Goodbye Matt Stairs. How shall we slay Jonathan Broxton without you?

Eric Bruntlett – no one made the unassisted triple play look less deserved than you. Kudos, sir.

Bako, Cairo etal. We hardly knew ya. Best wishes this holiday season.

Ruben Amaro Jr. made no bones about his desire the upgrade the Phillies bench during the 2009 offseason. And while it is debatable as to exactly how much he did improve the bench, there is little argument that glaring weaknesses have been addressed with suitable upgrades.

Juan Castro, Brian Schneider and Ross Gload now comprise 60% of the Phillies bench and with Ben Francisco and Greg Dobbs rounding out the fivesome, there is some hope that a pinch hitting opportunity will actually be more worthwhile in 2010 than simply leaving the pitcher in to hit for himself.

Castro will be able to spell three quarters of the Phillies infield from time to time, Schneider is a solid backup catcher who has never had an opportunity to produce for a winning team and Ross Gload improved his offensive metrics as a bench player for the Marlins last year and can play 1st base or the outfield.

Are any of these pickups earth shattering? No, but if there were sexy options for the bench, they’d be starting elsewhere.

But if the last few years of Phillies playoff baseball have taught us anything, it is that the signings that can’t crack the front page of the Inqy still have a chance to score the winning run in a World Series game.

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Ruben Amaro Jr. does his best to throw water on the continued Roy Halladay rumors that the Phillies are still in the mix for the Blue Jays’ ace righthander. With the public knowledge that Halladay wants to be traded by spring training and won’t approve any trades after that is sure to drop his trade value as we get closer to February. Any team interested in landing Halladay would be wise to slow play their hand and see if the Jays come to them with reduced expectations for what they want to get in return.

I am still against the idea of signing Halladay because it would seem like a play for 2010 with little thought to the consequences in 2011 and beyond. I don’t like the idea of moving Blanton in an attempt to save some payroll and a rotation spot for Halladay. The focus right now should be on locking up Cliff Lee long-term and firming up the Phillies bullpen? Add another low-risk starter like Jason Marquis or even Pedro and see how it goes? I’m in.

Roy Halladay seems like a nice guy and probably a heck of a teammate on top of being a great pitcher, but I don’t think we need to try and grind with every hot girl at the school dance. They all like attention, and when you try to date more than one at the same time, they tend to get pissed. Ask Tiger.