the ruiz situation will be a mess

[_phiLLies_]

he plays every game, batting cleanup. rupp has only played once. kratz rarely gets the call. day/night, night/day.. ruiz is still out there.

clearly they're looking at something. i read somewhere that dubee said some shit like ruiz is only good for around 300 AB at this point of his career. which to me, sounds like he's not endorsing him.

and this is where amaro's problems are. no, we don't have a catcher that is perfectly ready. but it doesn't mean you sign who you think is best (ruiz) to a 2-3 year deal. nor does it mean you waste big money on soon to be horrible contracts like saltalamacchia or mccann. amaro seems obsessed with filling every position to perfection (even though he fucks up half of it.)

the smart move is to just let rupp take over and play. sign a vet to a 1 year deal with maybe a 2nd year option. someone better than kratz. if rupp or the both of them struggle, that's the way it goes. the damage is minimal compared to adding a crap contract.

i made a thread last season asking if anyone else was NOT looking forward to the offseason because they thought it would be really bad. it turned out it was. i'm at the reverese this season. i look forward to see if amaro learned anything. halladay, ruiz, papelbon, the young players.. lets see if he does anything different.

 

[Retroram52]

I agree _phillies_. Pencil in Rupp as the new guy. Sign say a Iannetta or Mike Napoli who are pretty good catchers and say goodbye to Frantz and Ruiz. Better yet, package Ruiz, Palpebon, and JRol and trade them for money and a prospect or two.

 

[Omar 382]

Ruiz should be signed to a 1 year deal, or let go. He's still a great defensive catcher and his bat has shown life lately, but Rupp looks like he is almost ready (could use one more season at AAA) and he doesn't need to be blocked by an old veteran signed to a multi year contract. While on the topic of catchers, what a miserable season for Tommy Joseph. Hit .179 in 36 games before losing his season to a concussion.

 

[Retroram52]

I like an Iannetta or Napoli for that very reason. Both had relatively decent seasons remaining injury free and both are pretty good for the clubhouse.

 

[Omar 382]

Napoli will want big, big money. Iannetta looks like a good option, if they choose to have Rupp get more seasoning at Triple-A.

 

[Cedrique]

I agree _phillies_. Pencil in Rupp as the new guy. Sign say a Iannetta or Mike Napoli who are pretty good catchers and say goodbye to Frantz and Ruiz. Better yet, package Ruiz, Palpebon, and JRol and trade them for money and a prospect or two.

This is wrong on so many levels. A, Iannetta is signed through 2015. Secondly, Napoli is a pretty good hitter and 31 years old- why would he want to sign a one or two year deal with the Phillies? C, who would take Ruiz in a trade when there is only like 6 games left in the season? Also, Frantz was the guy from NYPD Blue, right?

That whole post seems a little "brain-dead"

 

[Retroram52]

Sorry Cedrique. I was being facetious but this being a computer, it is devoid of intonation and speech prosody. Yes Iannetta is signed through 2016. Napoli may or may not want to do anything. I am well aware that my post was mostly facetious BS because not much of anything is going to happen with brain-dead running the show. Is that better for ya?

 

[jvett77]

Just sign Carlos for a year at $6 mill. He's 35 soon so he won't demand much more. You must be 3-deep at catcher. The Phillies are braindead if they don't sign Ruiz. It's Ruiz, Rupp, with Kratz a distant third, unless Joseph emerges. Platoon Ruiz and Rupp. Too bad Rupp has not been given much playing time. How do people know here that Rupp will be an instant hit? Maybe Ruiz gets 300 AB, Rupp 200. What's to lose?

 

[Omar 382]

Just sign Carlos for a year at $6 mill. He's 35 soon so he won't demand much more. You must be 3-deep at catcher. The Phillies are braindead if they don't sign Ruiz. It's Ruiz, Rupp, with Kratz a distant third, unless Joseph emerges. Platoon Ruiz and Rupp. Too bad Rupp has not been given much playing time. How do people know here that Rupp will be an instant hit? Maybe Ruiz gets 300 AB, Rupp 200. What's to lose?

