Phillies' free agent menu could include bullpen, outfielder, bench

WHEN THE free-agent signing period opens Sunday, Ruben Amaro Jr. will be faced with that classic conundrum:

What do you get for the baseball team that already has everything?

OK, so the Phillies might not have everything. They just finished a season in which they battled through lengthy periods of offensive impotence. They suffered a disappointing loss to the Giants in the National League Championship Series. And their lone middle-of-the-order righthanded hitter is poised to test the market.

Nevertheless, the Phillies are pot-committed in most aspects of their roster. They have seven regulars and four starting pitchers under contract for next season, with little apparent wiggle room apart from a trade. A deal with the aforementioned middle-of-the-order bat, Jayson Werth, seems like a longshot, but there aren't many options on the market who can single-handedly replace his production.

The Phillies, Amaro said, have money to spend. But you can bet your unused Game 7 tickets that the amount pales in comparison to the $62.5 million they will be paying to Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino in 2011.

Which brings us to . . .

1. The bullpen

 

On the surface, it has all the excitement of a $25 Applebees gift card, especially when you consider the potential gaping hole in the middle of the lineup. Still, if there is one thing the Giants' championship run showed, it is that a team can win a title without sex appeal. San Francisco's highest-paid outfielder spent the majority of the playoffs on the bench. Two of its three outfield starters were waiver-wire pickups.

In Amaro's perfect world, Werth would return and the GM still would have money to spend on other needs. But after doling out huge chunks of money to Howard, Ibanez and Brad Lidge over the past three seasons, the Phillies have reached a point where they feel they have to make some tough payroll decisions. And fortifying their bullpen at the expense of a five-tool, everyday rightfielder might be one of those decisions.

Why? The simple answer is that they only have three relievers under contract for 2011, and one of those is righthander Danys Baez, who posted a 5.48 ERA in the regular season and was left off the postseason roster. The more complex answer involves a starting rotation that logged the most innings in the majors.