According to Jayson Stark of ESPN.com, the Phillies have agreed to a 3 year/$30 million contract with free agent outfielder Raul Ibanez, who will replace Pat Burrell in left field. Ibanez has hit at least 20 home runs and driven in at least 100 runs each of the last three years, and hits consistently around .290.

Two drawbacks: First, he’s 36 and will be 37 in June. Pat Burrell, on the other hand, is 32. But Burrell wanted a lot more money. The other catch is that Ibanez bats left-handed, meaning that in the middle of the lineup, there are now three left-handed hitters (Ryan Howard, Chase Utley). That said, if they went after Delmon Young, they probably would have had to trade Jason Donald to get him.

So the Phillies get a cheaper alternative to Burrell, and get to keep Donald. While the three lefties in the middle of the lineup is a mild concern, Utley and Howard are elite players and can hit all pitchers anyway.

Baseball has a Commissioner, a President, and a King. And this year the king is a Phillie.

Pat Gillick, who finished his tenure as Phillies General Manager with a World Series title, was crowned “King of Baseball” Thursday night at the annual Winter Meetings banquet in Las Vegas. Basically, every year Minor League Baseball salutes someone in baseball for their service to the game. In Gillick’s case, it was 51 years of service. He retired as Phillies GM, but still serves as an advisor to the team.

He was the GM of playoff teams in Toronto, Seattle, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, and in addtion to the 2008 Phillies, he ran the World Series winning Blue Jays teams of 1992 and 1993.

A three-team trade which would have sent Mark DeRosa to the Phillies, Jake Peavy to the Cubs, and a series of prospects to the Padres, has fallen through, according to San Diego GM Kevin Towers. Seemingly, the Phillies chances of getting DeRosa are now nil as well. Manager Lou Piniella is a big fan of Mark DeRosa and they really didn’t want to trade him in the first place.

What’s next? The Phillies could go after Delmon Young of the Twins, but that could cost them top prospect Jason Donald. At some point, and we might be a ways away, you wonder if they might try to convince Pat Burrell to take a shorter deal than he is looking for.

One of the Phillies prospects who could have been in the deal for DeRosa was Kyle Kendrick (BlueClaws 2004-2006). This brings up memories of the last time Kendrick was almost traded.

The Winter Meetings basically finish up today with the annual Rule 5 Draft, where eligible players not on their organization’s 40-man roster can be selected by another organization.

Eligibility: Players drafted or signed at age 19 or older are exempt for three years. Players drafted or signed at age 18 or younger are exempt four years. The exemptions were extended a year back in 2006. Everyone else not on the 40-man roster is eligible to be selected.

If Selected: A selected player must be kept on the 25-man active roster of his new team for the entire season, and be active for 90-days (as opposed to on the disabled list). If the player is not on the 25-man roster for the whole year, he must be offered back to his original team for half the $50,000 selection price.

Relevance: While the pool has been weakened a bit in recent years because of the extensions to ineligible players (see above), the Rule 5 Draft has produced tremendous players in the past, such as Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente and future Hall of Famer Johan Santana, among many others.

Phillies: They got Shane Victorino in the Rule 5 Draft a few years ago, but picking 25th (it goes in inverse order of standings), probably all of the top guys in this draft will be selected. If a Philly does get taken, I would guess it’s Jeremy Slayden. They put Sergio Escalona (BlueClaws 2007-2008) and Joel Naughton (2007-2008) on their 40-man roster on November 20th to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft.

Update #1: The Phillies selected Robert Mosebach in the Rule 5 Draft, selecting 17th overall, moving up because some teams did not have a roster spot and others elected to pass on their selection. He went 9-12 this year with Arkansas, the Angels’ Double-A affiliate. Mosebach had a 4.62 ERA and opponents hit .305 against him. Drafted in the 9th round of the 2005 draft by the Angels, Mosebach must stay on the Phillies 25-man roster for 2009 or be offered back to the Angels. The numbers aren’t great but the Phillies and their scouts obviously saw something in the right-hander, who turns 25 in September. He’s listed at 6-4 / 195 by the Angels.

