MLB Notes

Spring Training is less than a month away, and the free agent market is shrinking. It's all quiet on the Manny front, and other free agents like Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn are still available.

It is being reported that Ryan Madson turned down a 3 year, $12 million offer. Madson is eligible for arbitration, along with Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels and others. Madson has spent time as a starter and reliever in his career. Most of his success has been as a reliever, and in 2008 was known as "the bridge to Lidge" in his time as a setup man.

Madson was 4-2 in 2008 with a 3.05 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 67 SO in 82.2 IP.

In my opinion, the offer by the Phillies was reasonable. Any more than $4 million for a reliever who has had his struggles is ridiculous. However, with Scott Boras his agent, $4 million a year is an insult. Madson a Phillie beyond 2009 could be a question mark.

The Phillies also avoided arbitration with Greg Dobbs, signing him to a 2 year, $2.5 million deal. Last year, Dobbs set a Phillies record for most pinch hits (22) in a season.

The Los Angeles Dodgers officially cut ties with Andruw Jones, releasing him. A disappointing Jones was the franchises' highest paid player in their history. Jones batted just .158 in 75 games before having knee surgery in 2008.

The Cubs have signed former Phillie So Taguchi to a minor league deal. The Cubs also signed Ronny Cedeno to a one year, $822,000 contract.

The San Diego Padres signed David Eckstein to a one year, $850,000 contract. The hard nosed Eckstein batted .265 with 2 HR with the Toronto Blue Jays and Arizona Diamondbacks in 2008.

Also, MLB changed their ruling so that all postseason games will be played in its entirety. Also, one game playoffs will not be based on coin flips, but head to head matchups.

Year In Review: All Star Break- July 31

The All Star Break was over, returning to regular season play. Pat Gillick wasted no time making a move following the All Star Break.

The Phillies traded Josh Outman, Adrian Cardenas, and Matthew Spencer to the Oakland A's in exchanged for pitcher Joe Blanton. Blanton was rumored to be traded many times in the past, but this trade finally went down.

Another Phillies pitcher was sent down to the Minor Leagues. Adam Eaton struggled all year, and his entire career with the Phillies. Eaton had an ERA of 5.80 in 107 innings.

With Eaton in the minors, Brett Myers was recalled. Myers found his swagger and starter's mentality while in the Minor Leagues. He never looked back to the first half of the year. Myers had a 2.25 ERA in July, and 3.06 ERA during the second half of the season.

Pedro Feliz was placed on the Disabled List at the end of July. He sat a few games due to back pain before being placed on the DL.

As a team, the Phillies batted .270 with 42 HR in July. The Phillies had a team ERA of 4.24 during the month.

The big games:

July 22: Johan Santana shut down the Phillies for 8 innings, allowing just 2 earned runs. The Mets had a comfortable 5-2 lead heading into the 9th inning... or so they thought. The Mets bullpen struck again. The Phillies put up a 6 spot on the scoreboard in the 9th. With the bases loaded and no outs, Carlos Ruiz hit a chopper up the middle that Jose Reyes fielded. Instead of flipping to the second baseman for the double play, Reyes decided to take it himself. However, he missed the bag as Shane Victorino slided in safely, a run scored, and no outs were recorded. So Taguchi, who hadn't had a pinch hit all year up to that point, smoked a double over the head of the right fielder to tie the game. Jimmy Rollins doubled to drive in the go ahead run, and Ryan Howard also drove in a run. Charlie Manuel had been ejected earlier in the game arguing balls and strikes after a Carlos Delgado check swing. The Phillies won 8-6.

Other highlights:

On July 26 and 27, the Phillies beat the Braves, 10-9 and 12-10. In the 10-9 game, the Braves put up 9 runs off Hamels, only 4 earned. The Phillies 7 run 5th inning helped the Phillies win. A day later, Pat Burrell's go ahead home run in the 6th inning helped give the Phillies a win. In the game, Victorino was involved in a collision at home plate with Brian McCann. McCann had to leave the game.

Charlie Manuel had two rules: hustle, and show up on time. Earlier in the season, Rollins failed to hustle, therefore was benched. At the end of July in New York, Rollinsf ailed to show up on time missing the team bus. Rollins was benched.

The Phillies finished July with a 5 game winning streak, and a 59-49 record with a 1 game lead over the Mets for the division. With August on its way, the playoff race was just beginning to heat up.