Well, the cat and I are sitting here watching “Lost” trying to figure out what the frack is going on. 

 

     And we are also well aware that Spring Training starts tomorrow.  Pitchers and catchers reporting.  There are a dozen snow mounds taller than me laying outside but it is officially SPRING TRAINING time! 

     What the hell is going on with this “Smoky Vision?” Ugh, questions answered my ***.  But I digress.

     This offseason has been an interesting one, to say the least.  Mark McGwire stunning everyone with his “out of nowhere” confession to using steroids.  Really Mark, no one knew?  And in other shocking news, Tiger Woods likes ******. 

     But in the Phillies relm of baseball reality, the big story was not Mark McGwire and his shocking confession, instead most fans were focused on the soap opera taking place during trade season.  To love Halladay or Lee, that was the question. 

     There were many differeing opinions.  Many simply didn’t care how the Phillies got Halladay, only that he would be on the team and be the savior, the promised one, the messiah, etc. 

     Halladay could essentially pitch everyday of the season, play all of the infield and outfield positions and clean himself with his own tongue.  He would be like Bugs Bunny in that one cartoon.  That is how good Halladay is.  His talent was not the underlying or polorizing issue; the main concern was could we have kept Cliff Lee and gotten Halladay for a one-two punch unseen in the majors right now. 

 

     So, for over a month we were hearing there were no truths to the rumors of a Lee trade for Halladay.  Then one day, the news comes in.  Lee goes to the Mariners along with the “untouchable” prospects Drabek, Taylor and D’Arnaud going to Toronto.  The Phillies got three prospects in return, fairly highly rated prospects.  Recently with the Blanton deal; many fans, myself and the cat included, wonder if the Lee trade was simply a salary dump. 

     Some fans asked “Couldn’t we have kept Lee and Halladay for 2010?  That would be awesome!” Amaro responded “Sorry but we as an organization that sells out 99% of our regular season games, has had two sold out postseasons in a row and an increased profit from our merchandise just can’t afford it right now. Oh and we need to replenish our farm system…so there.”  Fans responded “Yeah but if we kept Lee only for a year and he does walk, we would get 2 draft picks anyway for our farm system.”  Amaro just sticks out his tongue and tells everyone to kiss his foot **Most of this conversation was made up in my brain**

     Midnight really does believe that we could’ve and should’ve kept Lee for 2010.  Paid him the $9 million and even offered him an extension, which he probably would’ve taken.  The 2010 season would be fabulous with a dangerously awesome rotation including Halladay, Lee, Hamels and Happ.  Even better if Hamels develops a third pitch that doesn’t resemble “The Floater” from Rookie of the Year.  Who knows what could happen in that scenario.  Essentially, the Phillies got an ace but could’ve potentially had two aces.    

     For your reading enjoyment; here is a small sampling of two polarized fans:

Dude #1– As much as I like Cliff, there’s a few things I don’t like…

A – His past comment of wanting “CC Money” while testing the FA market. Which, was $23mil for 7 years, which he’s not worth more than Roy, and the Phillies will not sign Jesus as a pitcher for 7 years.

B – His contract negotiations, he took nearly 2 weeks to give a counter offer. 2 weeks? Especially when your name is being tossed around hard for trade rumors? You snooze you loose, sorry Cliff you took too long.

C – Even when we got him we didn’t need another lefty.

Now why I like Roy?

A – Since this time last year, he’s wanted to play here.

B – He’s easily worth more than CC, and he took a paycut to be here.

C – Basically, Toronto’s paying most of his contract this year.

D – He’s the best pitcher of this generation, down right filthy, but not as cocky as Cliff.

E – He’s been the best statistical pitcher in baseball for the last 7 years, on a crappy team in a tough division.

 Dude #2– Pure insanity. 

1st-the point of having a farm team is to replenish your big league roster, the phillies did the exact opposite giving up the best pitcher in the 2009 playoffs to replenish their minor league teams

2nd- people are hell bent on saying Halladay is better than Lee, I guess I hallucinated Lee shutting down the best team in baseball in the world series. Until Halladay gets to the postseason and outperforms what Lee did it’s ridiculous to say he’s better

3rd-giving up Lee because you want to stay competitive in the future is a cop-out, you’re only trying to justify making a terrible move. When you have a chance to win now you take it, a winner always will. Any other choice is a lose mentality and that’s what Reuben Amaro is, a loser who will never be able to get a ring like Pat Gillick

Dude #1–

1 – OK, best pitcher in the playoffs… big deal, Hamels was in 08, no big deal. What we got for Lee isn’t bad considering what we gave for Halladay, just a year or two developmentally behind.

2 – The stats say it all, statistically, he’s the best pitcher in baseball over the last 7 years. Lee doesn’t even compare. Not only that, he did that in TORONTO, how many starts has he had against NY AND Boston in the last 7 years?

3 – We didn’t “give up on Lee”, he wants “CC Money”, we don’t have that. We keep him, yea, awesome rotation this year, but only 2 draft picks in return. Trading him got us 3 studs from Seattle. I’ll talk the latter.

 Dude #2–  Well this is a little long but it’s the final thing I’ve got to say on the trades because I’m not really interested in a weeklong back and forth

1- No big deal that Hamels brought us a world series? well I guess winning the world series isn’t really the point in baseball, but since what Hamels did in the past is no big deal, how does what Roy Halladay did the past 7 years matter, you can’t have it both ways.

2- I guess what we gave up for Lee isn’t bad, but why stop there, imagine what we could get if we traded Utley and Howard for some “minor league” studs. Jesus we would be potentially fielding the best team in 2015, we could even trade those guys away in 5 years and get ready for the 2020 team, it’s genius!  Personally, I’d take the guy who pitched in the majors at a superstar level on baseballs biggest stage against the best hitting team over some guys who may or may not pan out.

3- Finally, the Phillies front office is crying broke and that he wanted Sabbathia money, amazing considering they have Moyer’s 16 million contract (8 million in 2010)coming off the books next year not to mention the 8.5 million option they just picked up for Rollins in 2011. That’s 16.5 million right available in 2011 if you don’t pick up Rollins and his amazing .274 career average in the leadoff spot

The Phillies made an offer and Lee made a routine counter offer and the Phillies freaked. Then Reuben Amaro showed his true colors and lied to the guy saying the trade talk was all rumors then traded him. Nobody knows what Lee’s counteroffer was but if amaro is going to lie to his players he has no qualms lying and saying Lee said he “wanted Sabbathia money”, which Lee claims he never said. Amaro is a snake and if you want to drink his kool-aid that’s your business but I believe they could have worked out a reasonable deal with Lee if they wanted to. Amaro wants to make money, Lee wants to win championships.