A lot of this off season I have spent pondering a few minor things and one big thing. I knew the Phillies would sign one of the big closers as they did with Papelbon. I knew they’d sign/trade for some good bench options as they did with Thome and Wigginton. Those seemed like issues that would sort themselves out the way they have. The big issue is concerns who the shortstop is in 2012.

I’ve considered lots of pros and cons when it comes to Jimmy Rollins. The Rollins the Phillies got between ’04-’07 who got on base a ton and swiped lots of bags and who managed to hit 30 bombs in his MVP season just doesn’t exist anymore. He was a super player and a true pleasure to watch during those seasons as the team developed into the elite team that the Phillies are today.

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For most of his career, reliever Brian Sanches has been hanging around the NL East organizations. From ’04-’07 he was with the Phillies system chewing up some rather brutal frames for the big club in ’06 and ’07. Washington had him the next year where he did basically the same thing which was to come up from the minors to suck for a handful of innings. Then out of nowhere he bloomed into a pretty respectable bullpen arm for the Marlins.

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Nothing really shattered the earth in Phillies news today but lots got done. It seemed like an hour didn’t go by today without some news that concerned the minor league club, particularly Triple-A Lehigh Valley. What gets overlooked is how big the Iron Pigs are in Allentown and if you haven’t gone to see them yet, I highly recommend you do so. They are coming off their best season where they finished 80-64 and went to the Governor’s Cup Finals where they ultimately lost to the Columbus Clippers.

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Ty Wigginton is one of those guys who had been linked to the Phillies for various reasons over the years. It makes sense that in the fall/winter of ’11, they acquire him out of the bargain bin. I always liked Wigginton and have felt the Phillies were long overdue to get a player of his sort who you can stick anywhere in the field who has some pop to his bat. As we found out this past season, players like this can help you win a World Series.

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In an era where the Phillies are pulling off huge trades for the likes of Roy Halladay and Hunter Pence and signing Cliff Lee out of nowhere, they have went out an acquired one of the best closers in the game formerly of the Boston Red Sox, Jonathan Papelbon.

Papelbon is coming off a very good season where he notched 31 saves while posting a 2.94 ERA and a strike out/walk ratio of 87/10 in 64.1 innings pitched. His WHIP was most impressive at 0.93. It appears the contract is for 4 years and $50 million with a vesting option for a 5th year which could turn this into the largest relief contract in baseball history. Without a doubt, this is a very solid signing.

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