Hey, it could be worse
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Hey, it could be worse
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
UPDATE (3:55 p.m.): Of course, now reports say talks between the Yankees and Mariners have broken down. So it's still possible Lee goes to a National League team, a far worse scenario for the Phillies. But you can go back to bashing me...
Phillies fans: It could be worse. Much, much worse.
Say the Mets acquired Cliff Lee. Or the Reds. Or even the Dodgers. Then, Lee could be directly responsible for pushing the Phillies out of the playoffs. That was the doomsday scenario for Ruben Amaro Jr. and Co.
Yes, Lee going to the Yankees will make plenty of Phillies fans angry. After all, he was the one who stuck it to the Yankees in the World Series. He made it look easy. His effortless catch in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium was the embodiment of how cool, calm and collected the ace can be.
Now he will very likely wear pinstripes and give the Yankees the finest rotation in the majors.
It's not the worst possible scenario.
Should the Yankees and Phillies somehow wind up in the World Series again, then yes, losing Lee to the Yankees will seem appropriately cruel then. But right now, given the Phillies are four games over .500 and 5.5 games back in the division, making the World Series should be the least of the Phillies' worries.
How about making the playoffs first?
And had the Mets, Reds or Dodgers -- teams who had reportedly shown interest in Lee -- won out in acquiring him, competition within the division or for the Wild Card spot would have been that much tougher.
A lot of the chatter since the original Lee trade went down centered upon the package the Phillies and Ruben Amaro Jr. received in return for Lee. Baseball America had Phillippe Aumont rated as Seattle's third best prospect at the time of the trade. J.C. Ramirez was ranked as the team's fifth best prospect.
The Yankees, it appears, will give up their top prospect, catcher Jesus Montero, in the package for Lee. Rumors are Zach McAllister, who is rated fifth best in the Yankees system by Baseball America, could also go. Is the package the Yankees are giving up for Lee better than what the Phillies got in return? On paper, yes.
Remember this, though: Amaro's trading partners were limited. Imagine the backlash had the Phillies traded Lee to a National League team in the off-season? Lee in Seattle had no direct effect on the Phillies' competition in 2010. What if he had gone to a National League contender?
Reports say the Phillies and Yankees discussed a Lee trade in the off-season, also involving Montero. But the Phillies backed out, weary of trading Lee to the team that beat them in the World Series just a few weeks earlier.
It's hard to judge what the Phillies received in return. All three prospects came to the organization with immense pressure from day one. It's been a half of a season. Aumont has already been demoted after struggling at double-A. Ramirez has been average since his promotion to Reading. Tyson Gillies, the other prospect acquired, has missed a great deal of time with a nagging hamstring injury.
Just because neither of them have reached Domonic Brown status (the benchmark, apparently, for all prospects now) doesn't mean the trade was a failure. Yet.
Should Lee have been traded originally? That debate will never end. Ultimately, the Phillies decided because they would not be able to retain Lee past 2010, they wanted to find an ace they could. That was Roy Halladay.
It was a brash move by Amaro and one that will follow his career forever -- or until he wins a championship.
The point is, today -- should a deal be consummated -- is far from a terrible day for the Phillies.
