Defending The Phils

Phils GM Pat Gillick was unable to pull the trigger on a deal before today's "non-waiver" Trade Deadline at 4pm. Phils fans are no doubt upset by the inactivity, however, looking at what was available and the asking price for things that may have interest the Phils, coming out with nothing isn't a surprise. Ron Mahay from the Royals was certainly on the Phils radar but the asking price was too high. Would you be comfortable giving up Jason Donald or Carlos Carrasco for a 37 year old bullpen pitcher? Anything else the Phils could have done? Every is hollering about Pudge Rodriguez and how the Yanks got him for only Kyle Farnsworth. So why couldn't the Phils do better then Farnsworth? The answer is in the deal itself, anybody who watches baseball games and follows baseball teams other then the Phillies would know the Tigers were in desperate need of some bullpen help. Anybody in the Phils bullpen you'd give up? And if you did who would replace them?

And to all the idiots who wanted Manny, shut up. First off with all the Rollins mess that's been going on you really want to add a guy like Manny to that clubhouse? Smart. And not to mention the defense. Where would you play Manny? It doesn't really matter left of right field , if anybody hit a ball somewhere other then center field it'd be a triple , easy. You can always hide a bad, or slow fielder in the outfield, but only one, never two.

After that can you think of anyone who got traded today that the Phils could have gotten?

To everyone who thinks the Phils aren't about winning, blame it on the ownership not the management. If you think for one second that Pat Gillick wasn't doing everything he could to improve the team today your just foolish, and you know nothing about how the game works. All that garbage about how he's a lame duck GM is nonsense, if that were the case why would he care about trading away our top prospects? Sometimes yes you have to make sacrifices , you have to trade away some young talent, or prospects to get a piece your missing. However, I doubt seriously that Ron Mahay was that piece for the price he was going to cost. There will be plenty of chances to get guys who can contribute during the waiver-period. I know it's not sexy, but contending teams always find guys off waiver deals after the non-waiver trade deadline. And the Phils picking up a pitcher and maybe a bat are almost at a 100%.

So Phils fans, stop whining.

Mike Santa Barbara