Lauber: AMARO: ‘I’M NOT A DUMMY’

Señor Winces?

“I was talking to some people the other day,” Amaro recalled, “and I said, ‘I’m not a dummy. I know what Cliff Lee means to our rotation in addition to Halladay and [Cole] Hamels. It’s a no-brainer.’ … Our goal is to be a contender every year — not just to be a competitor, but to be a contender every year. That’s really my job. As an executive of the club, it’s my job to do what I can to try to maintain that level of talent on the club and that hope from the fans. So, yes, I’d like to have a championship, but not at the cost of having our organization not be good for 10 years. Absolutely not. That’s not the goal. The goal is to be a contender every year. And once you get to the World Series or get to the playoffs, it’s really a matter of who’s playing the best baseball, who’s hottest, who has the karma.”

I’ve covered the Phillies for five years, and for five years, I’ve heard team president David Montgomery say the same exact thing. Sure, the Phillies would love to win the World Series every year. But to them, having a chance to win it every year is more within their control than actually winning it.

Last night, Amaro made a point of saying, “We cannot be the New York Yankees. We have to have people that we can bring to the big leagues from our system.” Translation: The Phillies can’t buy championships. They can’t have a $200 million payroll, and with the 2010 payroll nearing a club-record $140 million and $131.25 million already committed to only 15 players for 2011, they need to begin preparing to replace various parts of their championship-winning nucleus.

Hagen: Phillies prospect arrested in Louisiana

A Few Small Repairs…

Brody Colvin, the Phillies’ seventh-round draft choice who received a reported $900,000 signing bonus to pass up a scholarship offer from Louisiana State, was arrested early yesterday morning in his hometown of Lafayette, La.

According to a Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman, he was released after being charged with misdemeanor counts of disturbing the peace, simple battery and resisting an officer.

The incident took place on Jefferson Street, an area known for its many bars and as a gathering place for college students to drink. The spokesman added that the complete arrest report would not be available for 5 to 10 business days.

Colvin, a pitcher, is 19. The legal drinking age in Louisiana is 21.

Neither Phillies assistant general manager for player development and scouting Chuck LaMar nor scouting director Marti Wolever returned phone calls last night. Attempts to reach Colvin were unsuccessful.

Considered a first-round talent coming out of St. Thomas More High School, the righthander dropped to the seventh round because it was widely expected that he would attend college.

NESN: Canty: Rays Moving to Southern CT or NJ?

The Tampa Bay Rays may not be able to afford staying in Florida much longer. NESN baseball analyst Peter Gammons reports on MLB.com that the Rays eventually could be forced to move to a more profitable market.

With spring training drawing closer and teams putting the finishing touches on rosters, Tampa Bay faces a bigger challenge than filling in its second-base hole. While the Rays have enjoyed success against big-market teams such as New York (Yankees), Philadelphia and Boston, their on-field success has not translated into revenue.

“There are smart people in the Major League Baseball offices wondering if there’s hope of even discussing a potential move of the Rays to New Jersey or Southern Connecticut over certain protests from the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Phillies,” writes Gammons on MLB.com.

Keith Law: Top 100 prospects

NO.  PLAYER
1 Jason Heyward, OF, ATL
2 Stephen Strasburg, RHP, WAS
3 Carlos Santana, C, CLE
4 Buster Posey, C, SFO
5 Mike Stanton, OF, FLA
6 Desmond Jennings, OF, TAM
7 Martin Perez, LHP, TEX
8 Dustin Ackley, CF, SEA
9 Justin Smoak, 1B, TEX
10 Jesus Montero, C, NYY
11 Brian Matusz, LHP, BAL
12 Starlin Castro, SS, CHC
13 Neftali Feliz, RHP, TEX
14 Domonic Brown, RF, PHI
15 Wade Davis, RHP, TAM
16 Aroldis Chapman, LHP, CIN
17 Jeremy Hellickson, RHP, TAM
18 Casey Kelly, RHP, BOS
19 Aaron Hicks, RHP, MIN
20 Brett Wallace, 1B, TOR
21 Logan Morrison, 1B, FLA
22 Tyler Matzek, LHP, COL
23 Jenrry Mejia, RHP, NYM
24 Michael Taylor, OF, OAK
25 Zach Britton, LHP, BAL

Scouting reports for the top 25 should be free, I think.

