So Much For Raul Ibanez in Queens!

For the first time ever, ESPN has found a deal before SI.com. I say we can now give a toast to the baseball guys at ESPN for not reporting BREAKING NEWS about 5 hours after everyone else has heard about it.

I hate when ESPN says things like, "sources tell ESPN that blah blah blah" when those sources are probably SI.com!

Moving on, so Raul Ibanez is officially not a Met. Minaya did say that he is sticking with his position players (unless they go after Manny - which would not surprise me), but, there were rumors to the contrary about Ibanez. The Phillies have grabbed him to replace Pat Burrell (who still has no team - note the last paragraph in the linked article).

He is a better hitter (with a bit less power) than Burrell, but he hits almost 40 points higher for his career. The only downside for the Phillies is that Pat The Bat is a righty and Raul is a lefty. This deal makes the Phillies vulnerable to a left handed starter (perhaps in the mold of a Johan Santana or Oliver Perez?)!

It is rough carrying 2 power hitters who hit .250 (Ryan Howard isn't going anywhere), so I think this is a good deal for the Phillies.


SHOULD HELP THE METS AGAINST THE PHILLIES NEXT YEAR!

Note: in a totally random Phiadelphia thought, I was watching the Flyers game last night in which they were losing 5-1 at the end of 2 periods. My roommate is a Flyer fan and I was making fun of him for how pathetic his team looked! Low and behold, I come back an hour later and he tells me they scored 4 goals in the third and won the game in a shoot out! How the hell did Carolina give up 4 goals in the third? Just pass the puck around!

Yaros