Financially speaking the Phillies will have some big issues and decisions to make

Financially speaking, the Phillies will have some big issues and decisions to make. The Phillies still have to think about whether they will offer a big contract to Ryan Howard or to Cole Hamels. If Burrell is not re-signed, the Phillies have $55 million to work on locking up either Howard or Hamels, with the type of a contract that Jimmy Rollins or Chase Utley received. They lack the funds to lock both Hamels and Howard up, even if Burrell is not re-signed. In that case, they should re-sign Hamels because the Phillies need pitching more than offense, especially because the Phillies play in a pinball yard known as Citizens Bank Park. Whichever one they cannot or do not lock up, they should try and trade away for prospects, or pitching or even better: pitching prospects.Ideally, they trade away Howard because it is much easier to find a power hitting first baseman than a good pitcher. They could look at trading Howard to a team like the Angels, who have been and are still looking for a big bat to protect Vladimir Guerrero.

They could also look at trying to trade Howard possibly to the Texas Rangers, who lack a big bat and could use a first baseman. In either scenario, they could receive multiple players in return, whether they be pitchers or not. If not, they can use those prospects to try and trade for some pitching, as they will be in either process stocking up their farm system.There is another good reason to pursue good young pitching: look at the past few World Series champions. The Angels in 2002, the Marlins in 2003, the White Sox in 2005, the Cardinals in 2006, and the Red Sox in 2007 all had good young pitching and good young position players. In addition, looking at the teams that are in the top ten in Baseball America's farm system rankings for this season, over 50 percent of the teams are currently fighting for playoff spots and all of them have good shots at making the playoffs.

Despite the fact that the Phillies made the playoffs last year, they lost to a Colorado Rockies team that was all about good, young pitching with the likes of Jeff Francis, Ubaldo Jimenez, Franklin Morales and Manny Corpas and young position players like Troy Tulowitzki, Garrett Atkins, Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe all on their way to the World Series. Clearly the Phillies have missed the memo about how good young pitching can lead to a strong future for a team, and never has this been made more evident than Saturday’s loss to the Giants, whose starter Tim Lincecum, just 24 years old, went eight innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs on two solo home runs, while walking just one and striking out eight. So what are the Phillies waiting for? They need to jump on the bandwagon that the Major Leagues have been jumping on for the past few years, and go get some pitching. If they do, they will not have to count on another late-season collapse by the New York Mets or by the good looking Atlanta Braves to get into the playoffs.. One third of the baseball season has almost been played and one assumption can be made the Detroit Tigers appear to be frauds! The Tigers have improved drastically since GM David Dombroski has shown the uncanny ability to lure marquee players such as Magglio Ordonez, Ivan Rodriguez, and Kenny Rogers to a franchise that has been in disarray since the late 90’s. David Dombroski made a huge statement by plucking Jim Leyland out of retirement to steer the ship straight.

Leyland had a magical season in 2006, directing the Tigers to their first World Series since 1984. The Tigers had a great follow up in 2007, posting 88 victories and just coming up short of making the postseason for consecutive seasons. The Tigers made plenty of noise after the ‘07 baseball season ended, quickly trading for shortstop Edgar Renteria. Shortstop was one of the biggest offseason needs, and the Tigers filled it promptly.  The acquisition let Tigers fans know that the organization means business. Left field has been a gaping hole of inconsistency since the 2007 season However the Tigers traded for Jacque Jones. This was a questionable trade to begin with because Jones has never lived up to expectations. The Cubs could not have been happier when they unloaded Jones and his $6 million contract.

Jones has recently been designated for assignment and will not wear a Tigers jersey again this season. The baseball winter season meetings started slow, but the Tigers wreaked havoc when they traded coveted prospects Andrew Miller, Cameron Maybin, and a few other prospects for power slugger Miguel Cabrera and durable Dontrelle Wills. The baseball nation and Detroit fans quickly making claims of how this could be the highest octane offense for years to come.  The Tigers sold out of season tickets for the first time in franchise history. The city of Detroit was thinking about how great the Tigers could be to the plummeting automotive economy where unemployment is at an all-time high.