The Phils didn’t lose anybody in the Major League portion of the draft. More to follow.

Update #2: There’s also a minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft, though teams can protect additional players from selection. The requirement of staying on the big league roster doesn’t apply here; this is more for minor league teams to fill out their rosters. While the Phils didn’t lose anyone in the major league portion, they did lose a few in minor league portion. Reading backup catcher John Suomi goes to the Royals, and relief pitchers Brett Harker (BlueClaws 2006) and Ronald Hill (2006-2007) go to the Marlins.

Update #3: The Phillies added 2b Kyle Haines from San Francisco and Javis Diaz from San Diego in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday. Haines hit .261 with Double-A Connecticut last year, while Diaz hit .253 playing for Hi-A Lake Elsinore and Triple-A Portland.

Interesting Note: Brett Harker and Andrew Barb combined for 35 saves on the 2006 SAL Champion BlueClaws, and both were selected in the minor league portion of today’s Rule 5 Draft. Barb, who was traded by the Phillies in the Jamie Moyer trade to the Mariners, went from Seattle to Baltimore, while Harker went from the Phillies to Florida.

A minor move for the Phillies involving a former BlueClaws player, and the move directly impacts another former BlueClaws player.

Catcher Jason Jaramillo, who hit .304 with the BlueClaws in 2005, has been traded to the Pirates for Ronny Paulino. Paulino now competes with Chris Coste for the backup catcher’s spot, and with Jaramillo gone, the starting catcher’s role at Triple-A Lehigh Valley will go to Lou Marson (BlueClaws 2006).

We spoke to Marson a few weeks ago, who said his goal for 2009 was to make the opening day roster as a backup to starter Carlos Ruiz (BlueClaws 2001). That won’t happen, barring injury. However, with Jaramillo no longer with the organization, Marson gets a big stamp of approval as the Phillies catcher of the future. Marson was named the 43rd best prospect in baseball by a survey of scouts done by MLB.com.

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The Phillies are still in play for Mark DeRosa, in a deal that would give the Cubs ammo to get Jake Peavy from the Padres. Names mentioned include Kyle Kendrick (BlueClaws 2004-2006), JA Happ (BlueClaws 2005), and Edgar Garcia (BlueClaws 2007). Jason Donald could be in play if the Phils go after Delmon Young of the Twins, which would only happen if a deal for DeRosa falls through.

It’s been a great week for the Mets bullpen, the biggest weakness on their team last year. In fact, it’s gone from one of the worst in baseball to one of the best, with the signing of Francisco Rodriguez, who set the single-season saves record this year with 62, to be their new closer, and today’s trade for JJ Putz of the Mariners to pitch the 8th inning. They traded Aaron Heilman and Endy Chavez to Seattle with three prospects, as well as Joe Smith to Cleveland. The Indians traded Franklin Gutierrez, a young OF, to Seattle. Putz battled injuries this year and had a 3.88 ERA, but in 2006 and 2007, he struck out 186 in 150 innings and saved 76 games with a combined sub-2 ERA.

Analysis: Both moves are no-brainers for the Mets, who last year lost a whopping 29 games in which they were either tied or leading after six innings. The Phillies, who won the division by three games, only lost 19. The Mets were also able to hold on to their top prospects, including OF Fernando Martinez and LHP Jon Niese. In the age of the six-inning starter, the importance of a quality bullpen cannot be understated, and now the two best bullpens in the National League reside in Philadelphia and New York.

The other benefit is now that K-Rod and Joba Chamberlain are in the same city, we can see first-hand who has the most dramatic strikeout fist pump.

Just checked in with BlueClaws Director of New Client Development Mike Van Hise for an update as the Winter Meetings begin to wind down in Las Vegas.  

“This is the biggest trade show I’ve seen,” said Van Hise. “Daktronics always has a great display. They have one of their big scoreboards up front.”

In addition to the Monday seminars (“We split up to conquer them all”), the thing that stood out the most was the way a buzz was able to cut through the city as some of the big league teams were finishing up major free agent additions. “There was an unbelievable buzz when Sabathia signed, and yesterday too, with the Mets getting K-Rod.”

