This is mostly gonna be about the Phillies but let's get this out of the way first. The Lebron James "hype" has finally ended with him deciding to go to the Heat. People say it will ruin his legacy and that he is stupid for leaving Cleveland, blah blah blah. If you ask me, other than Cleveland fans, people should not be at all surprised LJ signed with the Heat. Even if the Cavs offered him more money, LeBron seems focused on the most important thing...the NBA title. Also, this trio of James, Wade and Bosh is so much more exciting sounding than Pierce, Allen and Garnett. Wade and James are two of the most explosive scorers in the league and if anything, will bring Miami and the NBA a hell of a lot more publicity. I am a 76ers fan, but this is going to be awesome to watch.
Anyways, now down to business. Is it just me or have some Phillies fans completely lost their mind. I have worked within the front office for the Reading Phillies and now the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Single-A Royals) and have kind of gotten a gist of how things work with prospects, etc.
Ever since this offseason, Phillies fans have been constantly whining about the loss of Cliff Lee via trade and how much of an idiot Ruben Amaro is for trading him just to replenish the farm system. If I recall, in the earlier 2000s, the Phillies were on the verge of unloading Howard and Hamels in a few trade deals while they were in the minors but did not. Sure, we may not have gotten top of the line prospects like Kyle Drabek, but you cannot leave a farm system bare. What people have to get first is that prospects do not always turn out the way they are projected but you cannot sacrifice them in order to keep a player who has his heart set on free agency. Not to mention, in order to get Lee, we would have to give up Domonic Brown, who has torn up pitching in the minors and looks to become a big name for the Phillies in the coming years.
No matter where Cliff Lee ends up, he will enter the free agent market because that is what he has said and Lee seems like a man of his word. So with the combination of acquiring Halladay and trading Lee, we get the better deal in the long run because who was to know if Cliff was going to resign here anyway. Why not get a sure thing rather than just one year? I believe the Phillies definitely got the better deal here. Sure we dealt the "untouchable" Kyle Drabek and Cliff Lee but we got Roy Halladay, one of the best pitchers in the game who has career numbers superior to that of Lee.
With all of this pushed aside, you still wonder why fans whine. If you ask me, having Lee on this team would have not much of an affect on the current state of the Phillies. Polanco, Utley, Ruiz and Happ are all on the DL and the OFFENSE is struggling. With the current inconsistency and injury-plagued lineup, acquiring Lee should be the least of everyone's worries. All the Phillies fans are focused on is the anger from not being able to have Lee and to be honest, it makes me sick. If you are a true Phillies fan, you will get through these hard times and worry about the people who are actually on the team rather than those who are not. This Phillies team has come back from the dead on numerous occasions and it seems like only when they are doing well, the fans applaud Amaro and Manuel on their decisions...but it is times like these where the worthless, couch potato fans, think they can do a better job.
Here is the bottom line. The team would maybe have two or three more wins with Lee but that does not erase the offensive woes that have been an issue. In Roy Halladay, we got a pitcher who is a horse and also has a name people cannot pronounce correctly. Doc should have 13 wins easy if it were not for this offense. So Phillies fans, stop whining about not having Cliff Lee and focus on what's going on with OUR team. Get behind the Fightins' because Cliff Lee should be at the bottom of our priorities at this point. Don't blame Ruben Amaro for being stupid for not keeping Lee and getting Halladay, because that is a very stupid accusation for anyone to make and there was not a chance both of them could end up here.
I have to tell you, that this article angered me
ReplyDelete, and that anger had nothing to do with your opinion on the Lee trade.
I am a Phillies fan, and even when the Lee trade was made, I heard MAYBE 1 in 4 Phillies' fans complaining about it. Most fans, while lamenting losing Lee, accepted Amaro's decision to bolster the farm system.
As of now, even with the apparent bust of Aumont, I have heard exactly zero Phillies' fans complaining about the trade.
Maybe you've just been hanging out too many rookie/fair-weather baseball fans and assumed it was everyone, but this is a frustratingly common characteristic of sports writers and broadcasters in attacking the fans. They get to look wise because when they write, they get to invent the characteristic of their opponent and then attack them for it.
Just tone it down next time.