The All-Star teams were announced today, and two Phillies are going to New York: Chase Utley and the man with the new contract, Brad Lidge. Utley was voted in by the fans to start at second base and Lidge was selected by NL manager Clint Hurdle. Both are very deserving all stars who are at the top of their respective positions.

Another Phillie having a standout year, Pat Burrell, was chosen as one of the "Final Vote" players, meaning the fans get their say on who will fill out the roster. Burrell goes up against Corey Hart, Carlos Lee, Aaron Rowand and David Wright for the honor.

Vote for Burrell at this link: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2008/fv/ballot.html

Click the link for the complete roster.

The Phillies acquired Brad Lidge in one of the best trades in their history this past off-season, and now they have him locked up until at least 2011. Lidge, who would have been a free agent at the end of the season, signed a three year deal worth 37.5 million dollars. The deal also includes a team option for 2012.

Lidge has been basically perfect this season, converting all 19 of his save opportunities and posting an ERA of 0.77. After struggling through his last few seasons with the Astros, he has come to Philadelphia and re-established himself as an elite closer, and now he is going to get paid like one.

This is a great deal for the Phillies and for Lidge. It solidifies the back end of the bullpen for the foreseeable future. This also means that Brett Myers won't be the closer for the Phillies anytime soon, so he had better learn how to be a starting pitcher again.

I applaud the Phillies for breaking their usual mold and deciding to extend a contract during the season. Will they do the same for their other big upcoming free agent, Pat Burrell?

What a win! Click the link for the highlights.

It's amazing how quickly things can turn around. Heading into this week, things looked grim for the Phillies, who had lost 11 of their last 14 games and were losing their grip on first place. Now, following a three game sweep of the Braves, everything seems right again.

Cole Hamels was the story of tonight's win, nearly shutting out Atlanta in a 4-1 win. Hamels was able to go 8 and 2/3rds innings without giving up a run before running into some trouble in the 9th that forced Tom Gordon to have to finish off the game. Hamels ended up giving up only 5 hits and 1 run while striking out 7 batters. It was good to see him have is first truly dominating performance since he struck out 13 Marlins back on June 11th.

Offensively the Phillies relied on the longball, with Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pedro Feliz all hitting homers. Howard and Utley continue to be near the top of the league in both RBIs and homers, with Howard leading in RBIs and Utley leading in homers.

The Phillies now set their sights on a four game series with their biggest rivals, the New York Mets. The series begins tomorrow with a tough pitching match-up as newly anointed starter J.A. Happ will take on Johan Santana. It should be an interesting series, with the Mets looking to get back in the race and the Phillies looking to put them away.

Click the link for more, including highlights.

The Phillies have announced their replacement for Brett Myers: J.A. Happ will join the rotation, starting tomorrow against the Mets. There is no word yet on who will get sent down to make room for Happ, although recent call-up R.J. Swindle is the likely candidate.

Happ has started one major league game, last season against the Mets. He went four innings, gave up 7 hits and 5 runs. Let's hope he does better this time around.

Brett Myers also made his minor league debut last night, and with the way it went, we might not be seeing Myers in a Phillies uniform for a while. Myers pitched for Triple A Lehigh Valley and gave up 5 hits and 3 runs in 5 innings, striking out 6 batters while walking a pair. Not exactly the sparkling numbers you would expect from a star major league pitcher pitching in the minors, but it is an improvement over what he was doing with the Phils.

I haven't been posting as much about the Phillies lately, with their poor play and the NHL and NBA free agency periods, it has been hard to get excited about the Fightin' Phils. Now that interleague is over, however, the Phillies appear to be right back on track, winning again tonight over the Braves, 7-3. It was the second win in a row for the Phillies, the first time they had won two straight since June 12th and 13th. The win also guarantees the Phillies a series victory after losing six straight series.

There was a bit of a scare in the 9th inning when Ryan Howard had two errors that helped load the bases, but other than that the Phillies got out to an early lead and never looked back. Homers by Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell lead the way for the Phils offensively and Adam Eaton pitched his way out of enough jams to earn the win.

The Phillies wrap up the series with Atlanta tomorrow when Cole Hamels takes the mound against Jair Jurrjens of the Braves. Brett Myers' spot in the rotation normally would pitch tomorrow, but since the Phils sent him to the minors, they have bumped up Hamels. They still haven't announced who will be the replacement pitcher for Friday's game against the Mets, however. Count on either Chad Durbin or J.A. Happ to make the spot start.

