Pat…It’s been fun

We officially reached the end of an era in Phillies baseball today. Pat Burrell (and Elvis the dog) has left the building.

Burrell signed a two-year deal reportedly worth about $16 million today with the Tampa Bay Rays. I can’t blame Burrell for inking the deal. He needed to move to an American League city where he could find his niche as a full time DH. He fits the DH role perfectly – a marginal, at best, defensive player with bad wheels who processes the ability to provide a little pop in the middle of the order. I think he’ll do well down in Tampa. Good luck to him.

I have my reservations about how the Phillies handled the Burrell situation. I can’t help but feel the Phillies bowed out of the Burrell race much sooner than they should have. Obviously, Burrell’s initial asking price of 2 years $22 million (or something along those lines) was a little steeper than the Phillies were willing go. However, I think they made a huge mistake by passing on Burrell so quickly and jumping on aging outfield Raul Ibanez. The Phils could have put forth a little more effort in the negotiation process to see if they could secure Burrell at the much more economical price Tampa paid. On paper, Ibanez might be an upgrade. However, I think I'd much rather have a 32 year old Burrell on the books for two more years versus a 36 year old Ibanez for three years.

Either way, I’ll miss Burrell next season. Despite his knack for looking at third strikes, Burrell stood as the consistent force in the lineup for the Phils over the past nine seasons. I’ll find it extremely weird to look at the Phils starting lineup without Pat the Bat penciled into the No. 5 slot.