Offseason 2009 Philadelphia Phillies season

1 offseason

1.1 departures
1.2 arrivals
1.3 retentions
1.4 injuries

offseason
departures

on november 4, following world series, phillies released third base coach steve smith. smith had been team 2 years. phillies expected have remaining coaches return 2009 season. however, bench coach jimy williams opted not return phillies 2009 season, notifying team on november 10. charlie manuel had expected williams return 2009 season, , surprised declined. however, williams left team on terms, , manuel stated welcome come phillies if changed mind. left fielder pat burrell became free agent @ end of 2008 season, signing tampa bay rays, whom phillies had defeated in world series, on january 5. team did not tender offer burrell following 8 seasons. phillies released outfielder taguchi on november 5. taguchi had served pinch-hitter phillies in 2008, , replaced burrell in left field games. eric bruntlett replaced taguchi latter half of 2008 season. relief pitcher tom gordon filed free agency, signing arizona diamondbacks.

arrivals

raúl ibañez signed three-year contract phillies in december 2008.

on november 3, phillies named rubén amaro, jr. general manager after pat gillick retired @ end of three-year contract. amaro had long history phillies, serving bat boy in 1980s, player in 1990s, , assistant general manager phillies 1998 until appointment general manager. gillick remained phillies advisor. on november 13, sam perlozzo joined phillies third base coach , fielding/infield coach after spending 2008 season in same position seattle mariners. perlozzo served third base coach new york mets, cincinnati reds, , third base coach, bench coach, , manager baltimore orioles. former manager, pete mackanin, named team s new bench coach on november 21; had been interim manager reds when jerry narron fired in cincinnati in 2007. on november 28, phillies signed mike koplove koplove, right-handed relief pitcher, optioned aaa lehigh valley ironpigs @ end of spring training. on december 16, raúl ibañez agreed play left field phillies in 3-year, $31.5 million deal. south korean pitcher chan ho park officially signed one-year contract join phillies on january 6, after agreeing deal in principle in december. park signed insurance policy bullpen, reliever j. c. romero assigned fifty-game suspension after violating major league baseball drug policy, won fifth starter s job in spring training.

retentions

left-handed reliever scott eyre re-signed phillies after becoming vital part of bullpen during stretch run. phillies re-signed left-handed starter jamie moyer on december 15 after lengthy negotiations. 46-year-old moyer inked two-year contract return world champions , kept key part of phillies postseason rotation intact. team avoided salary arbitration first baseman ryan howard s three-year contract.

injuries

chase utley , pedro feliz (pictured) both had offseason surgeries after 2008 world series.

on november 20, second baseman chase utley had hip surgery , scheduled out 4 6 months. however, on december 15, utley said in press conference ready opening night. under 4 months later, utley made first pre-season game appearance in intersquad game march 14, , first appearance in actual game competition next day against st. louis cardinals. third baseman pedro feliz had surgery on repair herniated disc on same day utley. feliz officially returned spring training action on march 13. during spring training, starting pitcher cole hamels left training camp on march 16 , flew philadelphia have left elbow examined dr. michael ciccotti. hamels felt tightness in between innings , after done pitching day. set me couple of days, , don’t think should big deal , said hamels. however, injury threw opening day start against braves doubt, though ciccotti found no structural damage in arm; brett myers announced hamels replacement start opening night.