The Phillies finally signed a third baseman yesterday: former San Francisco Giant Pedro Feliz. When the news hit, the baseball web erupted with the usual best-case/worst-case scenarios. Those clamoring for their own alliterative upper-deck fanbase should act now. “Pedro Persuasion” has a nice, ’80s Latino-keyboard-rock feel to it. That would be my personal choice.

Beerleauger:
“Feliz is a bottom-rung everyday third baseman with a good glove, but misleading offensive production because he’ll connect for 20 home runs a season and spend the rest of the time flailing away. Some people will like this; they’ll dig the glove and occasional power. Some will see another black hole at the bottom of the lineup who’s going to be given way too many starts at the position. His career on-base percentage is exactly the same as Rod Barajas: .288. This deal feels nauseatingly similar.”

The700Level:
“The ‘meh’s echo throughout the Delaware Valley. It certainly gives the Phillies a little more depth at the hot corner.”

Balls, Sticks, and Stuff: “Back to the home runs. Think about this for a second: the Phillies stand a very high chance of having 6 players hit 20 home runs: Rollins, Utley, Howard, Pat Burrell, Geoff Jenkins, and Feliz. Heck, they’ll all probably hit 25 and if Jenkins gets enough playing time, the six stand an outside chance of all hitting 30 big ones. Feliz is certainly not the complete player that we’d want in an absolutely ideal world, but he does make the Phillies better.”

San Jose Mercury News: “Pedro Feliz’s departure from the Giants was all but assured earlier this winter when his agents rejected the club’s two-year contract offer. It became official Monday, when Feliz agreed to terms on a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Associated Press reported that the deal includes an option year and incentives that could make the package worth $15 million. The $8.5 million in guaranteed money is believed to be less than what the Giants offered Feliz to stay. But Feliz felt he deserved a raise from his $5.1 million salary in 2007.

“So for once in his Giants career, he took a walk.”

Zolecki: “This gives Charlie Manuel more flexibility. Think how many times last season Manuel had to burn two positions players late in the game — typically Abraham Nunez and Michael Bourn for Helms and Pat Burrell — for defensive purposes. Because Feliz is the team’s best defensive option at third, this allows Manuel to keep an extra player on the bench for a crucial pinch-hitting situation.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 9:31 am and is filed under Pedro Feliz, Philadelphia Phillies, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted by A.J. Daulerio on 1/29/08 in Pedro Feliz, Philadelphia Phillies, Sports