Geary avoids arbitration
Phillies reliever Geoff Geary avoided arbitration agreeing to one-year $837,500 contract. Geary was a workhorse-pitcher out of the bullpen for the Phillies last season. Geoff will figure prominently into the Phillies bullpen in 2007. If the Phillies don’t trade for a set-up man then Geary is one potential candidate for the job. If not he will pitch in critical late inning situations.
I’m a huge Geoff Geary fan. Every season he spends in the majors, he gets better. Geary had a tough start to the season but after that pitched great. He took it to a whole different level in the second half of the season. Geary who has a high career opponents batting average .279, began to mow down opposing batters lowering their average in the second half to .239. The improvement between the first and second half is astounding. Geary’s K/BB ratio went from 2.30 up to 4.70, WHIP dropped from 1.62 to 1.03, and average pitches per inning dropped from 17.10 to 14.90.
Geary amazingly pitched in half of the Phillies 162 games last season throwing 91.1 innings. Geary pitched so much last season that towards the end of the 2006 campaign he commented, “It feels like my arm is going to fall off. But when the [bullpen] phone rings, I don’t feel anything.” He deserves every dollar the Phillies pay him and should have a great 2007 season.
Sources:
Geary agrees to 1-year deal with Phillies
By AP from Yahoo.com
Notes Geary pitching through pain
By Ken Mandel / MLB.com
Picture of Geoff Geary from BBC.com
7 comments:
Good ol' Gas-Can Geary is a favorite of WSBGM's and we're glad he came to terms and is ready to become the trusted set-up man.
Middle inning relievers don't get a lot of good publicity, but that doesn't mean that there not important. Geoff Geary is a great example of that. He doesn't complain , he just goes out there and throws a zeros on the scoreboard. Geary is a consummate professional.
I had a similar opinion about the Geary deal. Cheap and worth it.
Getting Geary for that much is amazing. I don't expect him to repeat all of his numbers from last season, but I still see a solid ERA and a massive amount of IP from him.
Wasn't he also sent down back to AAA for a week or so because they needed to make room for Hamels last season? I remember something like that during the season and was shocked. Geary is a pure major leaguer.
I had forgotten that about Geary. He had to go down to AAA for 2 days after they called up Cole Hamel. Fortunately for Geary, Julio Santana went on the DL.
Fortunately for the Phillies, Julio Santana went on the DL
That's the truth.
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