Geoff Geary deal unworthy of Phillies news release

What does a guy need to do to earn some respect? Being one of the best relievers in the National League wasn’t enough for right-hander Geoff Geary, whose signing went largely unnoticed.

Typically, I can count on a nice, prepared news release from Phillies.com when a player signs a new deal, including stock quotes from assistant GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. After all, even Anderson Garcia, a lowly waiver claim, earned several graphs under company letterhead when the Phils signed him back on Jan. 5. In all likelihood, you may see him pitch once or twice in spring training and never see him again, unless you’re planning a trip to Ottawa.

But Geoff Geary is hardly replacement level. They’d be in big trouble without him. All he did last season was exceed expectations and become the most dependable pitcher out of the bullpen. On Tuesday, Geary and the Phils avoided arbitration and agreed on a 1-year, $837,500 deal, several thousand less than what Ryan Madson, a player of better pedigree, received earlier. Geary had been asking for over $900,000, but the two sides settled somewhere in the middle.

Geary led the team with 81 appearances, tied for 5th most in the NL, and went 7-1 with a 2.96 ERA. In four seasons, the 30-year-old former 15th-round pick is 10-2 with a 3.78 ERA in 159 appearances, quietly becoming one of the best home-grown relievers of the last decade.

Comments

[Will]

Maybe he's better than Garcia, in that he doesn't need graphs of justification of his signing, but not good enough to warrant the sounding of trumpets to coincide with the signing?

Or, more possibly, the Phillies PR just screwed up.

[AWH]

"Or, more possibly, the Phillies PR just screwed up."

You think???

[J. Weitzel]

Phillies offered Geary $750K and settled for $830K. To put it in perspective, Julio Santana signed an $800K contract before last season. Aaron Fultz got $1.2 million plus bonuses in arbitration before last season, but I believe that was his second or third arbitration.

[GM-Carson]

Three cheers for Gas-Can Geary!!!

[Oisin]

I still say the guy should be a pro cyclist. He's got the build for it.

[Tim]

good call J. geary is an easy guy to make fun of and a guy nobody wants to see on the mound, but no matter his 'stuff' he really does get the job done.

[Lake Fred]

Geary is one of those under the radar guys. The lack of a Phillies official press release keeps it that way. Maybe it's Phillies strategery! Yuck! Yuck!

I'm happy that the Gas Can will be back and hopefully happy. I guess if there is a lot of inflation and I am able to continue to find work until I'm 65, I will make in total what Geary will make this year.

[Alby]

Tim, I didn't mind seeing Geary on the mound at all last year, until I started worry about his workload in September. I've been trying for a couple of years to find some method of determining whether a middle reliever's ERA will go up or down the following year and haven't been able to do it. I strongly suspect, though, that workload has a lot to do with it, so I'm worried that he won't be as effective this year.

I will say this, though: When Geary first made the team, I thought he wasn't worth anything more than a cup of coffee. But his control has improved every year, to the point where he's a solid middle reliever. This is one reason I'm so reluctant to give up on Ryan Madson, whose stuff is much better but doesn't have good control yet.

[MG]

I always find it is amusing when a major league team sometimes fights tooth-and-nail over $50 or $75k. Seems utterly absurd.

[RickSchuBlues]

It might seem utterly absurd until you stop to think about how much money that actually is. Players' contracts are hardly the only expenses teams have to worry about.

[Alby]

There's something on ESPN's rumor central about moving Lieber for bullpen help, but it's for insiders only. Does anyone qualify?

[Jim]

Alby - The Insider blurb doesn't name names. Basically just pulled a blurb from the Daily News that Lieber doesn't have a spot in the rotation, and it quotes him as saying he'd be willing to pitch out of the 'pen.

[Andrew]

Good for Geary! A couple years ago we ran into Geary in the parking lot after a Spring Training game vs the Indians. He pitched an inning that day and did well. He spent a couple minutes speaking to my family & made my daugher's day. It was nice to see a Pro taking a few minutes to make a kids day special.

[Rich]

I agree with you Andrew. I met Geary a couple of years ago in Pittsburgh and he seemed like a quiet, unassuming guy. Its nice to see someone like that succeed once in awhile. Hopefully he'll keep it going this year. He's a very important piece of the Phillies puzzle right now.

[sdphillie]

Further pimping his character, I hope the Phillies do whatever they can to lock him up for quite some time. I met Geoff when they came to Petco through a friend from work who knew him, and he's one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He had to play it cool when the game was in progress, but we were exchanging notes back and forth between innings as if we were in grade school. Geoff is clearly a class act, and quietly does his role, and does it pretty damn well too. If we could have another like him in the pen, I'd be in Vegas plumping bills down on our World Series victory.