Throwdowns > Closed

Bigalke said 12/13, 12:43 PM
Rowand is an immensely popular player in Philadelphia, just as he was with the White Sox previously. Hard working and full of moxie, Rowand is adept at winning the hearts of fans with his grit and determination. He had a career year last season, with his 27 homers and 89 RBI. A great season, indeed... but is this one warranting a $7.5+ million pay raise?

It is readily apparent that Rowand is a servicable center fielder. His lifetime fielding percentage is .989, certainly worthy of recognition. But none of your arguments centered around who would play Dykstra in center for the Phillies -- it centered around how the offense would be terrible without Rowand...

So let's argue offense. Rowand, career year last season aside, is a lifetime .286 batter who averages 18 homers and 66 RBI a season... hardly worthy of $12 million per year. With Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley all on board, the Phillies offense will be fine...

(all avg/162 gm.)
Utley: .300, 27 HR, 109 RBI
Howard: .291, 51 HR, 139 RBI
Rollins: .277, 17 HR, 71 RBI

All are equivalent or better than Rowand, cost less and are younger... plus offense isn't really the problem for the Phils in trying to take the NL East.

Bigalke said 12/13, 11:27 PM
The argument comes down to three things:

1. The Phillies did make an attempt to keep Rowand. As Phillys himself stated in the comments, Philadelphia offered Rowand three years with an option for a fourth. As the topic is " The Phillies should of tried to re-sign Aaron Rowand", the burden of proof has been met. They did try to resign Rowand... another bidder simply offered more.

2. While he may be a fan favorite, it indeed would be absurd to pay Rowand more for his average offense than the team pays Howard and Utley and Rollins. These are the pieces of the puzzle who will need to be resigned in the coming years, and Philadelphia shrewdly kept its fiscal options open by not overextending itself with a long-term, high-dollar contract to Rowand.

3. The entirety of my opponent's argument has come down to the loss of Rowand's offensive production. 18 HR and 66 RBI can be replaced much more cheaply than $12 million a season. It certainly hurts to lose him in centerfield, but the lineup doesn't suffer greatly with his loss.

As I stated, Rowand is a good fielder and an average bat... hardly worthy of upper-echelon money. The Phillies made a prudent offer; Rowand sought more elsewhere...

Bigalke said 12/16, 01:10 AM
<font color="red">Forfeited Turn</font>