Phillies New Year! Answers to Questions (Jan 5)

January 5, 2010   ·   philliesmania   ·   Jump to comments

Wow January 5 already! That means there are only 300 days left in 2010.

  < this is me as the thinker

It’s time for me to answer the Top 10 questions put out on Phillies.com. Yes the 10 monster questions for Phillies in 2010!

 

Question 10:

 

Could the Phillies have had Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee in the rotation?

 

Yes they could have. Even Ruben Amaro made it clear that this was an option.

 

10B is should they have? Assuming that Amaro is giving us the straight skinny on all of the variables I say no they should not have kept Lee. Now let me state clearly, as I have said before it it were my money I would have made an exception for 2010 and mad the budget $150,000,000 instead of a “poultry” $140,000,000 and kept Lee.

 

However we are told that was not an option. And that may be true. Even rich people have limits. So if that is the case then you would have had to let someone go or trade someone. Blanton and Dobbs would have covered the Lee $9,000,000. Or you could have sent the underachieving Boy Wonder, Cole Hamels. But in return it is 99.9% certain that you would have only had Lee for 2010. Which you could argue is all that matters right now. But Amaro’s employers don’t see things that way.

 

And make no mistake about it Lee wasn’t signing any extension before he tested the Free Agent market. And he was bent on 5 to 7 years!

 

So in summary, I would have kept Lee for the 1 year and kept everyone else and ate the $9 MILLION, IF it was MY MONEY! Bur if I were Ruben Amaro spending the Phillies owners money I would respect their demands. I would have shipped Lee for the best prospects I could get. And this makes sense.

 

Now I personally fell that a prospect is just that a prospect. But they are more than players that might play down the road. They are trade commidities. And that is important come every July. And of course the occasional off season splash.

 

Halladay was a great deal all things considered. You gave up potential for an ace but you kept a couple key Minor leaguers. And Roy signed the paper that Lee wouldn’t.

 

Shipping Lee gave you back 3 very tradeable players and/or future arms and an outfielder. Regardless of how they turn out they are commodities at least for this year.

 

The other factor is the Hamels dilemma. What Hamels will be there in 2010? That will have a huge impact on the outcome of the season. However remember this.

 

In 2009 we were looking at Hamels, Myers, Moyer, Blanton, and Park as a rotation. Clearly Halladay, Hamels, Blanton, Happ, and to be determined is a much improved rotation to start the year with.

 

And OH we can sign Lee at the end of the year if he comes down on his ransom demands………………………