The Phillies and 34–year-old infielder Placido Polanco have agreed to a three-
year, $18 million deal, with a fourth-year option, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.
In 2005, the Phillies traded Polanco to the Tigers for Ugueth Urbina and Ramon Martinez.
Update, 10:16 am:
According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, the Phillies are expected to finalize a three-year, $18 million deal with Polanco later today.
Todd Zolecki of MLB.com believes the deal will include an option for a fourth season.
Original Post, Wed., Dec. 2, 10:31 pm:
The Phillies are making a very serious effort to sign Polanco to be their third baseman, says Jayson Stark on ESPN.com.
Similarly, FoxSports.com writes, “The Phillies are in serious talks with Polanco.”
According to Stark, the Phillies and Polanco could be discussing a three-year deal.
Earlier this off season, Stark said the Phillies were more likely to sign a free-agent like Adrian Beltre, Mark DeRosa or Polanco than sign free-agent Chone Figgins be their third baseman.
Nevetrheless, Jon Heyman of SI.com later said the Mets and Phillies will be competing this off season for Figgins, who is also a top priority for the Angels.
In 158 games this season for the Angels, Figgins hit .298 with a .395 OBP, 42 extra base hits and 42 stolen bases.
So let me get this straight,…..The Braves have signed Wagner, The Phillies are trying to sign Polanco, somebody,…anybody tell me Omar and the Mets have a plan beyond signing Molina and Coste! lol Iknow it’s early,……but I want some action!
lets see, the braves signed a 37YO closer coming off major arm surgery, and the phils are chasing a 34 YO slap hitting 2B to play 3B for them.
Mets resigned Cora.
So far, seems about even!
I don’t think omar and Paris are planning to sit out the entire off season, and I am sure they have a plan, even if they haven’t clued in the blogsphere yet.
My prediction? Once the dam bursts and action starts, the mets are going to make a flurry of moves real quick. You might scratch your head about many of them, but they will happen.
You might scratch your head about many of them, but they will happen.
Hm. I’d agree with that if you replaced might with probably. Ha.
yeah, that’s true, thanks for putting it in perspective! lol I guess I just have the off-season itch! lol
And the random blatherings and unfounded speculations among sports pundits and bloggers are only inflaming that itch.
Also keep in mind that our big target is Holliday. That type of FA does not sign this early. They usually do not start signing until the Owners Meetings coming up to early January. He is also a Boras client which means he will not sign quickly. Boras likes to wait and let the market shape itself first. Therefore, I feel the Mets are ok. They are taking action on their other needs waiting for the real offseason to get into full swing.
Prime example: Carlos Beltran as FA
Very true and it is what I kind of like about the MLB offseason. There is speculation and process to it. Unlike football and basketball where the best guys sign a minute after midnight. I never had understood that one. Wouldn’t you want to visit places, etc before deciding.
Can’t say I am impressed with Polanco over the other 3B choices on the free agent market. Or Schneider. Not a good start for the Phillies this off-season.
Effing Phils. Polanco would be a great addition for us, provided Omar gets rid of Castillo. He can’t really compete with Philly, because if we do sign him, Omar loses all leverage in moving Luis.
I would rather keep Castillo than sign Polanco to play 2nd. Don’t get me wrong, I want Castillo gone but if Omar can trade him he will have to eat part of his contract and to pay part of Castillos contract while paying another slap hitting 2nd baseman.
Let the Phillies get Polanco and drop off at 3rd base power, they already lost at catcher by picking up our garbage. At this rate if Omar sits back long enough the Phillies can build a team bad enough that the Mets won’t have to make any moves.
Its not like Pedro Feliz was going to win any batting titles or anything, so Polanco isn’t really a downgrade as long as he can play 3B well.
I wonder if they will think about moving Utley to 3B as Polanco is clearly a better 2B defensively.
Nate, I disagree a bit with your statement. Felix was much closer to a power hitting 3B than Polanco.
Polanco is a very odd signing for 3B. Maybe the Phils want to move Utley to 3B and have Polanco play 2B? Or maybe (and more likely) the Phillies have realized that they need a more prototypical #2 hitter and there was no where else on the roster that they could put him so they chose 3B.
Personally I think this signing is a mistake. I was very worried that they would get a guy like Adrian Beltre, so Im relieved that they might actually give Placido Polanco a 3 year deal. Depending on the value of the deal this will probably be one of the worse signings of the offseason because it will probably be A) overpaying B) a poor roster move
Ok so now that we know the financials we can comment a little better now.
So its official, Polanco is going back home to the Phillies. Obviously they know Polanco well so they know what they are doing with this move.
