Stockpiling Arms...Antonio Alfonseca?

The Phillies have signed Antonio Alfonseca to a one year contract, non-guarenteed, at the veteran's minimum with incentives up to $1.1 Mil. Not quite the solid arm we were looking for but what this bullpen lacks in quality, it hopefully makes up for in quantity. In related news, the Phillies avoided arbitration with Ryan Madson by signing him to a one year deal, at $1.1 Mil for one year.

Let's take a look at the Phillies bullpen makeover:

2006 Spring Training:

• Gordon
• Rhodes
• Franklin
• Fultz
• Cormier
• Santana
• Geary

2006 Season's End:

• Gordon
• White
• Castro
• Condrey
• Sanchez
• Madson
• Smith
• Geary
  

2007 Spring Training potential:

• Gordon
• Madson
• Smith
• Geary
  
• Alfonseca
• Garcia
• Warden
• Simon
• Livingston
• Castro
• Brito

Gordon and Geary are the only ones on all three lists, while Madson was a starter going into the Spring last year before returning to the pen. The first 4 spots for this year are most likely set to the first four guys listed. That leaves the final 7 guys to compete for 2 spots assuming they carry the usual 6 guys. They still make pick up another proven reliver from a series of trades beginning with Lieber. From this cast, I'd say that Brito and Livingston are long shots. Castro is an interesting case, and I've heard conflicting reports about whether he will compete for the bullpen or become a starter in AAA Ottawa. That leaves the Rule 5 guys Simon and Warden who both have the stuff to pitch but with makeup and consistency questions, waiver pick up Garcia, and recently acquired Alfonseca, who supposedly dropped 28 pounds and is pitching well in winter ball. The 12 fingered pitcher, formerly of a handful fo teams, known for his Marlins success, is dubbed the Octopus.

It seems every year the Phillies sign a couple second tier relievers for big bucks, who are handed spots in the bullpen, and seemingly stink up the joint (I won't even start with names). This year, they are saving the money, getting a bunch of cheap arms with potential, for an open competition in spring training, and liekly going with the best showings for the '07 pen. I'm all for this, since they can cut most of these guys at little or no cost (what we all wished they could have done with Franklin and Rhodes last season...and there I go naming names).

One mistake they made, in my opinion, was not offering Aaron Fultz arbitration, making him an unrestricted FA. I belive Fultz would have signed elsewhere and netted us 2 picks as he was a Type 1 FA. Even if he accepted arbitration, he is one year removed from his 2.24 ERA year with us (clearly not his norm), but even his 4.54 ERA last year wasn't that bad. I understand we don't want to settle for "not that bad" but my point is that he had value, and ended up with the Indians, along with David Dellucci. And the Indians would still have signed him, even if they had to give up a pick, because their 1st rounder is protected, and Dellucci got bumped to a 3rd rounder because they also signed Roberto Hernandez, who was somehow rated higher than Dellucci. That would have meant they would only have to give up an extra 4th round pick for Fultz, while we would have gotten another sandwich pick. I really think Gillick dropped the ball on the chance to aquire two valuable picks there, or if nothing else, acquire a solid long reliever in the pen for a slightly inflated price.

Spring training should at least be interesting to watch. The last few spots could be wide open for a large cast of guys.