Charlie Manuel: ‘We owe the Yankees one’

Buster Crabbe T-Shirts are go!

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel had his first press conference since the season ended today at Citizens Bank Park, hitting on a number of topics. Here is some of what he had to say:

On his weight loss: “I tried on some of my sports coats and they were big on me. They dwarfed me.”

Did you campaign to keep Lee?: “I know what goes on and how things wind down. As far as that, I just voiced my opinion. Like I said, I’m not the guy making the final decision. At the same time, I look at it that I’m excited at our pitching staff going into this season. The pitching staff going into this season is a lot better than it was going into last year. That’s an upgrade, so we’re ready to go.”

On the World Series: “If you go back and look and followed us playing the Rockies and the Dodgers, we played real good. We didn’t really play as good as we can against the Yankees. It might have been because of their bullpen and their pitching. We ran into a situation in the World Series with how it went, the Yankees were a well-balanced team with their offense. At the end, Rivera did what he’s been doing all these years. We can play better and we can pitch better offensively and defensively. I felt like in the ones they beat us, they were like a step ahead of us. We were always chasing them and trying to catch up. They were always ahead of us … It was who got the breaks and they got the good breaks. We can beat them. At the end of the World Series last year when I talked to our team, I told them that I feel like we owe the Yankees one … They got us.”

Murphy: Rumors of J.A. Happ’s pending demise may be exaggerated

My moderate’s creed:

* I believe in advanced metrics.
* I believe that there is no infallible metric.
* I believe that metrics are valuable indicators.
* I believe there are aspects of baseball - pitch sequence, deception, poise, intelligence - that are best evaluated through personal experience.
* I believe that personal experience can be impacted by human biases and emotions.
* I believe that the best evaluations are formulated when metrics are combined with personal experience.

In taking a look at the Curious Case of J.A. Happ, I suggest we work backwards. We’ll start with Law’s contention that Happ’s 2009 campaign was a “raging fluke” and that he is “headed for a big regression in 2010” and that “a sophomore slump could really hurt the defending NL Champs.” And we’ll progress toward Happ being a frontrunner for the 2010 NL Cy Young.

Thanks to Crashburn Alley.

Jayson Stark: 3-year, $22M deal for Victorino

The Philadelphia Phillies and All-Star center fielder Shane Victorino have agreed to a three-year contract extension worth $22 million, a source familiar with the club’s negotiations told ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark.

McTaggart: Feliz acclimating, has friend in fold

The way new Astros third baseman Pedro Feliz sees it, there’s nothing wrong with having a few former Phillies on the roster.

Posted because I forgot that Pedro Feliz was no longer a free agent.

Houston signed Feliz to a one-year, $4.5-million contract last month and pegged him to be its starting third baseman, enabling the Astros to use Geoff Blum in more of a utility role. Feliz, who hit .266 with 12 homers and 82 RBIs in 158 games last year for Philadelphia, is one of four former Phillies who are with the Astros.

The Astros traded for Michael Bourn before the 2008 season and signed outfielder Jason Michaels prior to last season, and both have contracts for 2010.

What? No Geoff Geary?

Phillies sign Blanton to $24 million extension

Why did they have to deal Cliff Lee again?

The Phillies have signed the right-hander to a three-year, $24 million contract extension, a team-issued news released announced on Thursday. The deal takes care of Blanton’s final year of arbitration and his first two years of free agency....

Blanton went 12-8 with a 4.05 ERA in 31 starts for the Phillies this past season, striking out 163 and walking 59 in 195 1/3 innings. The 29-year-old has made no less than 31 starts each of his five full seasons in the big leagues. For his six-year career, Blanton is 63-54 with a 4.21 ERA. 

Rehabbing Sheets works out for scouts

Is Ben in the best shape of his life?

Sheets, who had surgery on the flexor tendon in his right elbow last February, went 86-83 with a 3.72 ERA in his first eight seasons in the Major Leagues, notching double-digit wins seven times and finishing with an ERA under 4.00 in each of his past five seasons. In ‘08, he went 13-9 with a 3.09 ERA in 31 starts for the Brewers.

