Phillies bench ready to go, is the bullpen going to be?

 

 Pedro is relaxing in the Dominican playing golf here in a Charity game by David Ortiz on December 5th 2009

One thing is for sure now, the Phillies bench is going to be set when Spring Training begins in Clearwater, Florida in just a few months. That is the good news. The Phillies adding Russ Gload to fill in the vacancy left by Matt Stairs and Juan Castro to fill in where Eric Bruntlett used to be. Palcido Polanco signed a big juicy contract probably before the Phillies should have dangled it to him, I think he’s overpaid at what they signed him for. He’s not been particularly sought out prior to the Phillies signing him again and they don’t normally do things like that.

       The problem now is pitching, and it’s not an emergency yet, but it’s an area where the Phillies needed the most improvement, but so far they haven’t gotten it yet either from these Winter Meetings or anywhere else. Pitching was the worst for the Phillies at times last year, and it’s the bullpen now that is in disarray. Compound this to the fact that the rumors have been swirling that Joe Blanton is now available, maybe some bait to the Blue Jays for Roy Halladay even though the Phillies are now acting like they don’t have any money left.

           The Phillies bullpen looks like this:

Brad Lidge	should be ready for Spring Training signed through 2011
Ryan Madson	ready to go, signed through 2011
Chad Durbin	Unsigned as of 12/9/2009
Clay Condrey	Unsigned as of 12/9/2009
Chan Ho Park	Unsigned as of 12/9/09
JC Romero Scott Eyre	Signed through 2011, should be ready Eyre is unsigned as of 12/9/09

          Starting pitching looks like this at the moment:

Cole Hamels	Signed through 2011 season
Cliff Lee	Signed through 2010 season
Joe Blanton	Offered up by the Phils is the rumor
J.A. Happ	Should win starter’s role this year
Jamie Moyer	Uncertain on his return due to medical issues

   The Phillies found themselves short on starters for the World Series last year, they really had to do some soul searching when signing Pedro for a 1/2 year deal and then putting him into the playoffs and World Series games. This year, they don’t appear to want to sign him early for now. What even confidence the Phils had in Pedro perhaps has gone away. In the photo above, Pedro looks just fine in the Dominican Republic playing golf in a charity classic on December 5th, 2009. Will he be wearing a Phillies uniform again?