Quick Links: Mid-Season Fake Hardware

A few random quick links as my weekend was rather busy.  Didn't even get a chance to watch the newest John from Cincy.

• Stark's NL Least Valuable Player: "When a team is paying a man 13 million bucks a year, it would kind of like him to be one of the best players in the league. But in this case, the Phillies aren't asking that of Burrell anymore. They'd just settle for having the guy actually seem worthy of starting a game once in a while. That isn't how it's worked out, though." [ESPN]
• Yahoo predictions, end of season NL MVP: "So, is it wishful thinking that the Phillies, now only 4½ games back in the NL East, mobilize with a makeshift pitching staff and ride their stalwart second baseman to an improbable division title? Yeah. But Utley's so good, he's worth a hitching of hope." [Yahoo]
• Sports Illustrated's award for worst NL Executive: that will be the Ed Wade Award.  Who gets it for the first half?  None other than Philly's own, "Pat Gillick, Phillies. I loved the Freddy Garcia move at the time, but in hindsight, perhaps a few relievers would have been better. Still, Gillick is Hall-of-Fame worthy for the entirety of his career (not to mention, a thousand percent better than the man he replaced in Philly)."  [Sports Illustrated]
• Maybe Pat Burrell can learn something from the Internets too. [USSM]
• Last chance to enter to win free Phillies tickets.  Picking a winner tonight. [The 700 Level]

Comments

[pilgrim]

so, i was listening to 610 this past weekend and i believe it was mark eckel who made a good point about burrell. if, after his 37 home-run 2002 season the phillies hadn't locked him up long term and instead lost him in free agency, the fans would've killed them. and sure, the contract looks bad now but that's because it's back loaded, we haven't been paying him 13 mil every year.

and besides, you can't blame everything on a guy with a .378 obp.

[Matt P]

i can see wanting to lock him up and throwing some cash his way, but i think he was too young and unproven for a no-trade clause.

[GreggyD]

You do have a point in saying that if the team let him go the fans would have been outraged, but I agree more with Matt. I don't mind the monetary aspect of it to be honest, but that no trade clause is what kills it. He was very young, and IMO no trade clauses should only be given to those players who have consistently proven that they will perform. It is something you need to earn, and not by having one good year. But, that's what Ed Wade will do for ya.

[Ian]

Those Ed Wade contracts were killers. Pat hadn't shown enough consistency to guarantee him ALL that money. The amount of money given out to a left fielder was sick.

It was a PR move because of the fans and they wanted to showcase him as proof they weren't cheap after the JD Drew mess (Burrell was the #1 pick the year after Drew was). You should only care about pleasing the fans in October.

The key to that SI article (of which I love naming the award after Wade) is that he admitted that he himself liked the Garcia deal. So he's admitting it's hindsight (re: Gillick). Crunching the numbers after the first half, it is Garcia's performance that held them down. Starting pitchers were even worse than the bullpen. Now that that's over maybe the Phils can play at a better clip.

I agree also with Yahoo that we can hope, because of Utley, Howard, Rollins, etc. I reiterate that the Phils should try Carlos Carrasco now when they need a fifth starter.

If the Phils can club their way to the postseason the off days mean that Hamels can start 1/3 of the playoff games, the 4th starter only pitches occasionally, the 5th never.