According to a report on AOL Fanhouse, Sheets first threw 20 fastballs in the workout, topping out at 91 mph. He then threw another 20 pitches, half of them curveballs. In his third session, Sheets’ fastball topped out at 88 mph and the pitcher looked “gassed,” the report said. Sheets is believed to be seeking a two-year deal.

Sacre bleu! Phils taking a look at Eric Gagne

TISH. That’s Phrench?

The most interesting news to me is that the Phils will be watching the Dodgers’ former Cy Young winning closer Eric Gagne work out today in Arizona. No official comment from the Phillies yet, but the Quebec native broke the news on Montreal radio station CKAC Sports yesterday. Story from David Murphy of the Daily News.

Can you say “Low risk, high reward?”

The 34-year-old Gagne comes with baggage. He was one of 86 players identified in the Mitchell Report in Dec. 2007. He last pitched in the majors in 2008, struggling for Milwaukee. He pitched as a starter in the Can-Am league last season (4.65 ERA). But in his prime, there was no better closer in baseball. Not even close. From 2002-2006, he saved 161 games with a 1.82 ERA, striking out an average of 13.4 hitters per nine innings.

Dishin’ with Dutch: A B&C Interview with Darren Daulton

Remember when the Jupiter 2 was stranded on Gnarth-4 and those furry beasts were jumping on the roof with their gleepers hanging out?! Now that was funny!

What were your impressions of the Mark McGwire steroids confession?

I always thought the whole thing was pretty comical. I think it gives a real good pulse of the American people and what we perceive as this big military, industrial, world-wide, number-one country that presented itself in a manner that turned on one of their own and just really collapsed like a house of cards. I mean, if I was a foreign country and wanted to take over this country, I’d get a prescription for steroids and stand at the border and wave them, and then watch the American people fold.

I thought it was pretty comical, it seemed like there were 250 million victims out there, so that was the comical part. I think it was all just useless, but it did give us a pretty good read on what our society is like.

Do you have any comments on rumors that former teammates Dykstra and Dave Hollins used them?

No. Heck, no, I could care less, there are a lot more important things in the world, and again, this is useless information. What does it do? What has all of this done? Finding out whether or not a guy does steroids or not, I could never understand this. There are a lot of things that a lot of people do behind closed doors that they probably don’t want the public to know about. Whether you’re cheating on your wife, your husband, or you’re doing drugs, you don’t want your boss to know about something, you’re hiding something from somebody, or you’re watching porn and you’re masturbating. Whatever it is, everybody’s got one of these or they wouldn’t be here, but it seems like everybody gets to cast the first stone when somebody else is caught doing something, or allegedly caught. It makes them feel better, and again, this is kind of the pulse of the American ego, as long as we can point our finger at somebody, we’re okay, we feel better about ourselves.

I think it’s useless information. Out of all this, who cares? What’s it going to matter? It really doesn’t. You know what you’re going to find out, is that they’re just like you are.

Zolecki: Phillies Player of the ‘00s: Rollins

Rollins. Best one yet? Loose nut.

I had been thinking for a couple weeks about the Phillies’ Player of the Decade.

Five candidates immediately came to mind: Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley. It turned out those five players ranked first through fifth in games played in the ‘00s. But it only took a few minutes to see that Rollins stood above the rest based on longevity and performance.

...Could I have made a case for Utley or Howard? Absolutely. Of the 19 players who had 1,000 or more at-bats for the Phillies in the ‘00s, Rollins ranked 10th in average (.274), 15th in on-base percentage (.329) and 10th in slugging percentage (.439). But since Jim Thome’s arrival before the 2003 season, the Phillies led the National League with 5,814 runs. This team has been loaded with offensive talent, so it’s not like Rollins’ rankings in those categories are against a bunch of stiffs. And he plays shortstop, so he’s not going to compete for slugging percentage titles with the likes of Howard, Thome, Burrell, Abreu and Jayson Werth. Rollins was one of the best offensive shortstops of the decade. He ranked first amongst shortstops in triples; third in runs and doubles; fourth in hits and home runs; and fifth in RBIs.

He also was one of the best defensive shortstops of the decade. You can’t undersell Rollins’ defense. It’s huge.

Rollins has been an impact player. He is one of the first young talents to help turnaround what had been a sorry franchise. Howard, Utley, Abreu and Burrell made their marks, but Rollins was a major contributor from beginning to end.