I'd be fine with a contract like that for Ruiz, but the problem is, Amaro will probably be looking at two years (with an option for a third). That's not what this team needs-another position player older than 35 locked up in a multi-year deal. Especially when that position player is a catcher-the most injury prone position in baseball. Especially when this team has Rupp, who is basically ready, and who knows- Valle and/or Tommy Joseph could bounce back. Also, teams do not carry three catchers until September. Why the hell would we bring Kratz back? A 32 year old journey man who can't hit the Mendoza line? No way! Back to the minors.

If we bring Ruiz back, Rupp will be in the minors until Ruiz gets hurt. Somebody like Brayan Pena or Kurt Suzuki could back up.

 

[Omar 382]

This is wrong on so many levels. A, Iannetta is signed through 2015. Secondly, Napoli is a pretty good hitter and 31 years old- why would he want to sign a one or two year deal with the Phillies? C, who would take Ruiz in a trade when there is only like 6 games left in the season? Also, Frantz was the guy from NYPD Blue, right?

That whole post seems a little "brain-dead"

I noticed you jumped from "A" to "secondly" back to "C." There was a segment like this in My Wife and Kids that was hilarious.

 

[jvett77]

I'd be fine with a contract like that for Ruiz, but the problem is, Amaro will probably be looking at two years (with an option for a third). That's not what this team needs-another position player older than 35 locked up in a multi-year deal. Especially when that position player is a catcher-the most injury prone position in baseball. Especially when this team has Rupp, who is basically ready, and who knows- Valle and/or Tommy Joseph could bounce back. Also, teams do not carry three catchers until September. Why the hell would we bring Kratz back? A 32 year old journey man who can't hit the Mendoza line? No way! Back to the minors.

If we bring Ruiz back, Rupp will be in the minors until Ruiz gets hurt. Somebody like Brayan Pena or Kurt Suzuki could back up.

I just listed Kratz as third (a desperation option from the minors) since he is second right now. I'll bet Rupp shows something in spring training which means Kratz goes down to the farm where he belongs. Unless someone offers an unexpectedly good deal for Ruiz, he'll be back, and he does at least have some 1-year value.

 

[Caligula]

Carlos isn't signing a one year deal. It's adorable to think he will, but that isn't happening.

 

[WestCoastPhan]

Carlos isn't signing a one year deal. It's adorable to think he will, but that isn't happening.

"adorable" hahaha!

 

[_phiLLies_]

fuckin' knew it. hopefully they're noticing his shit september and overall shit season. signing chase, i can tolerate. he can still ball if he's on the field. but if ruiz is back or halladay finds his way to the rotation or they somehow screw some of the young players.. i can't picture myself being a fan any more.

Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz got off to a slow start in 2013, but a second-half resurgence changed the club's view on the pending free agent. General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. spoke well of the catcher and openly stated that he'd like for him to return in 2014, writes MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.

"We'd like to bring him back," Amaro said. "He knows we'd like to bring him back. We'll see what happens. It wouldn't be the first free agent [we've had]. … I'd like to have as much balance [in the lineup] as we can, we haven't been very good against left-handers. It's well documented."

Ruiz's stock in Philadelphia is certainly helped by the fact that they are in need of right-handed bats and the lack of quality catchers that figure to be available this winter doesn't hurt either. While things didn't look promising for Ruiz from the start of the season through the end of July (.248/.298/.293) he has hit much better in the last two months, posting a .299/.352/.463 with four homers in 161 plate appearances.

 

[Caligula]

Listen, I have nothing against Ruiz, but this team was under .500 with him. They won't be worse without him and the team should not spend 7-8 million a year on a 35+ year old catcher. They should not have an infield that has three 35 year olds and a 34 year old. All of which can not make it through a full season or are just hideously unproductive.

Seriously, can Asche or Fanco play short?