The heated Aaron Rowand debate- coming soon

It's not super-heated yet, but the fans' debate over whether to re-sign local god Aaron Rowand is going to be a humdinger. On one side will be the majority, which will most likely be those who feel Rowand should be re-signed, (almost) no matter what the cost, because of his hard-nosed (and broken-nosed HA HA) play, grittiness, and other non-quantifiable attributes which better describe construction workers than athletes. On the other side are me and about 27 other Phillies fans who say "let him walk." Of course for a reasonable amount of money (like, $5 million a season, for 4 years), I'd love to have him back- I do think he's a great guy to have on the team and a decent player. But is a guy who is

1. Going to be 30 at the end of this month
2. Having a career year (okay, to be fair- for the second time)
3. Uncomfortable looking in that weird stance of his

worth giving Eric Byrnes-like money to? The answer you're looking for is "no". If the market for Aaron Rowand dictates a $10 million+ per year deal for 3 or more seasons, it's simply a mistake to re-sign him. He's not worth that kind of cash- he's an average fielder with a penchant for facial lacerations and, for his career, a very slightly above average hitter.

I understand that he has the "intangibles" that get most Phillies' fans all frothy with delight, but $10 million a year is a lot of scratch, you know? The Phillies don't have the infinite money of the Red Sox or Yankees; nor do they have a wealth of A+ prospects waiting in the minors. They're going to need to spend some serious chunks of their very finite money on a pitching staff these next few years if they want to win while Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are in their primes.

It'd be best for the Phils to just say thanks for playing here to Mr. Rowand, and move on and let the Michael Bourn era begin. Yes, it is time to move on, to make another awful signing like Adam Eaton, or to trade for another bust like Freddy Garcia. Or Jon Lieber. Man, that's depressing. Ah screw it- on second thought, maybe they should bring Rowand back and hope for the best. The Phillies really suck at evaluating pitching; they need to score all the runs they can.