I agree 100% with what Bill20 wrote. Well said!!! Rueben Amaro should be FIRED, today!— Tar Heel 1
Comment removed.- Lee would be ace of Yankees --ahead of Sabithia, just as he would be ace of Phillies -ahead of Halladay -if he were stil here. people still seem to be overly swayed by career numbers instead of looking at how good they are at this particular point in time. since 2008 when Lee went 22-3 for terrible team, followed up in 2009 when Lee had one of the best post-seasons in recent history, followed by 2010 when Lee has best era in AL and single handedly wins games for last place no-hitting team, Lee has been signifantly better than SAbathia and Halladay— warbiscuit
- The print media in this town are a joke and nothing more than apologists for Amaro and the organization. This article and the one by Hagen today were disgraceful IMO.— matty177
- Werth to Tampa for BJ Upton and either Desmond Jennings or Jeremy Hellickson. Then you flip Hellickson, and any two other prospects in the organization not named Dom Brown to Houston for Oswalt provided they also take Ibanez and his salary. You're off the hook for Ibanez 11 mill, and werths 8.5, and upton makes 4 and Oswalt 15 next year. even money trade. Upton and his right handed bat in Left, Vic in center, Brown in Right. you've got Halladay, Hamels and Oswalt locked up for two more seasons together. Get it done, Rube!— joecatz
- phiggles, don't be a moron. "Amaro was doomed no matter what he did, other than keep him"? So basically, he wasn't doomed. He had the option to keep him for the 2010 season. Even if they could not resign him, they would receive a 1st round pick and a sandwich pick as compensation. Those two potential picks are better than the demoted single-A pitcher, oft-wounded OF, and mediocre AA pitcher they got from Seattle. If Amaro had made a trade for frontline prospects and/or players that were currently helping the team, fans would have been far less disappointed. Trading away Lee showed that the Phillies were not really serious about winning back that trophy; getting a pile of scrap was a slap to the face of the millions of fans that pay to see this club at CBP. Ruben had options, but he failed miserably and completely mishandled the opportunity presented to him.
- The good news is by trading Lee, the Phillies probably won't be in the World Series and therfore won't have to oppose him when he pitches for the Yankees. That is the sheer genius of Amaro— Larry Byrd
- There is no bright side. This was a bad move all the way around for the Phils. They could have used Blanton's money and sent Hamels packing. Stupid, stupid, stupid. And why lock up Howard for so long at his age? This was the end of the mini-era.— atles
- Phillies letting him go for three minor league "prospects" was one of the worst trades in baseball history and you had to know the Yankees would be gunning for him after the way he owned them twice to give the Phils their only two wins in the World Series. Just like the writers continue to pass on the opportunity to grill Amaro and Phillies ownership, the fact is the Phils passed on the chance to have had a dream rotation with Lee and Halladay and now it seems the best they could hope for is another second place finish and that is even if they make they playoffs which currently looks like a long shot. Amaro and Phils brass should be ashamed, but they are busy counting their millions from the 81st consecutive sell out. Channeling the real Philly fans... Boooooooo!— BroadStreet
so pathetic... phils that is...- templowl you apparently are ignorant of fact that that Phils paid full value for Halladay wiht 3 top prospects, all of whom will likely become major league stars, but did not recive 3 equivalent prospects--or any real value at all, since it is unlikley that any will ever reach the major leagues -- when they separaely discarded Lee to different team on same day...the 3 duds that Amaro received for Lee cannot be exchnaged currenlty for anything of value, thus effectively Lee was exchanged for nothingg— warbiscuit
- You must stop defending the biggest blunder in the history of the franchise. Matt Gelb loses all credibility when attempting to rationalize this farce. Please get some writers who don't insult the fans intelligence. There was no reason to trade Lee. It had nothing to do with acquiring Halliday. Did you actually write the trade is not a failure yet even if the acquired prospects haven't performed well? Thats CRAZY!! If the Phillies kept Lee for $9 million, won the World Series and Lee walked it would have been well worth it.Even if they didn't the fans would have respected the organization for trying to win. Please get that through your thick skull!! Mind numbing fan frustration if the Inquirer doesn't get some real writers.— alak0926
- I guess being objective and looking at all angles is the worst thing someone can do. there are two sids to every story one side in this story thinks Amaro is the devil while the other side see's that sometiems things need to be done because your boss told you to do it. Amaro is still learning but at least he takes risks and gets things done. Pitching Saturday for the phils Roy Halladay...you think Ed Wade would have made any of these deals?— Phillyphan26
- No, it could not be worse. Only good news here for RAJ is that the Phils will not be there for Lee and the Yankees to beat in the WS. Wish Cliff Lee the best, he deserves better than the Phils gave him, and now it appears he will get his ring after all.— gdhamil
- No no no. The real fact is: if we still had Lee we would now be adding some bats and thinking about how we would slaughter the Yanks in the WS.— HighDrama
