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Still Sizzlin' Stove in NL East

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The offseason Stove continues to stay Hot. The competition made some moves this weekend. The Metropolitans signed Tim Redding this weekend to a one year $2.25 million deal. This signing by the Metropolitans bothered me more than the Mets getting JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez. Redding, the former DC Nats pitcher, really owned the Phillies early last season. The Phillies did really get to Redding in one of his 4 starts against them last year, but in April and May Redding made two starts and in those starts, Redding threw 13 1/2 scoreless innings. Tim Redding is one of those pitchers that baffles the Phillies offense. Take away the 5th inning against the Phillies on July 30th, and Redding has a 1.14 ERA against Philadelphia last season.

Our Phillies should expect to see Redding four times in 2009 and, at 6-7 innings per outting, that's likely more innings than they'd face Franny and the putz.


Also cookin' on the stove this weekend were the Braves, who were craving Asian food. Atlanta signed a big addition for their pitching staff this weekend, inking former Chunichi Dragon big gun, Kenshin Kawakami to a contract. No details on the terms of the contract yet, and the deal is pending a physical examination. "KK" was the Central League's rookie of the year in 1998.


In home land news, our Phillies are reported to be interested in adding a right handed bat for the bench. The bench is normally reserved to 5 spots, and the Phillies, with the recent addition of former Brave Marcus Giles, will have plenty more than 5 players, battling for those 5 spots. Keep in mind that Chase Utley may not be ready for opening day and that perhaps Eric Bruntlett or Giles would be starting in his spot. Considering that point, the following men would be competing for 5 rosters spots: Ronny Paulino, Geoff Jenkins, Chris Coste, Matt Stairs, Greg Dobbs, Bruntlett or Giles. Then there are minor leaguers Brad Harman, Lou Marson and Jason Donald who will definitely be hungry in spring training.

According to the Inquirer, the two righty bats that the Phils are interested in are Nomar Garciaparra and Gabe Kapler. With the already full bench, the Phils would need to get rid of an existing contract, if they did sign another righty hitter. Stairs and his $1 million contract might be the easiest to unload, as Dobbs is rather appealing to the Phils due to his low salary and position versatility, and Geoff Jenkins is owed $8 million minimally ($6.75 for 2009 and at least a $1.25 million buyout in 2010), so it would be tough to get another team to take Jenkins' contract on.
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