Philadelphia Phillies World Champions!

Put aside the mess that was the television ratings of the World Series, the last three innings of the World Series proved to be memorable, especially if you are a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies. In what turned into a shootout of a Game 5 ending, the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Tampa Bay Rays to win the Series 4-1.

This World Series had the local flair, as Shane Victorino of Maui, with Big Island Roots, not only played for the World Series Champs, but was a pivotal contender. The significance of his performance will mean something for his wallet, which I will get to in a second.

The storylines were compelling for this team: A much maligned closer pitching for redemption, who had not blown a save, and would keep it that way, an offense that could not drive in runners to save their lives for the first two games, a city that was so starved for a championship that they were turning from the "City of Brotherly Love" to the "City of Grumpy Whiners."

Now that the series is done, let's look forward:

Thanks to our good friends at the Hawaii Sports Page for passing along a link to a baseball blog which follows contracts of Major League Baseball players called Cot's Baseball Contracts. From that site comes the info they sent me:

Geoff Jenkins 5 Million
So Taguchi $900,000
Pedro Feliz $3 Million
Matt Stairs 1.6 million
Ryan Howard $10 million
Jimmy Rollins 8 million
Chase Utley 7.7 million

PLAYERS WHO MOST LIKELY WON'T BE BACK:

Pat Burrell of
6 years/$50M (2003-08)
6 years/$50M (2003-08)
avoided arbitration with Philadelphia 1/03
$1.5M signing bonus ($1M up front, $0.25M 1/04, $0.25M 1/05)
03:$1M, 04:$4M, 05:$7M, 06:$9.5M, 07:$13M, 08:$14M
full no-trade clause
award bonuses: $0.1M for MVP ($75,000 for 2nd, $50,000 for 3rd), $0.1M for WS MVP, $50,000 each for LCS MVP, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger or All Star selection
5 years/$8M (1998-2002)
$3.15M signing bonus
98:$0.75M, 99:$0.75M, 00:$0.8M, 01:$1.275M, 02:$1.275M
drafted by Philadelphia 1998 (1-1)
agent: Greg Genske
ML service: 7.131

Jamie Moyer lhp
2 years/$10.5M (2007-08)
2 years/$10.5M (2007-08)
signed extension with Philadelphia 10/06
$1M signing bonus
07:$6M, 08:$3.5M
2008 salary increases to:
$4.5M with 170 IP in 2007
$5.5M with 180 IP in 2007 (had 199.3 IP in 2007)
2008 performance bonuses: $0.5M each for 165, 175, 185 IP in 2008
1 year/$5.5M (2006)
re-signed by Seattle as a free agent 12/05
performance bonuses: $0.2M each for 160, 170, 180, 190, 200 IP
acquired by Philadelphia in trade from Seattle 8/06
Phillies added $4.75M 2007 mutual option ($0.5M buyout)
Seattle paid undisclosed amount of cash to Philadelphia
3 years/$15.5M (2003-05)
re-signed 12/02
$1.5M signing bonus
03:$6M, 04:$6.5M, 05:$8M ($1.5M base)
performance bonuses: $6M based on GS, 2003-04)
award bonus: $50,000 for All Star selection
2 years/$12M (2000-01), plus 2002 club option ($2.5M buyout)
Seattle exercised $6.5M 2002 option
agent: negotiated own contract
ML service: 19.126

Add to that players that are likely to get raises before the start of next year:

Cole Hamels $500,000
Shane Victorino $480,000

Who knows what may happen here? Oh, Hawaii Sports Page also sent this little comment along on the Phils for next season:

But they still need a left
fielder.... Manny is your phone on?

Good luck with that.