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Kevin Millwood has until midnight tonight to accept salary arbitration from the Phillies, and his decision will go a long way in determining the look of next season's ball club.
"I like our rotation the way it sets up right now," Phillies GM Ed Wade said. "But at the same time it would be foolish not to feel better about a rotation that would include Kevin."
If Millwood accepts, he becomes the opening-day starter in a rotation that includes
Randy Wolf, Vicente Padilla, Eric Milton and Brett Myers. That's four all-stars
and one potential all-star in Myers. If Millwood declines, the Phillies expect
a pitcher such as Ryan Madson or Amaury Telemaco, who signed a one-year, $525,000
contract with performance bonuses yesterday, to become the fifth starter.
Millwood said yesterday afternoon that he had not made up his mind.
"We'll sit down and talk about it and figure out what we're going to do,"
he said.
Millwood said early last week that he was likely to accept, although his agent,
Scott Boras, has cautioned that Millwood will have offers to consider.
Millwood also said that he has received interest from other teams.
During baseball's winter meetings in New Orleans, buzz about Millwood was hard
to find. Most baseball insiders said that teams that might want to take a run
at Millwood - the New York Mets, St. Louis and Atlanta - don't seem to have
the financial wherewithal to make a deal. Those same people have said they expect
Millwood to accept arbitration.
The Phillies offered Millwood a three-year, $30 million contract with a vesting
option for a fourth season on Nov. 20, but Boras rejected it. Boras has sought
a five-year deal for Millwood. The Mets don't seem likely to go more than three
years, and it seems the Cardinals would have to move a player like Jim Edmonds
to free up salary for Millwood before they could complete a deal. The Braves
also don't seem to have the cash available.
Wade spoke with Millwood on Wednesday and restated the team's interest in having
him back.
"It was a good conversation," Wade said. "Hopefully the next
conversation we'll have will be what day he's planning to get to Clearwater.
I'm hoping it goes that way, but there are no guarantees."
Wade finds himself in a familiar position. A year ago tomorrow, he missed serving
a holiday dinner with other Phillies executives, coaches and former players
at the Bethesda Project's "Our Brothers" homeless shelter in Philadelphia
because he had to take a call from Braves GM John Schuerholz, who told him that
he had agreed to trade Millwood to the Phillies for catcher Johnny Estrada.
Wade possibly could miss the event again to take another call about Millwood's
future with the Phillies.
"I hope to be there to help, but at the same time I wouldn't mind taking
that call," Wade said.
Millwood, who will turn 29 on Christmas Eve, went 14-12 with a 4.01 ERA last
season, but went 1-3 with a 5.94 ERA in September. He finished first in the
National League in shutouts (three); second in starts (35), complete games (5)
and quality starts (23); and third in innings pitched (222). He also allowed
more stolen bases than any other NL pitcher with 41. Greg Maddux finished second
with 26.
The Phils scored 4.62 runs per game in support of Millwood last season - fewer
than for Wolf, Padilla or Myers.