Crashburn Alley: Baer: The Phillies and Sabermetrics

Charlie says “Love my Beer & Tacos!”
Don’t know any other system that I love so well!

I’m skeptical as to Kerfield’s honesty here, though he is certainly correct about the uncertainty of defensive metrics. For the same reasons that Coke and KFC and my friend’s burger joint don’t want us to know their secret ingredients, neither do the Phillies want everyone to know their thought processes in player evaluation. Such publicity would adversely affect them particularly in trades and drafting.

For instance, imagine Franklin Gutierrez — the slick-fielding center fielder for the Seattle Mariners — is on the trade market and the Phillies and the Boston Red Sox are the finalists in the sweepstakes. If the Red Sox know that the Phillies are proponents of defensive metrics, then they know that the Phillies may be willing to get into a bidding war for Gut’s services. So, the Red Sox wouldn’t jump out with an offer; instead, they would wait for the Phillies to do so.

Similarly, imagine the Phillies are trying to trade Jimmy Rollins. He is known more for his glove than his bat (sans 2007). The Phillies, by publicizing their use of defensive statistics, may alienate potential suitors because they realize that the Phillies could be valuing Rollins more highly than other teams and thus would not be willing to submit an offer or engage in a bidding war.

...Of course we don’t know for sure, but I’d be shocked if the Phillies weren’t heavy proponents of Sabermetrics. They show all of the symptoms. You’ll know for sure if you ever see Amaro sporting a pocket protector or using a slide rule.

MLB: New defensive stats starting to catch on

Dewan, Lichtman, Pinto and...Charley Kerfeld?

Doing it the old-fashioned way

Not everyone pays attention to these numbers, of course. While teams such as the Mariners, Red Sox and Detroit Tigers, who improved greatly on defense in 2009, peruse and subscribe to these stats, some teams still just won’t buy them—literally or figuratively.

“I think defensive statistics are the most unpredictable stats there are,” says Charley Kerfeld, a former big league reliever who now serves as a special assistant to Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr.

“And since I’ve been here, we don’t have an in-house stats guy and I kind of feel we never will. We’re not a statistics-driven organization by any means.

“I’m not against statistics. Everybody has their own way of doing things. But the Phillies believe in what our scouts see and what our eyes tell us and what our people tell us.”

...As far as the open market for players is concerned, Dewan says Boston’s recent splurge on expensive leather might jack up the value of defense even more.

“Now you have a big-market team doing it,” Dewan says. “Now it’s going to be adopted, no question. Teams are going to think, ‘If it works for Boston, it should work for us.’

“And that’s great to see.”

Infinity Ward pulls (Modern Warfare 2 Cole) Hamels video after Internet furor

Old, but I don’t think we ever discussed it.

Infinity Ward posted a short video on their YouTube account featuring an in-game version of Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels… In the vignette, Hamels advised Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 players that random grenades are “for pussies”; the “public service announcement” was provided by an organization called “Fight Against Grenade Spam.”

... Numerous Web sites and Twitterers condemned the PSA and Infinity Ward’s perceived endorsement of an anti-gay message… Infinity Ward has since taken down the video…

Murray Chass on Baseball: PHILS FORSAKE WORLD SERIES FORMULA

Murray Chass...a regular Margregret Mitchell.

Amaro was speaking about the Phillies’ minor league system. He had traded four of the organization’s top prospects for Lee last July, and now he had traded three more top prospects for Halladay.

“It would have left us short in the amount of talent at the upper levels of the minor leagues,” Amaro said by telephone from Philadelphia. “We had already moved four good prospects in the Lee trade without replenishing them. We moved three more top prospects for Halladay. In six months we would have moved seven of our top 10 prospects to have one pitcher whom we could have extended a contract to. In my mind that wasn’t the right tradeoff.”

Asked, however, if he would have preferred having one or both pitchers, Amaro said, “Both certainly. You try to put your best foot forward for this year. Having Cliff and Roy with Hamels in the rotation would have been extraordinary, but it wasn’t the right thing for us to do in the long term.”

Not that he asked me, but I am among those who don’t agree with Amaro’s view. Opportunities to get to and win the World Series don’t come along too often, even though the Phillies have played in the last two and won one. In recent years, I think, the prevailing view has been to take advantage of current opportunities. Tomorrow is another day, Scarlett.

