRI revealed some inflammation.

“Hamels MRI showed inflammation in the shoulder. He will likely be skipped once in the rotation,” Gelb tweets.

It isn’t the end of the world and it looks like they aren’t going to shelve him on the DL (for now). But the skipped start could be good for him to get a bit of rest after throwing a ton of innings this season.

On Friday night, Philadelphia Phillies lefty Cole Hamels got roughed up a bit. He allowed three runs on six hits and four walks over five innings to the Washington Nationals. For him, that’s getting roughed up.

But, according to Todd Zolecki, Hamels thinks he is dealing with a bit of a dead arm.

“Hamels basically said it’s a dead arm-type thing. No pain. Not concerned. Just waiting for it to bounce back,” Zolecki tweets.

There couldn’t be a better reason to shut him down for a start or two. The Phils have a 7.5-game lead on the Atlanta Braves and will absolutely need their pitching in the post season. If he’s got a dead arm, just let him sit for a bit.

After the All-Star break, Atlanta Braves pitcher Jair Jurrjens made his first four starts despite feeling pain in his surgically repaired knee. But, on Saturday, the team decided it was time to shut it down for a bit. This makes OTR’s Mike Perry look pretty smart. While everyone was blowing Jurrjens and his minimal ERA, Perry said he wouldn’t be able to do it for the entire year. This would be a point on Perry’s scorecard.

“It just got a little inflamed; that’s it,” said Jurrjens. “Just want to calm it down.”

Jurrjens underwent arthroscopic surgery for a torn meniscus in his right knee back in October, so him having pain in it right now has not made a lot of people thrilled.

“When you have knee surgery, it takes a full year for you to be healthy,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “We’re going to give him a chance to strengthen that leg up around the knee and get going again….When the 15 days are up, I expect him to pitch.”

He’s correct, the Braves and Jurrjens are expecting him to be back after sitting for roughly two starts. Jurrjens says that he just wasn’t comfortable playing through it.

“I didn’t have the strength to stay back and stay over the mound and push off like I wanted to,” Jurrjens said. “I’m going to take this time to strengthen it and I’ll be out there in like nine days.”

This is an awful time to lose Jurrjens. The Braves are 9.5 games behind the scorching Philadelphia Phillies. He was placed on the DL retroactively so he can come back on August 17th.

Mike Minor has been recalled from Triple-A to take his place.

In case you missed this on Friday night, it’s worth watching. The Philadelphia Phillies had a commanding lead on the San Francisco Giants in the sixth inning. Jimmy Rollins singled home two more runs to give the Phils an 8-2 lead.

After that, Rollins swiped second base and that apparently didn’t go over so well with the Giants. So, Ramon Ramirez popped Shane Victorino in the back and, surprise surprise, Victorino didn’t care for it. He took a step towards the mound and that was enough for catcher Eli Whiteside to step in front of him. And then chaos ensued.

Whiteside got in front of Victorino and tried to tackle Placido Polanco, who was coming in to investigate (or fight). It wasn’t that he tried to keep Polanco from getting involved, it was that he got on his knees and tried to WWF tackle him.

So then the benches cleared and when all was said and done, Ramirez, Whiteside and Victorino were ejected from the game.

“Yeah, absolutely, I think he did,” Victorino said of him intentionally getting hit. “That’s why I took a step forward. I had no intentions of going out there and charging the mound. I just wanted to go out there and get an answer. … Obviously, Eli felt like, from looking at his reaction, I was going to go. He started jumping around. Polanco came in and he tackled Polanco. Everything escalated from there.”

According to Jen Royle, who we still don’t know much about other than her Twitter account says that she’s a Ravens/Orioles radio co-host or reporter or something, the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays are talking about a trade involving B.J. Upton.

“Source: Friedman & Amaro are trying to work out a deal for BJ Upton… Nats interest still high. #Rays #Phillies,” Royle tweets.

Upton is an outfielder (which the Phillies need) and a right-handed bat (which the Phillies need), so it’s easy to see why they would be interested. Sure, the Nationals are interested but for who for what? The San Francisco Giants have also shown some interest so they could be in play too.

Upton his only hitting .229 this season so be careful before you offer the farm. But he does have 15 HR’s and 52 RBI’s and is only 26-years old, so the upside is definitely there. But, 2007 when he hit .300 with 24 HR’s is a long time ago.

Hopefully for the Phillies, the names “Worley” or “Brown” are not being bandied about.

The Philadelphia Phillies get one of their closers back today. The team activated Brad Lidge off of the DL for the first time all season, according to Martin Frank of Delawareonline.com. He also said that to make room for Lidge, Danys Baez had to be designated for assignment.

“Lidge activated; Baez designated for assignment. #Phillies,” Frank tweets.

Lidge won’t be a closer right away. They had Ryan Madson doing a brilliant job all year until he got hurt. Now, it’s been Antonio Bastardo mowing them down in the ninth. Hell, Madson might not even get his job back let alone Lidge.

