True, that injury soaked era from 2009-2011 which produced a mixed bag of results did indeed exist. There’s that one reason I never minded it. The year before that.

In the winter of 2007 when the Phillies traded Michael Bourne, Geoff Geary, and Michael Constanzo for Brad Lidge and Eric Bruntlett, I recall thinking we gave up nothing for something but that was about it. I was plenty comfortable with Brett Myers handling the 9th if need be and when Lidge entered his presser on crutches, I really was prepared for a serious bust. Well nothing turned into something for the Astros. Michael Bourne in fact became a stellar outfielder. Geary didn’t hang around long and I couldn’t tell you whatever became of Constanzo except that I know he ended up playing in the Orioles system in ’08 as I saw him suit up for Norfolk Tide.

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File under: low risk/high reward. The Phillies have agreed to sign well traveled 33 year old Puerto Rican hurler Joel Pineiro to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. With Roy Oswalt gone and Joe Blanton still a bit of an uncertainty (as in he’s supposedly healthy now but an elbow issue is an elbow issue) it makes perfect sense to go dumpster diving and come up with Pineiro.

Pineiro is a nice addition and one would imagine he could be very much in the mix. He spent most of his career bouncing from the bullpen and the back of the rotation for the Seattle Mariners. His numbers never really that stellar, leave it to pitching guru Dave Duncan to turn him into an impressive mid-rotation starter during a 2 1/2 year stint in St. Louis. In 2010 he signed on with Anaheim where he’d continue to post half decent numbers. However in 2011 he fell back to Earth posting a 5.13 ERA over 145 innings.

Much like Blanton, when healthy Pineiro is a reputable innings eater. In the event Blanton isn’t healthy one would think Pineiro is the guy for the 4th or 5th spot. I like this move. Starting inventory isn’t exactly as deep as I would have preferred and Pineiro was one of the better names one could find without having to risk too many dollars, which the likes of Roy Oswalt will most certainly want.

Ryan Madson agreed to a deal last night with the Cincinnati Reds, thus bringing an end to his Phillies career. Lots of theories and stories have been brought to light since that fateful evening when the Madson deal fell apart. Was Boras trying to play games with the Phillies? Did the Phillies just decide the money was best spent on Papelbon? We’ll never know. What I do know is that it’s time to move on. Ryan Madson went from being a mediocre long man, a lousy starter, to being a premier late inning reliever. The success the Phillies have known the past five years doesn’t happen without him and this Phillies fan salutes him and wishes him luck in the future, except against the Phillies of course.

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I bought into it last season that starting Jodie Meeks over Evan Turner and company was a real good idea by Doug Collins. Sixers had no real outside presence, and all teams opposing teams needed to do was clog up the paint. Rookie Evan Turner and Andres Nocioni was not meeting expectation to the coaches and fans.

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The NBA Power Rankings came out today and the 76ers had moved from up from ranked 16th last week to 7th. Yet according to the stats the Sixers are ranked first in team offense (Off: 106.6 ppg) and first in team defense (90.2 pts allowed). Yup not top 5, but 7. So what is it? Maybe its their strength of schedule? But wait the first ranked Heat strength of schedule is worse than the Sixers….hmm. Let’s look at the other teams: Miami, Chicago, Portland, OKC, San Antonio, and Denver…Denver?

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