1. Grady Sizemore
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| Him, Cole, and Chase could increase women attendance at the games three fold. |
Now this guy is a name that a lot of you
could be questioning significantly, but could be a big help anyway. He has been
plagued by injuries a lot over the past several years and that has really
affected his productivity. He is a CF by trade, but for right now would be a
solid platoon player with John Mayberry in LF due to the leftie/rightie
matchups. If one of them starts heavily outplaying the other than we can go
with the Charlie Manuel special and ride the hot hand. The last full season
Sizemore had free of injury was 2008 when he hit .268 with 33 HRs, 39 doubles
AND he stole 38 bases. The most telling indication there is that he has speed
and WE NEED THAT. For a team who is struggling to hit, if you can get a guy on
base (walk, single, HBP, etc…) and he can steal a bag for you, it may help a
team to play some small ball. Also, if a guy is out there stealing a lot of
bags, it may get into the head of the pitcher who may make a couple of
mistakes. All that Rhino, Chase, or Pence need is one mistake to make a close
game a blowout. Grady is also only 29 years of age, which could be a little bit
of youth to help an aging lineup get some energy and with all of his recent
injuries he could be a cheap pickup. Also, he shows some power. If what we
understand about the achilles injury to Howard is correct, he may not have the
power right away that he has had in the past and a guy capable of 39 HRs may be
what we need to jumpstart this offense again. Obviously Cuddyer is our main
focus right now, but if he doesn’t work out, Sizemore could end up on our radar
as the next best thing available. (To our best knowledge he hasn't officially re-signed with the Indians yet)
2.
Aramis Ramirez
This could be the biggest help to the
Phillies overall, but maybe the hardest to get. Aramis would be the class bat
that we need to put us back over the top. Not many people realize how good he
actually was for an awful Chicago Cubs’ team last year in which he hit .306 with
26 HRs. He posted the most hits of any season in his entire career with 173 and
he was doing it in a lineup where aside from Starlin Castro, he is the only
decent offensive player. He is not the youngest player around, but in the
closing window that the Phillies currently have, we can’t put too much emphasis
on age at this point. He also plays third base and that is a position that we
need help with because it is hard to rely on Polly as an everyday player at
this stage of his career. Aramis could be a potential player for this club, but
there is one factor that may be against the Phillies here: the pricetag. This
may be the one guy that could desperately help, but may be the most expensive
as well. His amount of years and salary could be something we are not willing
to open the coin purse on especially with a Cole Hamels free agency pending
next offseason. If we can get Aramis Ramirez at the right price though, this
may be a signing that would make sense for the Phillies.
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