Ibanez
"You could feel the energy coming through the television," Ibanez said. "And as a professional, I can't remember the last time I watched something on television and got goose bumps.
"Even when I talk about it right now -- it was tremendous. I can't imagine being a part of it," he said.
Ibanez no longer has to imagine.
The free-agent outfielder and the Phillies have finalized their $31.5 million, three-year contract. The deal, agreed to on Friday, was subject to a physical and was announced Tuesday. Ibanez will take over in left from Pat Burrell, who became a free agent.
"I can't thank Pat enough for the services he provided for our club here in Philadelphia," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro said of Burrell, who has spent his entire nine-year career in Philadelphia. "He's a professional, he went through some ups and downs and he handled it extremely well.
"Pat's a friend. I consider him a friend. [But] one of the fears I had, and some of the people in our organization had, was that we would stay the same [and] we didn't want to be stagnant. This is not a knock to Pat Burrell. This is more a celebration of bringing in a quality player and a quality person to our organization and we had an opportunity to do that with Raul. We all felt like it was the right fit for us," he said.
The 36-year-old Ibanez hit .293 last season with 43 doubles, 23 home runs and 110 RBIs for the Seattle Mariners. Ibanez adds yet another dangerous left-handed bat to the Phillies lineup behind Ryan Howard and Chase Utley.
Ibanez has a .286 career average with 182 home runs and 794 RBIs for the Mariners and Kansas City Royals. He gets a $2 million signing bonus, payable this year, a $6.5 million salary next season and $11.5 million each in 2010 and 2011.
Although several other teams were interested in his services, Ibanez looked at the Phillies as a perfect fit after he filed for free agency.
"I had ties to [former teammate] Jamie Moyer and a couple of the other guys on the club," Ibanez said. "But most importantly, this is a franchise that is committed to winning. It's obvious they just won the World Series last year. That didn't hurt at all. And the team is pretty much intact.
"They weren't only concerned with winning this season but with winning over the next several seasons. That was a great approach and it sold me on Philadelphia," he said.
Amaro isn't concerned about the number of lefties in the middle of the Phillies' lineup.
"A lot of people have talked about [that], but the reality is we have a really balanced lineup," Amaro said. "We only have three pure left-handed hitters in our lineup.
"We have a lot of versatility with two switch-hitters and we have others in [Pedro] Feliz and [Carlos] Ruiz. Yes we are heavy from the left side, but we're heavy-good. And in my mind, it's more important to be a good hitter than what side you're hitting from," he said.
Ibanez batted .305 against left-handed pitchers last season. He's also one of five major league outfielders to drive in at least 100 runs in each of the past three seasons, joining Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltran, Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Lee.
Ibanez's deal was negotiated by agents Sam and Seth Levinson.
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