Crashburn Alley: Just Say No to Fernando Rodney

Every hour every minute seemed to last eternally
I was so afraid...of Fernando

Rodney isn’t a particularly bad relief pitcher, but he’s not a good one either; he’s average. FanGraphs has his career FIP at 4.15. He has the ability to strike hitters out (8.6 per 9), but he also walks far too many (4.6 per 9) to be given high-leverage innings. Looking at only his 2005-09 seasons, he set a career low in K/9 last year and his second-highest BB/9. He had flukish batted ball splits (11% line drives, 58% ground balls) that are destined to regress.

Perhaps most telling is that the American League finally caught up to Rodney’s wild ways. For the first time in his career, opposing hitters swung at fewer than 60% of his pitches in the strike zone yet made contact 84.2% of the time when they did swing. It could certainly be true that the National League could take some time to catch on to this, but it’s unlikely given the ubiquity of scouting reports, statistical analysis, and tape review (and word of mouth).

Rodney should be a pitcher teams shouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole at his current asking price of $12 million over two years.

Fans don’t let their team’s GM sign Fernando Rodney.

Doc’s classy farewell: Pitcher thanks T.O. in full-page ad

Philadelphia is one lucky town.

It’s a rare display of public gratitude from a superstar athlete but it’s no surprise coming from former Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay.

The Cy Young Award-winning pitcher has taken out a full-page ad in today’s Toronto Sun in which he thanks his former team and the fans here.

“My wife Brandy, sons Braden and Ryan and I would like to express our deepest gratitude to the Toronto Blue Jays organization, its incredible fans, and the City of Toronto,” Halladay says in the ad.

Enjoy him, Phillies fans.  He’s both a great pitcher, and hell of a nice guy.

Sickels: Philadelphia Phillies Top 20 Prospects for 2010

Hey! Where’d everybody go?

1) Domonic Brown, OF, Grade B+: Borderline A-. I love this guy, but the tools aren’t quite refined yet and they need to give him a solid consolidation season in 2010, start him off in Reading and leave him there until July no matter what he does.

2) Trevor May, RHP, Grade B-: Borderline B. I love the upside with this arm as demonstrated in his K/IP and H/IP ratios, but he needs to cut back on the walks.

3) Phillipe Aumont, RHP, Grade B-: High upside arm acquired from the Mariners but I worry about his durability and mechanics.

4) J.C. Ramirez, RHP, Grade B-: Another high upside arm acquired from the Mariners. High Desert hurt his numbers. I’ve always liked him better than the numbers indicate I should, and I think a breakout is possible in 2010.

5) Anthony Gose, OF, Grade C+: Love the speed, youth, and the athleticism. Don’t like the high strikeout rate for a guy without much power. Most advanced of the uber-tools players collected in this system in recent drafts.

...The Halladay/Lee trade is a strong blow; losing Drabek, Taylor, and D’Arnaud rips the guts out of the system. Getting Aumont, Gillies, and Ramirez in return helps some but none of them are as good as the three they lost.

Overall, this system is in flux due to recent trades but still has a lot of very interesting, if difficult to predict, talent.

AP: Lee wanted to spend rest of career in Philadelphia

SEATTLE (AP)—Cliff Lee thought he was staying in Philadelphia—for the rest of his career.

The Phillies’ postseason star proposed a routine counteroffer on a contract extension Wednesday, then headed for the Mississippi River near his Arkansas home to hunt.

He got some stunning news on the drive there.

Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. called to tell Lee he had been traded to Seattle for three prospects in a four-team deal that brought Roy Halladay to the Phillies. It was the first time that two Cy Young Award winners were dealt on the same day.

Speaking by cell phone Thursday night while beginning a long-planned vacation in Puerto Rico, the 2008 AL Cy Young winner said he was in “disbelief and shock.” The 31-year-old left-hander had been excited to rejoin the Phillies for a run at another World Series.

Instead, he’s headed to his third team in five months.

“At first, I didn’t believe it. I thought we were working out an extension with the Phillies,” Lee said. “I thought I’d be spending the rest of my career there. ... I was under the impression they wanted to keep me there for a long time.

“In my mind, it was going to happen.”

Heyman: Big teams still have moves to make

Just for BBC:

The Astros are telling teams Lance Berkman is unavailable. The Red Sox are one team to have inquired.

