The Phillies Are Losers

Written by Benny B. | 10 July 2010

Don't be fooled by imitators!  Just because Mike decided to change his ink color doesn't mean he speaks for Mets Fans.  I've said this before, the NY Post & Daily News are clearly biased Yankee newspapers on par with with the national enquirer when it comes to actual news reporting.

The best part of the Lee saga is how all the Yankee loving media are crying foul because they feel "used".  Boo Hoo.  Sorry Yanks, but you just got a taste of your own medicine:

Yankees know how the game works. General Manager Brian Cashman — echoing the sage of the organization, Yogi Berra — often says a deal is never final until it is final. After all, George Steinbrenner once signed David Wells over Christmas Eve cheeseburgers, persuading Wells to back out of an agreement with theArizona Diamondbacks.

But nobody likes to feel used, and privately, that was the Yankees’ prevailing sentiment on Friday, when the Seattle Mariners traded the All-Star left-hander Cliff Lee to the Texas Rangers for a four-player package headlined by Justin Smoak, a switch-hitting first baseman the Mariners had coveted for weeks.

Furthermore, the current Lee trade highlights just how bad and how little Philly got in return when they traded Lee.  From the same article:

The Phillies traded four players to Cleveland last July for Lee, who was dominant down the stretch and beat the Yankees twice in the World Series. But with no progress on a long-term deal, the Phillies moved quickly to trade for a different ace, Roy Halladay of Toronto, and simultaneously ship Lee to Seattle to replenish a thinning farm system.

In doing so, the Phillies passed on a chance to have an overwhelming duo at the top of their rotation. Instead of keeping Lee and dumping the veteran Joe Blanton — if not for prospects, then for savings — the Phillies signed Blanton to a three-year, $24 million contract.

Blanton had a 6.27 earned run average before Friday, and the prospects the Phillies received for Lee have been disappointing. The former first-round draft choice Phillippe Aumont, 21, had a 7.43 E.R.A. in 11 Class AA starts this season and is now a reliever at Class A.

Buster Onley has dubbed the Phillies one of the biggest losers of the Lee trade:

Losers: The Philadelphia Phillies. They're currently looking for starting pitching, after deciding to trade Lee, and the Mariners' haul for the left-hander demonstrates once and for all that Philadelphia didn't get as much as it could have in a trade for one of the best starters on the planet.

So instead of having arguably the best pitching tandem in baseball history, the Phillies opted to swap one ace for another and sign 6.27 ERA Bleh-ton for 3 years.  And now they are scrambling to find pitching while injuries are piling up.  Go figure. The phillies really shot themselves in the foot...I mean kicked a concrete step and broke a toe on this one. The verdict is in: The Phillies are Losers.