The Phillies announced their spring training staff today, including five former players who will join the club in Clearwater as guest instructors. The former Phillies who will serve as instructors are Larry Andersen, Roy Halladay, Dave Hollins, Brad Lidge and Gary Matthews.

Noticeably missing from the list is the longtime staple of Phillies training camp, Mike Schmidt. According to the Phillies Schmidt will be tending to a “health issue,” but plans to visit mid-March. We wish nothing but the best to Schmidt and hope everything is ok with the Hall of Famer.

Multiple reports (Ryan Lawrence of Philadelphia Daily News, Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly, Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer, etc.) have the Phillies and reliever Antonio Bastardo avoiding arbitration with a one-year $2 million deal for the 2014 season.

The Phillies announced today they have signed Bobby Abreu to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. The 39-year-old Abreu did not play in the MLB this past season, but put up solid numbers in the Venezuelan Winter League…take that for whatever it’s worth.

The Phillies have announced the signing of right-handed pitcher Chad Gaudin to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training.

The 30-year old is coming off a season in which he went 5-2 with a 3.06 ERA in 30 appearances, 12 starts. Gaudin has a career record of 45-44 with an ERA of 4.44. Since it’s just a minor league deal with a camp invite, this is essentially no risk, and who knows, maybe he pitches like he did for the Giants last season.

The Phillies have announced that Charlie Manuel will return to the organization as a senior advisor to the general manager.

According to the release from the organization, Manuel will work with minor league hitters, while also scouting at the major and minor levels and serving as consultant to baseball operations staff.

"Charlie obviously brings a wealth of knowledge and is someone who had an historic impact on not just our organization, but on all Phillies fans," Ruben Amaro Jr. said in the organization’s press release. "We couldn't be happier to have him back in the fold with us and sharing his expertise and insight throughout the organization."

Let’s just hope Charlie can advise Ruben to stop making bad signings now…

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Phillies and John Mayberry Jr. have avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year, $1,587,500 deal.

The 30-year old reserve outfielder has a career batting average of .245 and a .306 OBP. He is coming off a season in which he hit .227 with 11 home runs in 353 ABs.

The Phillies have agreed to a one-year, $7.65 million deal to avoid arbitration with pitcher Kyle Kendrick. The deal was first reported by Joel Sherman of the New York Post and confirmed by the Phillies official Twitter account shortly after.

Kendrick is 64-55 with a 4.38 ERA in 194 games, 153 starts. The 29-year old right-hander is coming of a season in which he went 10-13 with a 4.70 ERA in 30 starts.

The signing could be worse, in my opinion. It's only one year and not too much money and the Phillies have plenty of holes in their rotation.

The AP reported that the Chris Wheeler and Gary "Sarge" Matthews will no longer be a part of the Phillies broadcast team. The team recently signed a new TV deal and indications are that may have to do with the move. The Phillies later confirmed the move in a press release.