Broad Street Heroes

We're going to miss you Cliff

Update: After endless hours of changing stories the picture is starting to become clearer.  Essentially, the Phillies are making two trades:

- Trade #1: Phillies receive Roy Halladay and $6 million from the Blue Jays in exchange for Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor, and Travis D’Arnaud

- Trade #2: Phillies trade Cliff Lee to the Mariners in exchange for Phillippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies, and a prospect to be named

What baffles me in this scenario is Trade #2.  It doesn’t make any sense!  The Phillies are making two completely separate trades which is much different than the earlier scenario of them using the Mariners to receive prospects that they could pawn off to the Blue Jays for Halladay.  In this scenario the Phillies are trading Cliff Lee and three prospects (essentially 7 prospects if you count the four that we gave the Indians for Lee in July) for Roy Halladay, two prospects, and $6 million.  That is an awefully steep price to pay even though Halladay is perhaps the best pitcher in the game.

My main concern is the Phillies reasoning for depleting their farm system for a slight upgrade.  I’m aware that Cliff Lee wants to test free agency after the 2010 season and he will cost an arm and a leg if that happens so it’s best to lock up the best starting pitcher for a few years over taking the chance that Lee wouldn’t resign.  I understood the trade and why everything was happening the way it was until a few of the remaining pieces were divulged: the $6 million, Kyle Drabek, and the fact that they were two SEPARATE trades!

The Phillies are concerned about their payroll, which they should be since it would approach $160 million with Halladay and Lee, but hear me out here.  The Blue Jays are giving us $6 million.  Joe Blanton has one year left on his deal and his contract is at $7 million for the 2010 season.  Cliff Lee is set to make $9 million in 2010.  Why wouldn’t the Phillies just deal Blanton and keep Lee?  They would be $4 million better off and would have the most dominant pitching staff in the major leagues with Lee, Halladay, Hamels, Happ, and a 5th starter that is still TBD.

It just doesn’t make sense to me that the Phillies wouldn’t go all out for 2010 and work to keep Lee in the mix for this season!  The World Series showed us that the Phillies need two dominant starters to beat a team like the Yankees and keeping Lee in the fold would do give us that.  If Halladay is ready to sign a 3-4 year extension then why should he care if we keep Lee for 2010?  I doubt he would want the team to be worse considering he has never been to the playoffs in his career and would love to get a World Series ring before hanging up his cleats.

If you were Ruben Amaro, Jr. and you had to make this decision would you put together the best team you possibly could, or would you settle for 2nd best?  I know what I would do, but hey, I’m not the GM.

Stop Spamming my blog!  This is ridiculous.  I should not have to deal with deleting over 8,000 spam messages on this blog.  Stop it now.  Thank you.

Unfortunately I have run into technical difficulties with my computer and won’t be able to blog for a week. Apparently there was a defect in the device that powers the display for my particular brand of MacBook Pro. Luckily for me, the screen has chosen to stop working. Apple will be shipping me a new one and hopefully I will be back up and running in 3-5 days.

Everybody,

I am very sorry for going so long without updating Broad Street Heroes.  Over the past few weeks I have had a lot going on in my life and I just didn’t have time to blog.  Also, there have been some problems with spam on the site and I’m trying to fix that.  Now that I am back on a normal schedule I will be able to start up again.

I have tons of views to express regarding Philly sports over the past few weeks.  First of all, it looks like the Phillies are on fire thanks the the stellar pitching of Cliff Lee, J.A. Happ, Joe Blanton, the reemergence of Cole Hamels, and most recently, Pedro Martinez.  Ryan Howard just earned the Player of the Month award for August, and he is back in his Mr. September form.  At 23 games above .500 and 8.5 games up in the division, I have to say that I’m pleased with the way the season has turned out so far.

The next order of business, of course, is the Eagles.  So far they haven’t really impressed me in the preseason, but I wasn’t expecting much considering the games don’t count.  LeSean “Shady” McCoy has looked great and Jeremy Maclin is progressing, both good signs.  Donovan is as healthy as ever and with the addition of Michael Vick the Eagles have one more athlete that can distract a defense.  I’m looking forward to this season and can’t wait until next sunday when we start the season against a very good Carolina Panthers squad.

Overall, this summer has been a great one for me, and hopefully you have enjoyed reading my opinions on certain events in the sports world.  I’m sorry that I was away for so long, but I will make it up to you all.

Sincerely,

Dave