Celebrity sightings: Omar Minaya, Joe Maddon, Ozzie Guillen, Eddie Murray, Doug Drabek, and Eddie George.

Very important…This Saturday, December 13th, we’ll be hosting our annual “Breakfast with Buster” food and toy holiday drive at FirstEnergy Park. We kindly ask that if you can, please come out to the park, from 9 – 11 a.m. Bring an unwrapped toy or non-perishable food item to donate to the Salvation Army of Ocean County.

I sat down with Jim DeAngelis, BlueClaws Director of Community Relations, to preview the event and talk about the BlueClaws involvement in the community. You can hear the interview over at ClawCasts.com.

The kids can get their pictures taken with Buster and his holiday friend, Santa Claus, and Manhattan Bagel of Brick is supplying free bagels and coffee for everyone who donates.

It’s a great cause at an important time of the year. If you can make it, please come out to the ballpark. Do a good deed and have a great time. It’s worth it.

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You may have seen on the front page or in our e-newsletter (subscribe up on the left side of this page, right below Pinchy), the Phillies Winter Tour is coming back for the ninth time this year. It’s January 13th, a Tuesday night, and you’ll be able to get your picture taken with the World Series trophy. That’s a unique thing that few get the chance to experience. Whether you’re a Phillies fan or not, save the date.

We’ll have more details soon, but for now mark off January 13th on your calendars.

A quiet baseball off-season is about to pick up. The New York Post reported early this morning that CC Sabatiha has agreed to a deal with the Yankees after an lengthy decision-making process. The Yankees made the offer, which makes Sabathia the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history, on the first day of free agency almost a month ago. Some reports say it is a 6-year, $140 million deal, while others say the Yankees added on a year and $20 million.

So what does this mean for everybody else? Well, now that Sabathia is off the market, Derek Lowe, AJ Burnett, and Ben Sheets now move to the head of the line. The Phillies have offered Lowe, though some believe it is just a way to get Jamie Moyer to lower his demands and re-sign with them. Either way, now that the first domino has fallen, it should speed up the process for everyone else. Some reports say Lowe is close to signing with the Yankees, and Burnett could be an Atlanta Brave. But things can change very quickly. Stay tuned.

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On the Phillies front, Charlie Manuel gets his contract extension, three years which takes him through 2011.

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Todd Zolecki of the Inquirer reports that the Phils could trade Jason Donald, one of their five best prospects, in a trade for Twins OF Delmon Young. The Phillies are looking for a right-handed power-hitting outfielder, and the Twins are high on the infielder who excelled this year in Reading and in the Arizona Fall League.

BlueClaws merchandise manager Tom Frye checked in earlier to talk about the big trade show they have annually at the Winter Meetings, one of the centerpieces of the event.

Picture an enormous convention center (in this case the Las Vegas Convention Center) with over 300 vendors out there hawking their products. We’re talking everybody from the biggest companies out there like Nike, Reebok, and Rawlings, to the smallest ma-and-pa t-shirt operations. Anything that a team could use, whether it be for sale in the merchandise shop or a partner for a giveaway of some kind, it’s being sold at this trade show.

“One company had literally a full scoreboard they were showing,” said Frye. “They had to buy three booths just to fit it in.”

Vantage Apparel had a lot of pre-embroidered merchandise in a demo store set up by Minor League Baseball. “They had four or five BlueClaws items in there. That was pretty cool,” said Frye.

Sorry folks, they wouldn’t actually be getting the Cy Young winner.

Jim Salisbury reports in the Philadelphia Inquirer today that the Phillies are interested in Mark DeRosa from the Cubs, both to provide a right-handed bat in left field and as insurance for Chase Utley, who could be out until June.

JA Happ (BlueClaws 2005) could go to the Cubs, who would then package Happ and others to San Diego to land Peavy.

MLB.com recently surveyed a series of professional scouts to come up with a top-50 ranking of all the prospects in baseball, and there were two ex-BlueClaws on the list. Carlos Carrasco was 28th and Lou Marson slotted in 43rd. Both were members of the 2006 SAL Champion BlueClaws team.

