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| All of these guys are still in Philly. Photo by Rich Wilkins |
Well, the deadline came. The deadline passed. For the first time in several years, nothing happened. No one came. No one went. For the first time in several years, I'm not happy with a deadline.
Let's be clear, the trade deadline is an overblown "deadline." Sure, all trades through the end of the year now have to go through waivers, but guys do get through. And sure, it's kind of silly to think that you're going to trade Cliff Lee and $70 million at ten minutes to four o'clock on July 31st. Failure to make a move today does not mean permanent failure, and it also does not mean they can't change the course of the franchise going forward. They clearly can.
That doesn't change the feeling that there is no direction here. When the team was good, and was making moves for the Cliff Lees, the Hunter Pences, and even the Joe Blantons, yes we gave up a lot, but you were trying to win. Last year, sure it stunk to trade away two outfielders, but you understood what they were doing. Here you have what is not a good baseball, and the Phillies did nothing to change that direction. It's frustrating.
The Phillies started the day as an old, high payroll, mediocre system team. They still are. It's also obvious that they put a higher value on some of their players than the market does, at this point. The Red Sox essentially bid against themselves and wouldn't match up with the Phillies for Cliff Lee, no one was interested in Papelbon, no one gave them anything worth it on Michael Young, and they apparently didn't try hard to move Carlos Ruiz. So the market to move their old, high-priced players is nil, and they didn't even attempt to move Chase Utley, who had interest.
I don't think this is worth despairing over. The team wasn't going to be good the rest of this year, and probably still won't. They have shown enough willingness to call up Cody Asche and Darin Ruf anyway, and we can hope they give one more look at Cesar Hernandez this season too, which would pretty much mean all their potential big leaguers in Lehigh Valley got a look. You can hope to see Ethan Martin and/or Adam Morgan in September, and we'll probably get a look at Roy Halladay this season (to decide if we want him back), as he threw a bullpen today. There can be some evaluation for the 2014 team, and hopefully a few young pieces emerge. Once the off-season arrives, the Phillies can part ways with Michael Young, Delmon Young, and Carlos Ruiz by free agency, assuming they want to. You can get to a different squad by next year (note here: different, not necessarily better), you just didn't start that road today. I wouldn't despair over it, I'd just not be happy with it.
I don't know what to hope for going forward. I'm disappointed over today. Hopefully things will move forward between now and Opening Day of 2014.
