The Phillies declined to offer arbitration to Pat Burrell or Jamie Moyer by last night’s 12:00 deadline.

This prevents the Phillies from getting blindsided by one of the players accepting arbitration when they didn’t expect it, ala Kevin Millwood and Placido Polanco a couple of years ago. Now the Phillies can ensure that they bring back either, both, or neither of the players at a price that they are comfortable with, as opposed to leaving it in the hands of arbitrators.

There are risks to doing this if the Phillies are interested in bring back both players, or at least Moyer. Teams no longer have to worry about forfeiting 2 draft picks to sign Moyer or Burrell, and that makes them potentially more attractive on the open market than other free agents who have been offered arbitration by their current teams.

Personally, I would have offered both players arbitration, as I don’t see better, cheaper options out there than Burrell and Moyer. Perhaps Amaro has already resigned himself to the idea that left field is going to deliver less offense in the next couple of years while they wait to see if John Mayberry Jr. can play in the bigs. Maybe Burrell isn’t in their plans at all given his liability on defense and his moody offense. Whatever the case, this move makes Burrell’s return more tenuous than it was before.

I can understand the Burrell decision even if I don’t agree with it. Not offering Moyer arbitration doesn’t make sense to me. Todd Zolecki, among others, suggests that the Phillies didn’t want to potentially have to pay more for Moyer in arbitration than they would have in an agreed contract, but really, how much more money are we talking about here? I’m not looking to play monopoly with the owner’s money, but the potential of paying $2 million extra for Moyer is more palatable than seeing him walk with no compensation.

Will Moyer sign again with the Phillies regardless? Probably, but why cast doubt on it with this maneuver?

Reaction

Phillies Nation thinks it’s a slap in the face to the players.
Beerleaguer wonders if the Yankees could be a destination for Moyer.
The Good Phight says it’s the economy, stupid.