And for the Met fans:

Of Igarashi, the Japanese reliever who’s about to go to the Mets, one Japanese scout said, “I’ve seen him great but he wasn’t great last year.’’

Conlin: Phillies GM Amaro is master of the shell game

Another 300-year old production process...Conlin and cognac.

But on the other side of the smoke and mirrors, Amaro could go to bed last night knowing that for the three seasons following this one he will have a certified No. 1 pitcher with comparative cost certainty. When your ownership groups have been losing money faster than can be printed in their day jobs, that’s critical.

Now, the Greek e-mail chorus thunders, “What about the prospects? What about the four turned over for Lee last summer and the three more A-listers just sent to Toronto and Oakland in a spinoff trade?”

Let me break this to you gently. My favorite, massive and massively gifted outfielder Michael Taylor, was not going to be here next season. He was being Ryanized by the 2 years remaining on Raul Ibanez’ contract. He’ll be a rookie of the year candidate in Oakland this summer instead of marking time in Triple A or taking up space as a No. 4 outfielder.

Kyle Drabek was not going to be here, unless the staff imploded. And I still think he’s a lot closer to another Tommy John than to the Cy Young his dad won with the Pirates.

Travis D’Arnaud? Until 2 days ago, the catcher could have been a cognac brand for all the traction he had here.

Done: Phils get Doc; Lee to Mariners

A series of four deals was completed on Wednesday, bringing ace Roy Halladay to the Phillies, with Philadelphia sending prospects Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor and Travis d’Arnaud to the Blue Jays after trading Cliff Lee to the Mariners for three prospects, right-handers Phillippe Aumont and JC Ramirez and outfielder Tyson Gillies.

Toronto flipped Taylor to Oakland for prospect Brett Wallace.

Finally.

38 Pitches: Schilling: A look a wild day in baseball

Holy boksballen!

Holy #$!&!

Just read the news … busy day.

They obviously feel John Lackey possesses the stuff to succeed over the next five years pitching at Fenway. I don’t think this precludes them from signing a LF, maybe they’ll say that but they have the money if they want to sign Jason Bay or Matt Holliday.

Five years, especially for a pitcher — one that came into the year unhealthy — is a huge change for them. I am thinking they just didn’t want to part with the prospects Toronto was asking for. Be interesting to hear the TRUTH about the players Toronto might have been asking for.

As far as first base goes, Nick Johnson is out there, right? Theo has always loved him. Casey Kotchman could certainly play first and be a good player if they go that route. Not going to hit for power but certainly lengthens the lineup for opposing pitches when thinking about hitters and working counts. He’s a guy that can grind out some lengthy AB’s.

Fever Pitch: Trade Talks for Halladay Heating Up

The chance for Jays fans to complain about what they get for Halladay could come this week.

The Phillies’ pursuit of Toronto ace Roy Halladay appears to be reaching a boil.

Two baseball sources told CSNPhilly.com Monday that the team is actively talking about a contract extension with representatives for the 32-year-old righthander. It is likely that the Phillies would want to sign Halladay to an extension before they traded for him. Without an extension, Halladay would be eligible for free agency after the 2010 season.

One of the sources said that Halladay is likely to have a physical exam with Phillies’ medical personal this week.

EDIT: Rosenthal says a little more.

A three-team blockbuster that would send Halladay to the Phillies and Phillies left-hander Cliff Lee to another club is under discussion, sources say.

A straight trade between the Phillies and Jays also is possible. Either way, there are strong indications that the Halladay talks are approaching a critical juncture.

Philly Burbs: Dick Allen on MLB Network’s “Studio 42 With Bob Costas” Tuesday night

Right after the tenth at the Meadowlands.

With Allen Iverson’s return, people have been naturally drawing comparisons between A.I.’s checkered times in town and Dick Allen’s turbulent relationship with the Phillies and their fans, which continued upon his return in 1975.

Forget the buffoonish sideshow Terrell Owens created and A.I.’s petulant child act. Allen, the slow-to-integrate Phillies’ first African-American superstar, was easily the most controversial athlete to ever play in Philadelphia. Allen’s troubles had as much to do with race relations and narrow minds in the turbulent ‘60s as his own actions. But his often brooding, guarded nature didn’t help matters any.