Carrasco, the top ranked Phillies prospect, finished 2008 at Lehigh Valley and will be in the mix (along with ex-Claws Kyle Kendrick and JA Happ, and Andrew Carpenter) to be the Phillies 5th starter in 2009. He also started the Futures Game for the World All-Stars and threw a shutout inning.

Marson played for the US team in the Futures Game and was on the Olympic team that brought home a bronze medal. Read our Q&A with Marson here.

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Baseball America does a great job with their top-ten prospect lists for each organization. They’ll release their Phillies list for 2009 in early January. Carrasco was 16th in 2006, and 1st in 2007 and 2008. He’ll almost certainly be 1st again in 2009.

Marson was 23rd in 2006, 19th in 2007, and 8th in 2008. I would think he’d be 2nd this year but it wouldn’t be a surprise if it were Jason Donald.

John Manuel of Baseball America has the Phillies list this year. We’ll talk with him soon, so stay tuned.

Blog contributor, and BlueClaws marketing manager Zack Rosenberg checked in with some more updates from the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas.

Well what do people do there? It’s not all fun and games (despite this year’s setting). “Lots of meetings and seminars,” said Rosenberg. Brainstorming and “Making sure our games are 3-4 hours of non-stop entertainment. We have to put everything we have into cramming as much fun into each game as we possibly can.”

Several awards were handed out at an annual luncheon, and the Tampa Bay Rays were the winners of an Organization of the Year Award. No surprise there. Not only did they make previously unheard of strides at the big league level, their farm system has been consistently ranked among the top-five in the sport for several years.

Quick follow-up to the Phillies party from Sunday night, where in addition to schmoozing with the higher-ups in the organization, the staffs of each of the Phillies affiliates were introduced. ”It’s always nice to put names to faces,” said Rosenberg. “We talk to these guys all year on the phone, but we never get to meet them in person until this week.”

Tomorrow: Our first look at the massive Winter Meetings trade show, one of the centerpieces of the event.

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Still waiting for an answer to the question we posed earlier: Which big-leaguer was rehabbing with the BlueClaws in August of 2007 at the same time as Shane Victorino (Victorino made a surprise appearance at the Phillies party on Sunday). Bruce asked if it was Ryan Howard. It was not. Howard was here in May of that year for two days.

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Some notes: We’ll catch up with ex-Phillies, and current Oakland Athletics prospect Adrian Cardenas (BlueClaws 2007) in the coming days, as well as 2008 BlueClaws pitcher Julian Sampson on Wednesday.

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January 13th is the Phillies Winter Tour stop in Lakewood. We’ll have more details in the coming days, but you’ll be able to get your picture taken with the World Series trophy, a unique experience. So save the date.

Here are a few notes from Day 1 of baseball’s Winter Meetings in Las Vegas.

Last night was the annual Phillies party, which this year centered around the team’s World Series title. As usual, the affiliates were all there, as was the entire baseball operations department.

Geoff Brown, BlueClaws GM, was excited to see Shane Victorino, who made a surprise appearance. Kudos to anyone who remembers which big-leaguer Victorino rehabbed with in Lakewood in August of 2007. It was the only time in BlueClaws history with two big-leaguers rehabbing at the same time. Who was it?

There were huge ovations for manager Charlie Manuel and General Manager Ruben Amaro, Jr., who are in Vegas hoping to tweak the roster. They still want to re-sign Jamie Moyer. We’ll see what happens.

Geoff Brown, and BlueClaws Director of Promotions, Hal Hansen, were excited to run into Randy Ruiz in their hotel lobby. Ruiz was a BlueClaw in 2004, when he drove in 91 runs, a BlueClaws single-season record. He became the 21st former BlueClaw to make it to the majors, when he debuted with the Twins on August 1st.

Ruiz, Brown, and Hansen had a nice chat, catching up on everything from Lakewood, and was Ruiz was eager to find out how things are going here at the Jersey Shore.