Thoughts on the departed and those under the knife

Written by Mike Mariano | 09 November 2009

Well it took some time to get back to the blog after the World Series finale.  It wasn't so much a bitterness, more like a detox.  I needed to shut the book on 2009, laugh, cry, whatever, and get ready for another fun offseason of trades and signings and Scott Boras (that part is no fun).  In the past few days, there has been some interesting Phillies news and lets jump into each one individually.  First the guys we won't see next year:

Brett Myers

This one hurts.  Brett has been a Philly lifer and fun to root for.  I understand all the problems he had with his wife, but I like his as a baseball player, not as a drinking buddy.  Well then again, he's probably a great drinking buddy, just my guess.  Myers has had ups, downs, more ups, more downs, but it's been a good ride.  It'll be sad to see him pitch in another uniform, but there really is no reason to pick up his option because he can't stay on the field.

Pedro Feliz

Pedro never hit 30 home runs like we hoped for in the pipe dream scenario when he signed.  However, Pedro played fantastic defense and added a few clutch hits and home runs to boot.  Pedro never set the world on fire, but Happy Peter was a great role player for some great teams.

Matt Stairs

I don't need to get into how much I love Matt Stairs.  I doubt he's going to accept a minor league deal from the Phillies but the move makes sense.  Stairs is an old man and we need to thank him for one of the biggest home runs of the 2008 title run and move on.  I'll still be wearing my Stairs shirt on the regular though, he was too much fun to watch hack to really forget about.

Also, some guys have surgery this week and that includes, Lidge (elbow), Eyre (elbow) and Ibanez (hernia).  Hopefully these surgeries explain some of the downward trending play from these guys and they'll return to health and maximum productivity in 2010.  It rarely works out that way, but a guy has to have hope.