Phillies to address free-agents, aging players and bullpen this winter
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Philadelphia Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. spoke with the press, including The Philadelphia Inquirers’ Matt Gelb, on Monday to issue his state of the team address which touched on topics that the organization will focus on this winter.
“I think there are three elements we have to be ready to handle this off-season. One is our six free agents,” Amaro said. “We have to deal with those. I think we have to deal with our age because we’re starting to move past and into the prime ages of production. And I think we have to address the bullpen because that’s something that could have been an Achilles’ heel. They ended up performing very well because our starters went deep into games.”
The topic that was on everybody’s mind, Jayson Werth, came up as well.
“I haven’t had any discussions with Scott [Boras] yet,” Amaro said. “I obviously will over the next 48 hours, we will make contact. I guess the following question is, do we have enough money to do it? And would we like to bring him back? I think the answer to both questions is yes. However, that will all kind of depend on what the ask is and ultimately how that will affect us with other possible moves to do it.”
When asked if signing Werth will impeded the Phillies other priorities.
“Not necessarily,” Amaro said.
The team also will unlikely negotiate with Jimmy Rollins this off-season. Rollins is entering the final season of his contract. The team will also likely address manager Charlie Manuel’s status since he’s going into his final year.
