Raul's a real loss for the Phillies

It was a shame to read today that Phillies outfielder Raul Ibanez has been placed on the 15-day DL.

I have to admit that I was quite critical of the Phillies' general manager Ruben Amaro Jr when he dived into the free agent market and signed Ibanez to a three year/ $31.5m deal midway through December last year.  The GM was new to the job and had one major hole to fill from the World Series-winning roster, with Pat Burrell being allowed to depart when his contract expired.  Ibanez was undoubtedly one of the candidates to fill that spot in left field, but there were other outfielders on the market and teams were in a holding pattern waiting for the prices to drop.

All teams except for the Phillies, that is. Amaro decided that Ibanez was the guy he wanted and he just went ahead and did what it took to get him. 

Ibanez has been a solid offensive player for years, but he's also been one of the few fielders who has challenged Burrell's ranking as 'scrap iron glove' of the Majors.  Both have a history of not getting to balls they should reach and too often not making plays when they do actually get there.  Add in the fact that Amaro appeared to have rushed in and bought at top dollar and the deal looked like a potential dud.

Ibanez had played in sixty-two games prior to hitting the DL today.  Over that span he has batted .312/.371/.656 with 22 homers and 59 RBIs: not exactly the sort of stats you would associate with a free agent flop.

Sixty-two games don't make a season for a position player, and Ibanez needs to continue producing over the next two years to fully justify Amaro's faith in him, but it's been a terrific start to his career in a Phillies uniform.

It's been so good in fact that Ibanez has accumulated more All-Star votes than any other NL outfielder. Hopefully this trip to the DL gives him enough time to rest and he can be back playing in good time to start the game in St Louis.