I’m thinking this should make for a particularly interesting edition of MLB Network’s “Studio 42” tomorrow night (presuming it was recorded after the A.I. signing was announced), when Allen goes one-on-one with Bob Costas. The hour-long chat airs at 8:00 pm.

Conlin: A stroll down Allens lane

Ezail to Ezbail...Conlin looks into Dick Allen Iverson.

I have been asked by a number of fans if the returns of the two Allens 34 years apart are deja vu all over again.

The easy answer is yes and no.

Yes, because Dick Allen and Allen Iverson not only are two of the most gifted athletes in Philadelphia history, but they rank No. 1 and 2 as lightning rods for controversy. Make Charles Barkley, Wilt Chamberlain and Eric Lindros a distant 3, 4 and 5. Bill James, the baseball stat maven who sometimes strays into behavior analysis, once called Allen the No. 2 most controversial ballplayer in history behind Rogers Hornsby. His stinging comment: “[Allen] did more to keep his teams from winning than anybody else who ever played major league baseball.” James apparently missed 1964, when Allen’s epic rookie season helped propel the Phillies to that unblowable lead in one of the strongest National Leagues of all time. During the final 12 games, when the 6 1/2-game lead vanished, Allen batted .429 with 11 RBI.

But no, because the circumstances driving the returns of the prodigal sons were totally different.

Unlike the floundering Sixers - a bad young team - the 1975 Phillies were about to embark on a 9-year run that would see them win two pennants, five division titles and their first World Series crown. And despite the limbo he entered when he walked on the White Sox, Allen didn’t come for the pittance Sixers general manager Ed Stefanski is shelling out to rent Iverson - a prorated non-guaranteed, 1-year contract for the NBA minimum of $1.3 million for players with 10 years experience. In the NBA, that’s chump change.

After the 1974 season, the exasperated White Sox sold Allen to the Atlanta Braves for $5,000 and a player to be named. Allen said he had no intention to play for the Braves and announced his retirement.

Murphy: On Indianapolis and Kentucky Joe

Obviously, reporters from Philadelphia read this report. And when they gathered in Amaro’s suite, they asked him to address it. Amaro, as he always does, refused to comment on specific trade rumors. But, interestingly enough, he said he could not entirely rule out the possibility of trading away a member of his rotation. Now, sports reporters aren’t always the sharpest chains on the blade, but most of them are blessed with at least a passsable sense of deductive reasoning. And with Cole Hamels already having been ruled out as a trade candidate by Amaro earlier this offseason, and Cliff Lee going nowhere, and J.A. Happ possessing a $400,000 salary that makes him unwise to move, and Jamie Moyer possessing an $8 million salary that makes him impossible to move, those reporters were left with. . .cue the dramatic Law and Order music. . .Joe Blanton!

Suddenly, both ends of the rumor equation were fulfilled:

This: “The Phillies are checking on interest in Blanton, two major-league sources said.”

+

This: “I don’t want to mess with our rotation as it stands. But that doesn’t mean I’ll make it a hard and fast rule.”

=

This: The Phillies could be shopping Joe Blanton!

Fantastic article by David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News.

SNY: Megdal: Phils beating Mets in ticketing, promotions

As second sacker turned first rate attacker, Willie Randolph Hearst, once said..."Putting out a season-ticket plan without proper promotion is like winking at a girl in the dark—well-intentioned, but ineffective.”

Let’s take the big picture issues to start. Philadelphia already has not only their season-ticket plans for sale—full and partial plans can be purchased—while the Mets are still stuck in the renewal process. In other words, if you wanted to buy a Mets partial plan for your significant other for a holiday gift ... you can’t.

The Phillies have even started offering six-packs. And these are infinite varieties of awesome. They have a Boston Red Sox pack, geared around Red Sox Nation. There’s a Mets pack, allowing you to buy tickets to any two Mets games and four others of your choice. They have a fireworks pack, a fan appreciation pack (was there a Fan Appreciation Day at Citi Field last year?), and each one allows you to customize.

Yes, Mets fans, that’s right—you can pick the games you want, instead of being assigned the games the Mets want you to buy. The Pick’em Pack is the ultimate example—you get to pick all six games. Also, did I mention if you want to, you can vary your seats by game, allowing you to be up close for the Nationals but further back for the Marlins?