Baez, on the other hand, has just been awful ever since joining the Phillies last year. He pitched five scoreless innings in a 19-inning game this year against the Cincinnati Reds, but other than that, he’s been terrible.

In 2008, J.C. Romero was an integral part of a deadly Philadelphia Phillies bullpen that helped them win a World Series. Then a funny thing happened when he got busted for PED’s….he stunk.

So the Phillies finally cut him this season and he was picked up by the Washington Nationals. Once they saw him play baseball enough times and realized that he wasn’t good at it, they released him.

The New York Yankees have apparently never seen him play baseball, because they signed him today, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney.

“The Yankees have signed J.C. Romero to a minor league deal, and could pitch tonight for Class AAA Scranton,” he tweets.

Think of all those lucky people in Scranton who had tickets to tonight’s game but had no clue that they could possibly see utter craptitude on the mound. There really is a Santa and he shows up in Scranton in July.

It’s been said in this space repeatedly that the Philadelphia Phillies have “99 Problems but a Pitch Ain’t One.” And it’s true, their pitching has been outstanding, despite the fact that Roy Oswalt has been on the DL since late June with bulging discs in his back.

That doesn’t mean that Oswalt wouldn’t help out a ton. Who knows when Joe Blanton comes back, and if Vance Worley continues to pitch the way Vancy Pants has been, then adding Oswalt would be one of the most killer starting staffs in the history of baseball.

But, he’s got the two bulging discs in his back, and according to Philly.com, the Phils have given him injections in his back. The hope is that he can start a rehab throwing program soon and return late July or early August.

Oswalt is just 4-6 this season, but with a respectable 3.79 ERA. In 2003, he had a 2.97 ERA and gave up 42 earned runs for the season.

The Atlanta Braves have been on absolute fire as of late. The division-leading Philadelphia Phillies have been playing really well also, but not well enough that their lead hasn’t slowly evaporated. The Phillies now have a 2.5-game lead on Atlanta, with the Braves coming to town for an important (but not crucial…c’mon it’s July) weekend series.

However, the Braves have to be concerned about some pieces of their offense. They’ll be getting Martin Prado back shortly after the All-Star break (staph infection), but a source tells Foxsports.com that Chipper Jones’ balky knee is “getting more bothersome.”

The source went on to say that the knee isn’t responding to the second round of cortisone the way it did the first time.

The 39-year old could need arthroscopic surgery at some point, which would mean he’d be out 3-4 weeks. The Braves don’t need to be losing him, even though he’s only hitting .255 with eight home runs this year. Similar to the Phillies (who have 99 Problems but a Pitch Ain’t One), the Braves have stellar pitching and don’t need a ton of offense.

But if for some reason they lose Chipper, expect them to be in line to make a move for a bat before the trade deadline.

The Philadelphia Phillies got quite a scare on Sunday when Shane Victorino fielded a ball in center field, then tripped and fell to the ground as he tried to hurl it to the infield. It looked like he rolled his ankle pretty good in the turf up in Toronto.

Turns out, his thumb is the problem; his ankle is fine.

He did play through it a bit, but now, we find out that he actually has a Grade 1 sprain and it could send him to the DL.

“Grade 1 sprain for Victorino. Team will decide in next 48 hours if he goes to the DL,” Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets.

Victorino is in the running for the All Star game, but even if he gets voted in, it’s doubtful that he’d actually participate, barring some unforeseen magical healing. Even if he’s not on the DL, it’s not smart to get extra wear and tear on the thumb.

Philadelphia Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins was the DH on Friday as the Phils came back to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6. He’s been dealing with some shoulder soreness, but manager Charlie Manuel said that’s not why he started Wilson Valdez at short.

“I’m just getting Jimmy off his feet,” Manuel said. “It’s something I’ve been wanting to do. He’s got a little soreness from throwing, but that’s not why I’m doing this. At the same time, we have to watch him.”

It doesn’t seem like anything that’s going to be a big deal, but keep an eye on it. If it gets bad enough, they could put him on the DL just to get him some rest so that he’s okay for the home stretch.

It was about a year ago that I sat in OTR’s very own, Micah Warren’s German luxury car (Volkswagen Jetta). We were headed to the range to hit some golf balls when I suggested an interesting, yet unlikely scenario. “The Eagles should make a move for Albert Haynesworth.”

It was evident that this guy was unhappy in Washington and first year head coach, Mike Shanahan, was switching to a 3-4 scheme. Among other things, pride slashed with an undoubtedly poor attitude left the Redskins with a very unhappy, very unmotivated and VERY expensive player for the year. That said, it wasn’t hard to assume Washington would look to move this guy either by trade or simply cutting him after the season.

Despite all this, I repeated my interest in acquiring his services. He is a big, dominant force in the middle who, when motivated, is one of, if not, the best DL in the league. I thought it made complete sense to give him a 2 year, incentive laden deal and an opportunity to rejuvenate his reputation and career. This was a specific position of need for the Eagles that could be filled and possibly exceeded with the addition. Still, I was called a fool and others wanted no part of my scenario.

