Walshy's Wrap Around

Welcome to Walshy’s Wrap Around. Yes the the Olympics are here and we have no NHL to talk about but there is a big date that is all hockey fans heads and that’s the Trade Deadline. The Flyers were in heavy talks with Atlanta before Kovalchuk was sent to New Jersey. Now we have another problem, yes theirs always a problem. Emery will be sidelined the entire Olympic break with a hip injury and it could drag on into the 2nd half. If a move is made for a goaltender it will most likely mean that Emery will not be returning next season.

One possible goalie to come to Philly is Marty Turco. Yes it’s a big name but some say hes on the decline. He has started 60 plus games every season since 03 and posted sub 2.00 GAA twice in that span bringing him to a team in the hunt could bring the bang back to Turco. He’s an ok at best playoff goalie with a 21-26 record and a 2.17 GAA. Yes you could say he didn’t get goal support and Id agree with you but in the season where his team had been bounced out of the 1st round he had a plus 3 GAA. That is not good.

Another possibility is Tomas Vokoun, this 33 year old Slovak has played for 3 different teams in his career Habs, Predators, and currently the Panthers. With the Habs he played 1 game lasted 20 mins and gave up 4 goals CMON and really hasn’t done all that well in his career except the 05-06 season where he went 36-18 with a 2.67 GAA not bad on a bad team. Another downfall he has 11 career playoff games with a combined 2-8 record. Just what the Flyers need right.

When it comes down to it I think it will be easier to get Turco now since there are 3 goalies in Dallas then Vokoun but I see Holmgren making a push for this 2-8 playoff goalie. Just seeing how the flyers have traded in recent past I see Vokoun coming to Philly.

Fat Joey

Anybody who has ever bickered and argued with me knows that im not a joe blanton fan at all. when we traded for him i gave him a chance and came out highly disappointing. hes a very solid number 4 pitcher, but not for the price. think of all the alternatives we could have signed for less. we could have signed a possible stud in joel pineiro. although blanton makes 1 mil less in 2010 the two contracts both equal out to 8 mil a year. we possibly could have gotten ben sheets or erik bedard two guys who could come out dominating. so why did we have to sign a mediocre pitcher who has only had ONE good season? better yet why did we sign him for so long? thanks to this contract you might as well kiss jayson werth good bye. its not the shane vic contract that all but garuntees werth is gone unless he takes a discount its this one. the contract given to vic is a well deserved one, and we prob saved money by avoiding arbitration next offseason because 1 more season of what hes been doing these last 2 seasons and he coulda gotten around 10 mil in arbitration. but this one just reeks of awfulness. think long and hard. what would you rather have? a pitcher who can get 12 wins with a 4.10 era or a 5 tool outfielder who will steal 30, hit 30 hr, and roam the outfield like hes a tori hunter clone? better yet, lets say we dont even resign werth, think of the pitchers on the free agent market who will command around 8.5 mil a year like hes getting. theres jorge de la rosa, hes shaky with command but ill still take him over fat joseph, theres vazquez who i believe will have a down season in yankee stadium which will knock him around 8.5 mil or maybe a little higher to 10 mil, theres even the most underrated pitcher in the mlbDuchscherer who will prob get even less than 8.5 mil. now lets take a look at the studs who we could have used that 8.5 mil plus moyers 6.5 mil coming off the books that we possibly could have made a run at. theres the very unlikely option yet still an option cliff lee, theres a little bit of a more realistic guy in brandon webb, and theres the most likely guy in josh beckett, who i am not a fan of but would take him over blanton anyday. hopefully now people will stop praising ruben amaro for a well job done this offseason because he has been far from impressive. ruben was handed the keys to a cadillac and hes slowly turning it into a pinto. thats what we get for promoting this tool instead of the obviously better talent evaluator mike arbuckle. heres to hoping ruben doesnt eff up too much before his tenure in philly is over!

Written by Mike "fiz" Foley