Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr met the media today for his end of the season presser. He addressed everything from the disappointing end to the season to the teams' plans for this offseason. First on his plate will be making decisions on whether the team plans to bring back their own free agents like Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Madson, Raul Ibanez, Roy Oswalt (has an option) & Brad Lidge. Ibanez is all but assured to be gone, Madson likely to after his save totals inflated his value. Lidge will likely be bought out, but the big decision really is with Rollins.
He is currently the longest tenured athlete in the city and has been one of, if not the biggest face of this franchise during its recent run of success. Rollins, who will be 33 next month, said today that he's looking for a five year deal. Amaro wouldn't discuss specifics of the negotiations, but did say that the team wanted Jimmy back.
"There's no question we want Jimmy back in our uniform playing shortstop for the next several years. We'll see if we can get to the finish line." Amaro continued ,"We'll take all things into consideration as far as length [of contract] and commitment [of dollars]. We're still kicking around how far we want to go with Jimmy and what we want to try to do to keep him here. But I think he knows our priority is to keep him."
On Ryan Madson, he sounded less optimistic.
"He sits in the same place as Jimmy. We’d like to bring him back as our closer. But it takes two to tango. Those negotiations will be private. I know he’s excited to be a free agent because he’s never been in this position. How it plays out, we’ll see."
And finally on Roy Oswalt and the $12 million option he has for next year.
"We’re still discussing that internally. We’ve made no final decision on his situation. He is still one of the better starting pitchers in baseball. We have to make a decision on that, maybe a tough one."