REPORTS - Phillies Have Deal in Place for Hunter Pence; Brown and Worley Not in Deal
The Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia Eagles seem to have a tit for tat rivalry that has been building for the past several years. It's a friendly one, of course. The Phillies were not going to be upstaged by Nnamdi Asomugha signing with the Eagles, so they made some news of their own.
According to Ken Rosenthal, and other reports, the Philadelphia Phillies have a deal in place with Houston Astros to acquired right-handed outfielder Hunter Pence. The deal is believed to include prospects Jared Cosart, Jonathan Singleton and two other unnamed prospects. Both Singleton and Cosart have been pulled from their game. For those fans who have been bickering for two weeks as to whether or not the Phillies should include Domonic Brown or Vance Worley in any deal, you may not have to worry about it. The deal in place, despite all of the rumors today, does not have Domonic Brown included. Vance Worley's name is not included either. The other two prospects are believed to be lower level prospects. Names may be revealed shortly according to the reports.
As I said earlier today, Ruben Amaro loves doing big deals on July 29th. And they are usually pretty solid deals. Cliff Lee in '09. Roy Oswalt in '10. And now it looks like RAJ is going to get Hunter Pence in '11. This move would actually take care of a couple of situations. It helps the club win now, and would also set the Phillies outfield next year when Raul Ibanez departs.
By keeping Domonic Brown, the Phillies are able to keep some price management in their lineup. Brown is making $414,000 this year and will make a similar figure next year. Hunter Pence is making $6.9 million this year, and is under club control for this year, 2012 and 2013. Pence will be arbitration eligible though, which means his salary is likely to increase pretty significantly over the next two years.
This move shows that the Philadelphia Phillies are dedicated and committed to winning and winning now! The general thought is that the Phillies organization is aware of the window to win, and believed that they needed to do everything possible to maximize the opportunity to win.
Hunter Pence is 28 years old. He is a career .290 hitter that is batting .309 this year. He has hit 11 Home Runs and has driven in 62. He will provide the Phillies with the right handed bat in their lineup that they have both craved and missed since Jayson Werth signed with the Washington Nationals this past offseason. Video footage moments ago also showed Hunter Pence leaving the Houston Astros game and hugging teammates in the dugout.
This trade is not yet official, but looks very close to being a done deal. A formal announcementis expected momentarily. Ruben Amaro once again has architected an amazing deal for the Phillies without having to give up anything he didn't want to. July 29th is definitely Rube's favorite day!