Just curious: Who is one of Fat Albert’s main potential suitors once a CBA is reached? Who brought in his former tutor to coach the defensive line? More importantly, why is it accepted as a possibility now…when it was rejected vehemently when proposed in your German engineered sedan? Is it only worth considering when SportsCenter runs a VO on it or if Adam Schefter says its possible?

The 2010 MLB season came and went. The Phillies ran into the heavy arms of the S.F. Giants and were eliminated in the N.L. Championship Series. Despite trading for Roy Halladay and adding Roy Oswalt at the break, the Phightin’s came up short and were out classed on the mound. Is it any surprise that pitching wins championships? No. So even though they had a great rotation already, why is it so farfetched to think they would make a play for Cliff Lee?

I repeated myself over and over again that the Phillies could bring back Lee if they wanted to. Despite moving him to clear space for Halladay, the minute the trade went through to Seattle both Lee, the fans AND the Phillies knew something didn’t feel right. A fan favorite, who was at the top of his game, was moved across the country despite his relationship with the fans and outward desire to play in this city. So why wouldn’t the Phillies take a peek at the guy once he hit the open market?

If a few things happened, the Phillies would have just as good of, if not a better shot at signing the lefty. First, we all knew they would have to let Jayson Werth walk. Done. Second, they would have to find a suitor for Raul Ibanez’ contract. Third, they would need to rely on Lee taking a little less money. Plain and simple. Okay, so the Phillies decided to go over budget rather than find a new home for Ibanez, but all the right things happened prior to signing him. Very similar to how the Eagles are positioning themselves for Haynesworth (although not nearly at the same level).

So when news struck in the middle of the night that Cliff Lee signed a deal with the Phils, were you one of the ones completely caught off guard… or simply excited that your team took advantage of an opportunity in front of them? 

So why can’t Steven Stamkos become a Flyer? Ah, finally we’ve arrived at my point (EDITOR’S NOTE: Finally). I’m hearing nothing be negativity and doubt regarding the Flyers ability to sign Stamkos. He is 21 and arguably the 3rd best player in the game (behind Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby). So let’s address some of the facts.

Fact: Flyers would have to clear cap space
Fact: Whoever signs Stamkos to an offer sheet would have to give up four first-round draft picks
Fact: Tampa Bay owns his rights as a RFA so he would have to refuse the initial offers prior to July 1

To clear the cap space, the Flyers cleared up nearly $108 million in long-term contracts by dealing home grown studs Jeff Carter and captain Mike Richards. Cap space achieved.
In both of those trades the Flyers got young and talented. Highlighted the Richards deal was Braydon Schenn, the 5th-overall selection in 2009 and a guy nearly every team coveted. Thanks to the Carter trade, the Flyers scooped up Jakub Vorecek (6th overall in 2008) and also landed the 8th-overall pick this year.

With that selection, these guys got Sean Corturier. This guy was once ranked the #1 North American born skater and debated as the top overall pick. He slipped down to 8th where the Flyers bag an absolute steal. And let us not forget the 2007 No.2-overall selection in JVR.

So to recap, the Flyers now own the rights to the 2007 No. 2-overall pick, 2008 No. 6-overall pick, the 2009 No. 5-overall pick and the 2011 No. 8-overall pick. Signing Stamkos to an offer sheet at the expense of four future first-round draft picks doesn’t seem so extreme now…does it? They would be putting themselves in a great position to WIN now while securing youth for the future. Plus, if things go as expected, the picks would be at the bottom of the first round.

Finally, none of this is possible if Stamkos simply signs with TB prior to July 1st. How has that gone so far? In order for any of this to be possible, Stamkos and the Lightning have to come to an impasse on a new deal and allow him to test the waters. So far, the on again, off again talks have proven to provide just that.

Of course, if/when a team signs him to an offer sheet, TB has the right to match the deal. It is being reported that TB is offering around $7-7.5 million per season. Really? Crosby is getting upwards of $9 million/per and Ovechkin is just over $9 million/per. Do we really think this guy is going to sign for $7 million without at least letting other teams drive up that price tag? In addition, who says the Lighting can pay him top dollar even if they wanted to? Vinny Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Ryan Malone are all on the books for long-term, high-cap contracts. I didn’t see any of those guys get moved yet… did you?

So if a team, like the Flyers, would come in and offer part of the $108 million saved by moving Carter and Richards to Stamkos… do we really think TB can match it? In a curious move, the Flyers moved Darroll Powe earlier this week. Why? He wasn’t going to cost too much and was critical to the PK. Why make that move if you were trying to save every penny you could for a much larger plan?

Do we really think Snider isn’t eying up a big move? After all, he has given up control of the Sixers and has full attention on his prized baby. I’m not saying this is definitely happening, but what I am saying is… look at the facts. Teams, like the Flyers, can pull off a move like this if certain things fall in line. In fact, it’s really the only way moves like this get done. The Phillies took those moves, the Eagles are trying to make some moves and it appears the Flyers are doing the exact same thing.

THINK BIG!