Posts Tagged ‘dead horse’

I’ve just about had it. The Cliff Lee deal has been lambasted by thousands of fans, ESPN analysts, bloggers, Curt Schilling, and now Jimmy Rollins. Everyone acts like Ruben has silently hidden from the media when questioned over this. In reality, he’s probably one hundred times more frustrated than I am about the repeated criticism. Let’s break down what happened again so we can see the logic.

• Phillies trade 3 advanced prospects (and highly touted Jason Knapp) for Cliff Lee
• Phillies determine they can’t sign Cliff Lee to the kind of contract they want
• Phillies determine they CAN sign Halladay to that kind of deal
• Phillies consider trading 3 advanced prospects for Roy Halladay
• Phillies realize that would leave them with 1 advanced prospect
• Phillies need advanced prospects to be competitive in 2011 and beyond
• Phillies decide to use Cliff Lee to add 3 advanced prospects

Does everyone follow the logic? The Phillies wanted to lock up an ace to pitch in front of Cole Hamels. Cliff Lee was not that guy. Roy Halladay was. And as we saw in the payroll series, the Phillies are desperate for cost controlled talent. If you add high priced veterans to an utter dearth of advanced prospects, what you get is the Cubs or Mets. Does any fan want to watch the Phillies turn into the Cubs or Mets? I didn’t think so.

Let’s take this from Ruben’s perspective. Most fans seem to think that the General Manager’s job is to put together the best roster possible. That’s not exactly correct. A GM’s job is to make the ballclub money. The biggest weapon in the GM’s arsenal is the MLB roster. The better the roster, the more money people are willing to pay to see it play. So it is in Amaro’s best interest to field a team today that is likely to compete in the playoffs. Today’s Phillies roster is such a team, even without Cliff Lee.

Ruben also needs to worry about future revenues. Looking at what the Phillies have on paper, they MUST find some cost controlled all-star talent or else they risk being surpassed by the Braves. And as friendly as the fans are today, how long do you think they will financially support a .500ish ballclub? I’m setting the over/under at 50 games. With only Dom Brown, Kyle Kendrick, Antonio Bastardo, Drew Carpenter, and Scott Mathieson as plausible minor league contributors, it’s obvious more talent was needed. Especially since four of those names are rather fringy.

With every passing day, I’m happier with the haul we got from the Lee deal. The injuries Lee’s suffered couldn’t entirely be predicted, but he’s never been the picture of health. Tyson Gillies appears to be a very exciting player in the Shane Victorino mold. Aumont and Ramirez should both factor in at the ML level, whether or not they’re back of the rotation types or front of the bullpen fixtures is still up for interpretation. We also got $8 mil of payroll flexibility. For all that we lost 1 season of Cliff Lee and (probably) a late first and supplemental first round pick.

Cliff Lee, like it or not, was expendable. The Phillies should enjoy the same level of success in the regular season without him. Sure, they may take a 5% hit per round to their playoff chances, but if that’s the price for a competitive roster in 2011, 2012, and beyond, then I’ll take it.