Like most fans, I was pretty shocked that the Philadelphia Phillies didn't trade anyone yesterday. Obviously we didn't trade Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Chase Utley, or Jimmy Rollins. We also didn't trade suddenly valuable on the market Antonio Bastardo, the very productive in 2014 Marlon Byrd, the durable A.J. Burnett, or the salary dump candidate in Jonathan Papelbon. Nobody left. Not even a bench player.
So today, the Phillies are 48-61, 11.5 games out of first, in last place in the NL East. They're on pace to top 90 losses, and they lost 89 last year. They will make it three years without a post-season berth this year, and yet will set a franchise record for payroll. Cliff Lee probably ended his season last night with another elbow issue, just adding to the insult. The IronPigs are in last, Reading never was in contention in their abysmal season, Clearwater might have had the worst first half I've ever seen any professional team have, and Lakewood is an afterthought in the SAL. That's where we are today, with two months of baseball left. I know the term has been used in both Phillies-lore and pop-culture already, but it is "Black Friday" for Phillies fans.
We could blame anyone we want, at this point blame everyone. The reality is that there was no excuse to do nothing yesterday. John Kruk slammed Amaro and the Phillies, saying that losing with younger players was better than with older players, since it only gets worse with older players. A better GM would not be so attached to Chase Utley and Cole Hamels as to not shop them for huge returns. In fact, we have some proof of this from yesterday- the reigning world champions traded away anyone they could to rebuild an aging roster. Talk about lacking sentimentality.
All of these failures culminated yesterday. An old, expensive, last place team, with a lacking minor league system decided to stand pat, and attempt to contend next year. Ruben so woefully was over-matched, in that he thought he could get a huge return for each of his aging, expensive players. Now we move forward with a bad team. The Phillies did nothing to change their situation yesterday, so while Ruben thinks the other GMs lost by not dealing with him, it is he who looks like an idiot now.
