Free agent busts say the darndest things

During the playoff run, one notable Phillie was conspicuously absent: Adam Eaton.

Christine and I waited and waited for some reporter to snag the big interview on how the $24 million bust felt watching the playoffs from wherever he spent October.

It took blog-lover Murray Chass to track him down.

Among the jewels we learned from Mr. Eaton:

• The Phillies never informed him that he sucks, so he didn't know why he didn't pitch at the end of the season. "You'd have to ask them. I didn't ask them. There wasn't necessarily a lot of communication."


• He did his part to help the Phillies win the World Series by going away. "I'm not worried about a World Series share. I'm happy for the team. Not that I contributed in the second half, but going to minors I felt I was helping myself and the team."


• It's going to be deja vu in spring training. "I think I need to establish myself again. The off-season started a few days ago so who knows what's in store for anybody, whether you'll be traded or what. Right now I'm a member of the Phillies and hope to win another World Series."

Because it had been so long since we've heard from Eaton, I thought we should take a look back at some of our favorite 2008 Adam Eaton memories:

In August after getting shelled by A and AA hitters:

But the way I felt and the way I made the adjustment throwing breaking balls for strikes (later in the game) and (the fact I was) able to get ahead and put some guys away with the slider and curveball ... I take positives from that.

And:

I made a few bad pitches. Definitely would like to have one back, the grand slam. Learned from that mistake and ended up striking him out the next time.

In a 6-4 loss to the Diamondbacks in May, Eaton gave up five runs in the fourth inning, including one when he walked Randy Johnson with the bases loaded.

In April, Charlie Manuel used Eaton as a pinch runner. I speculated the manager was hoping his dud of a pitcher would get injured on the basepaths.

Eaton had other ideas:

I was hoping we'd hit a home run.

In March, Eaton didn't mind losing his spring training finale 14-5:

The results weren't great, but I felt good. I felt like my stuff was just as good at the end as it was at the beginning. The way I feel and the way my stuff is, I'm pretty happy.

He was also shelled in his first spring training start, which led to this infamous quote:

I think I've established myself as a big-leaguer. I'm getting paid extremely handsomely, probably more than I'm worth. But everyone is not worth what they're getting paid. It's fun. If you don't like the competition, what are you doing here?
Everyone should thrive on competition.

Now that we've covered the LVP, onto MVP news. As expected, Ryan Howard came in second to Albert Pujols, who didn't turn it down because of failing to make the playoffs. I'm surprised the only other player, besides Howard and Pujols, to garner a first place vote was Brad Lidge, who finished eighth. Chase Utley came in 15th.

I expect better results for Dustin Pedroia when the AL MVP is announced tomorrow.