Raul Ibañez is fitting in just fine in a solid Phillies outfield

Raul Ibañez has been worth every penny for the Phillies thus far. Jeff Zelevansky/SI

Anytime Phillies manager Charlie Manuel walks to the mound to summon a reliever, the outfielders converge in center. Jayson Werth walks over from right field and Raul Ibañez from left to join Shane Victorino. While passing the time for the pitcher to deliver his eight warmup tosses, the outfielders deliver about as many one-liners.

"We have really great, funny conversations during pitching changes," Ibañez said. "A lot of random things get brought up -- it's almost like an episode of Seinfeld."

On one condition: "As long as Victorino isn't miked" for television, noted Werth, "it's usually a pretty fun time."

For starters, Ibañez and Werth are avid watchers of infomercials. Though they declined to reveal what absurdities they've recently purchased for fear of giving an undue endorsement, it's not hard to imagine their homes are strewn with Snuggies, ShamWows and Swiffer SweeperVacs.

"We both agree that it's tough to watch an infomercial and not want to at least try it," Werth said with a laugh. "Maybe we're both suckers."

This offseason many thought sucker was an apt description of Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro, who appeared to whimsically charge $31.5 million to owner Bill Giles' credit card early in free agency to sign the 36-year-old Ibañez to a three-year deal. Considering last offseason's market, that was a lot of money for one player. Amaro clearly missed the window to call in the next 10 minutes and get a second player of equal or lesser value thrown in. It must have been one heck of a sales pitch. "Hi! Billy Mays here for Raul Ibañez. Gently used! Plenty of power!"

Ibañez seemed superfluous. The Phillies didn't need to spend more than $10 million per year on an outfielder, especially a third lefty power bat for their lineup, even if that player only became a full-time starter at age 30 ("Gently used!") and has averaged 22 homers and 97 RBIs since ("Plenty of power!"). The man Ibañez replaced, Pat Burrell, as well as another ex-Phillie, Bobby Abreu, both had comparable slugging numbers over the last five years, and they settled for contracts of two years, $16 million, and one year, $5 million, respectively.

But Ibañez's hot start has helped dispel the notion that he was an unnecessary purchase. Until Sunday he was leading the National League in slugging percentage (.655) and total bases (74), while batting .327 with nine home runs and 23 RBIs. And he has provided meaningful power, too, leading the majors with six homers from the seventh inning on. Should opponents start summoning more lefty relievers to face him in the late innings, Ibañez ought to be equipped for the challenge. He's a .267 career hitter against southpaws, and this year is batting .250 with one homer. And every lefty used against Ibañez is one fewer to face Ryan Howard and Chase Utley.

Some of the offensive luck may not last, as Ibañez's batting average on balls in play is .318 (a bit above the .296 league average) and his home run-to-fly ball ratio is 22.0 percent, more than double the 10 to 12 percent norm -- part of that is due to good fortune and the rest to the cozy confines of Citizens Bank Park.

One of the knocks on Ibañez was his defense, but he has had a renaissance on Philadelphia's south side. Using the ultimate zone rating, a measure of how many runs a player saves or costs his team defensively, Ibañez cost the Mariners nearly 34 runs the last two seasons. This season, however, he has saved nearly six runs for the Phillies, which ranks third among all major league outfielders, trailing only Jay Bruce and Mike Cameron. Ibañez has only average speed, but Victorino praises how observant his teammate is to tendencies and how well he uses the scouting reports. Ibañez's cerebral approach to fielding includes noting the cut of the grass to predict which way a ball is likely to skip.

"Raul's a winner," Werth said of Ibañez, whose Mariner teams averaged only 72 wins per game. "That's really tough to say about somebody who's played for teams that haven't won. He wants to win, he wants to be good and he wants to do good things."

Victorino said it's "weird" that Ibañez didn't have more national recognition in Seattle. Howard resorted to a word-of-mouth scouting report of Ibañez.

"My friends I talked to around the league all said he was great teammate and that he absolutely rakes," Howard said.