No Ruben, No.

Wiki Commons Photo in the Public Domain

I have this buddy of mine who is full of bad ideas- he wouldn't trade Ryan Howard if he could, he still likes the Papelbon move, he wants to put Dom Brown in center, wants to give Hunter Pence a $75 million deal this winter, and utterly hates Ben Revere. Basically, in short, he doesn't want the last few years to end, like most of us Phillies fans. He also hates any kind of advanced metrics, and frankly is full of bad ideas.

He's full of bad ideas for this winter, as I mentioned one above. He's inspired me to create this post- the worst possible ideas the Phillies could have for this off-season. Sure, this is opinion, but hopefully you the reader can see where I'm coming from here- at least I hope.

1. Sign Tim Lincecum- Say what? This is inspired by my buddy. See, the line-up is probably locked in, so the best way to improve the club is to fortify the staff. He's already envisioning Doc back, giving the Phillies a Hamels-Lee-Doc top three, and then he wants to go with Tim Lincecum, who in his mind has had as good of a year as Cole Hamels. Quoting from MLB Trade Rumors, "Lincecum owns a 4.55 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9." none of which are pathetic numbers, but none of which are worth the deal Lincecum would command, not to mention the likelihood that he's not signing to be a fifth starter type. For the record, Hamels has a 3.62 ERA, a walk and a half less per nine innings, a WHIP comparable to last year's, a comparable HR's per nine rate, and a comparable strikeouts to walk ration to recent years. Lincecum isn't as bad as his line, but he's too risky to give a big deal to.
2. Trade Cody Asche- Yes, buddy inspired. No, don't consider it. "Yeah, I like him, but I want Franco, and unless we move Dom to center, he has no space (there is an extension here that is next)." Even if Franco is going to make this team, why trade Asche? I'm not saying I'd never, ever do it, but why make him openly available? This team is old enough as is.
3. Sign Hunter Pence- Yes, the extension of the last comment. For what? Now a 30 year old, Pence is a very nice player, and maybe the top corner outfielder out there, which means he's going to cash in somewhere, most likely where he is now. If you want to pry him away, you will pay for it, a lot. I like Pence. I also think we over paid for him once, and got a light package back for him sending him out. No reason to price ourselves out of the market a third time. Don't get me wrong, he'd be a big upgrade, but he'd also be another large, potentially awful contract. Pass.
4. Five Carlos Ruiz Multi-Years- This one gets worse with length. I'll always like Chooch for what he did in Philadelphia, but his best is behind him. I can swallow a one year deal. I'm not really a fan though.
5. Move Dom Brown to center- Why? I know he did it a little in AAA ball, but no.
6. Trade a highly rated prospect to get an upgrade- Just say no to trading Franco, Biddle, Crawford, Quinn, Encarnacion, and Tocci to get any kind of medium upgrade. Stanton? Maybe now we're talking.
7. Pencil in Biddle as the #5- Even if 2014 is a throwaway on paper next spring, Jesse Biddle shouldn't be above AAA ball in April. I like his arm a lot, but he has command issues to work out. This year he finally hit a level where relying on his stuff didn't carry him to greatness.
8. Refuse to use advanced metrics- Oh wait, he does that now. Well, he should stop doing that, now also.
9. Non-tender Antonio Bastardo- No. I know it's tempting, given his circumstances. Make him fail on the field before parting ways. The suspension should help keep his value down a bit. The Phillies bullpen was just too awful to risk this.
10. Trade Cliff Lee to Seattle- I kind of mean trade him at all, but if they truly decide 2014 is going to be a waste, perhaps it's fine. Even so, Ruben screwed this up one time already….