Click the link for highlights.

Amidst all the free agent signings and trades, the Flyers also found time to sign a pair of restricted free agents yesterday, defenseman Randy Jones and forward Riley Cote. Jones signed a two year deal worth 5.5 million overall while Cote signed a three year deal worth 550,000 per year.

These signings likely round out the Flyers roster, which, if the season started today, would look something like this:

Gagne/Briere/Hartnell

Lupul/Richards/Giroux

Upshall/Carter/Knuble

Cote/Metropolit/Downie

Timonen/Coburn

Hatcher/Jones

Eminger/Parent

Extras: Vaananen, Kukkonen, Thoreson (?), Kane

The Flyers have plenty of defensemen but they seem to be one quality forward short. Patrick Thoreson is listed as an extra skater because he has yet to sign with the Flyers, although he is a restricted free agent. Signing him, if they have the money, would push Cote to a lesser role, meaning he could suit up only when an enforcer is necessary.

Barring a trade, the Flyers appear to be done making moves this off-season. There is still a possibility that Derian Hatcher could retire, which would free up 3.5 million dollars to sign another player, but that doesn't seem likely at this point. What you see above is probably what your 08/09 Philadelphia Flyers will look like.

The Flyers continue to make moves and that's keeping this blogger busy. After making a trade with LA and signing Ossi Vaananen, the Flyers have added a pair of forwards to the mix, Glen Metropolit and Nate Raduns. They also signed another defenseman, Sean Curry.

Metropolit signed a two year deal with the Flyers for a million dollars a year. Metropolit is a solid defensive forward who will replace Jim Dowd as the Flyers fourth line center. He has played 262 career NHL games with 5 different organizations, including last season with the Boston Bruins. He scored 33 points last season with Boston but he is known as a hustle guy and a great penalty killer. He will be locked into the fourth line center spot with Danny Briere, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter ahead of him, but he can also play any forward position.

Raduns is a less exciting player. He played last season with the Worcester Sharks in the AHL, picking up 27 points in 56 games. He is 24 years old and figures to be a Phantom for the foreseeable future.

Curry is another player destined for the Phantoms. He played last year for the Providence Bruins of the AHL and has never played an NHL game in six professional seasons. He is huge at 6 foot 5 and 227 pounds, but slow.

What's next, Holmgren?

The Flyers seem determined to bring as many defensemen to Philadelphia as possible. So far this off-season, the Flyers have acquired blueliners Danny Syvret, Steve Eminger, Tim Ramholt and Patrik Hersley while they drafted another defenseman in Luca Sbisa.

Apparently that isn't enough d-men because the Flyers signed another one today. Ossi Vaananen, who played last season in Sweden and formerly played with the Colorado Avalanche, signed a one year deal with the Flyers worth one million dollars. Vaananen is 6'4'' and 215 pounds, so he brings size and strength to the back end. He played six years in the NHL before going to Sweden last year and has a career plus/minus of +18.

Vaananen is probably going to play in the NHL next year, so that likely fills out the Flyers defense. With Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Ryan Parent, Derian Hatcher and Lasse Kukkonen all coming back, Randy Jones likely to be re-signed and Steve Eminger and Vaananen added to the mix, the Flyers defense is filled out nicely. Of course, there is still a possibility that Hatcher might retire which would mean the Flyers could go out and sign someone else.

Barring a retirement by Hatcher, the Flyers have to be done with assembling defensemen now. Paul Holmgren has a little bit more money under the cap that could be used on a forward. Hockeybuzz.com has reported that the Flyers might be talking to Brendan Shanahan. Seems farfetched, but it's an interesting rumor nonetheless.

Shocking. The Phillies Opening Day starter, Brett Myers, has agreed to be sent down to Triple A Lehigh Valley where he will pitch for them on Wednesday. Myers could have refused the assignment, but it sounds like he agreed with the Phillies that he needed to re-gain his confidence in the minors.

Myers was scheduled to start for the Phillies on Thursday so the Phils will have to look for another option that day. With the day off yesterday, they could simply move everyone up a day and the starters would still have their normal rest.

Myers has been nothing short of terrible this season, putting up bad start after bad start. Let's hope he gets his confidence back in the minors because the Phillies desperately need a second starter to step up behind Cole Hamels.

The NHL free agency period has begun today, but that hasn't stopped the Flyers from continuing to make trades. The Flyers traded away recently waived Denis Gauthier and his 2.1 million dollar salary, along with a second round pick, to the Los Angeles Kings for defenseman Patrik Hersley and left wing Ned Lukacevic. The second round pick the Flyers traded away is for the 2010 draft.