What I find interesting though is that Placido just came off a 4 year $18 million deal and now that hes older the Phillies are giving him a 3 year $18 million deal and asking him to play out of position. They may have overpayed a bit in an effort to lock this up quickly. And then you must ask, what is the rush? Do they intend to focus their efforts elsewhere and hence want to tackle their major needs now?
You analysis sounds reminiscent of the chatter following Castillo’s signing: overpay to get it done early
Let’s hope it works out as well for them as it did for us! lol
davudys1 I agree with you. I was worried they would go after Beltre as well. In that stadium he may have finally been able to come close to his last season with the Dodgers.
Not really. Figure to ship out Castillo the Mets would have to eat some salary. For example sake we will say half of it or $3 million this year and another $3 million next year. We would have had to then sign another aging slap hitting 2B in Polanco for 3 years and at least $6 million per year, which would be the same thing a lot of those on this site criticize Omar for doing when he overreaches on aging players like Castillo. So for the next 2 years we would be paying $9 million for a slap hitter to play 2B. I will pass.
.285 10 72 82 ….figure polancos hr total of 10 to go to at least fifteen and his ribby and runs scored amounts to go up (going from det to phillys park)…i love the mets but am not delusional to think this compares with our luis’
do you guys think we will make a major move on the winter meetings? I want some ACTION!!
tually yes. I think we will get a catcher and MAYBE Holliday. I think we will get Holliday later though.
Where would figgins play?
With any luck on another team! lol
Only Hollidays I see happening before the end of the year for the Mets is Christmas or Hanukkah. Call it a gut feeling but I think Holliday is staying in St. Louis.
Man there are going to be some tough outs in that lineup.
Utley. who else is a tough out? no one. Rollins isn’t superb, Howard strikes out like crazy, Werth rarely has a high AVG..Ruiz is okay, Polanco is eh.. Victorino? Ibanez? a stretch, but that’s about it.
Ceetar, I think you are being a bit unfair here.
Utley is a touch out yes, but so are Werth, Victorino and Ibanez without a doubt. And Polanco will now be their toughest out. Has he ever struck out more than 50 times in a season? (Dont answer that, its partly facetious)
Ks aren’t the only way to make an out.
And anyone with an OBP of ~.315 is, by definition, an easy (or at least frequent!) out.
Right and their career OBPs are:
.346 (Ibanez)
.347 (Victorino)
.348 (Polanco)
.360 (Werth)
.376 (Howard)
.379 (Utley)
Only Rollins with a .329 is low, but still above your benchmark.
By comparison, the Mets are:
.311 (Francoeur)
.331 (Murphy)
.337 (Reyes)
.360 (Beltran)
.369 (Castillo)
.389 (Wright)
There is one less here than the Phillies because I couldnt count a LFer. But Matt Holliday has a career .387 OBP, e.g.
One last point. IF we signed Holliday and hes huge OBP, our average OBP would be exactly equal to Phillies with a .355 avg OBP.
Polanco is a nice player, but I think it is a downgrade. Feliz is Gold Glove caliber and is a deep ball threat. He was also very clutch. They are going to miss him greatly. Polanco hits for good average and does not strike out. He also is a very smart hitter who uses his outs well. The Phils are not going to become a punch and Judy offense, so I do not think he fits as well.
I think that the Mets should go after Scott Podsednik to play LF. Just throwing it out there… :)
3 years 18 million is bad enough for Polanco, but a 4th year option????? I dunno what they been smoking in the GM’s office but it must be some good stuff!
three years with a fourth year option! ruben amaro channeling his inner Omar.
The funny thing is it’s a mutual option too, so no matter how bad he stinks he’s in Philly for 4 years if he desires, because at that price he’s gonna be pretty much untradeable.
i just had a phillies fan get in my face and tell me this is an undeniably great signing. i had no response, nor did i really need one… i just let him go on and on about how Placido Polanco is the phillies’ missing piece.
missing piece or missing link? lol
I’m glad it wasn’t the Mets making this deal. Twice in the last week the Phillies have signed 2 vets to deals that are 1 year too long.
What? I don’t believe this! What was Omar thinking? What? WHAT?! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN! HOW… ?
Wait, what? The Phillies signed him to four years? Not the Mets? Really? You’re joking, right? No? Wow…
Never mind.
The Mets just can’t sit there. Do something. Sign Holliday or Bay OR trade for Holliday. Which is it Omar.
Those guys aren’t going to sign anywhere. Patience Grasshoppa.
sign anywhere “right now”, I meant. =)