Both Hersley and Lukacevic appear to be more AHL fodder for the Phantoms, although both are 22 and have some upside. Hersley appears to be the better prospect. He is big at 6'3'', 205 pounds, and he was the 15th ranked prospect in the Kings system according to Hockeysfuture.com. Hockeysfuture.com believes that Hersley could be a No. 2 or 3 defenseman in a few years, citing his size, strength, physical play and mobility as positives. Lukacevic has less upside and his future is more of a defensive forward.

I applaud Paul Holmgren for getting rid of Gauthier and getting anything in return. The Flyers were likely going to have to buy out Gauthier's contract which would have cost them against the cap, so making this deal frees up even more free agent money. Giving up the second round pick as well may seem like a lot to give up but it was probably the piece that convinced the Kings to take on Gauthier's contract.

Yet another deal where Holmgren gets a defenseman. He hasn't had to give up too much to acquire nearly a half dozen quality d-men, all he needs is for 2 or 3 of them to pan out down the road and this will shape up to be a great off-season.

Elton Brand has officially opted out of his contract with the Los Angeles Clippers, but Sixers fans shouldn't get too excited. While it has been rumored for weeks that Brand would opt out of his contract and that the Sixers would pursue him, Brand made it clear that he plans to continue playing for the Clippers:

"We're opting out...... it definitely doesn't mean I'm leaving the Clippers. We're trying to work it out. My intention is to stay."

It appears that Brand and the Clippers are trying to work out a deal that won't handicap the franchise from signing more players. Sounds like the Sixers might need to look for other options to spend their free agent money on.

Guess Paul Holmgren finally got his fill of defenseman. Nearly a week after acquiring Janne Niskala from the Nashville Predators for Tristan Grant and a 7th round pick, the Flyers shipped Niskala to Tampa Bay for a 6th round pick. Essentially, the Flyers have turned Tristan Grant and a 7th round pick into a 6th round pick.

This move comes hours after the Flyers acquired defenseman Tim Ramholt from the Calgary Flames, so perhaps the Phantoms had too many defensemen. All of these smaller moves could be leading to something bigger down the road, or it could simply be moves to create more depth and build assets.

Stay tuned for more moves, there is no telling what else Holmgren is going to do.

The NHL free agent frenzy begins tomorrow, but that hasn't kept the Flyers from being busy. After officially signing Jeff Carter on Friday, the Flyers made three more moves to help shore up their roster.

First, the Flyers signed defenseman Steve Eminger, who they acquired from the Washington Capitals at the draft, to a one year deal worth a little over a million dollars. The Flyers view Eminger as a possible top six defenseman next year, considering his salary and how much they gave up to get him.

Next, the Flyers waived defenseman Denis Gauthier, who spent his entire year last season with the Philadelphia Phantoms. Gauthier played parts of two seasons with the Flyers and was a strong presence on the blue line, unfortunately injuries and declining play have derailed his career. Waiving Gauthier and his 2.1 million dollar contract will lead to a buyout of his contract, which will cause only a 700,000 dollar cap hit.

The Flyers also made a trade today, acquiring defenseman Tim Ramholt from the Flames for Phantoms forward Kyle Greentree. Ramholt spent last season in the AHL and tallied 24 points in 77 games. He appears to be more minor league depth for now, although he is only 23 and could develop into an NHLer with more experience. He was ranked as the 7th best prospect in the Flames system according to Hockeysfuture.com. Greentree was big and a little slow and his future is probably exclusively as an AHL player.

After all of these moves, the Flyers have continued to add depth to their blueline and appear to be maneuvering themselves under the cap to make at least one free agent signing. While they won't be able to afford the big names like Brian Campbell, they should be able to get a solid d-man with their available cap space.

We knew that Jeff Carter was going to sign with the Flyers, we just didn't know when they would finally make it official. Well, it appears that Carter has finally signed the 3 year, 15 million dollar deal just a few days before he would have become a restricted free agent.

My thoughts on the signing are the same as before: I am happy to have Carter back in the fold, but the price is awfully high for a guy who has never scored 30 goals and will be a third line center. If he lives up to the flashes of potential that he showed in the playoffs, then he will be worth 5 million a year. If he continues his inconsistent play where he disappears for long stretches at a time, then the Flyers badly overpaid.