Let's check out some Phillies-related Friday night links….
- Todd Zolecki of MLB.com breaks down the club's 2010 payroll, projecting that it could eventually exceed $140MM, based on potential bonuses and buyouts.
- Zolecki also looks at the last remaining piece of the trade that sent Bobby Abreu out of Philadelphia: Jesus Sanchez. Zolecki writes that the Phils "just might get some talent in return for Abreu after all."
- In a team preview for Yahoo! Sports, David Brown presents five burning questions facing the Phillies, including whether the team sufficiently improved their bench this winter.
Not to nitpick, but Jesus Sanchez is a pitcher.
Well, according to his BBRef page, he used to be a catcher. So, I can see how he could mess it up.
Gotcha, He’s not the first catcher turned pitcher.
Somebody didn’t bother to click the link and read the article. Good work there……
Yeah, he was a catcher when they acquired him in the trade, but he couldn’t hit and was never going to make it to the majors so he switched to the mound. In general, that was a horrific trade for the Phillies.
It may have been a lopsided trade, but how many World Series’ did the Yankees win with Abreu in Right Field? Plus, Sanchez does have upside, and he’s still very young. I could see him mimic J.C. Romero.
what does that have to do with anything? it was still a bad trade.
It was a bad trade but it didn’t impact the Yankees a ton. They made the post-season 2 out of the three years but the Phillies won a World Series when Abreu was on the Yankees. I’m just saying…
Just because their the Yankees doesn’t mean that making the playoffs is nothing. In retrospect, the Yankees were excellent teams with Abreu, he did his part.
I understand that Ryan, but you and I being Yankee fans would know that the expectation from managent and players on the Yankees not to mention us fans is to win the World Series every single year.
But again, if you read the article, which you didn’t, you would see why the options with Abreu were limited. I got you as the type of guy who used nothing but cliff notes in community college, no?
The Yankees won ~ 20 of their 27 world series from 1920-1960…in the past 50 years, they have 7…I never understood why Yankee fans expected to win every year…( unless u lived in the (20-60 ) era..
Not at all, that is what unreasonable Yankee fans expect. We expect to win, like every team, and Bobby helped us win. Like someone else said, it’s like saying the Cliff Lee trade wasn’t good because the Phillies didn’t win a World Series. You still generate much more revenue when you’re winning in the regular season.
saying that bobby a. was a bad trade for the yankees is like saying cliff lee was a bad trade for the phillies…just because u dont win the world series, doesnt mean the trade was bad/good…
Exactly, at the time the Yankees lost both Matsui and Sheffield to season-ending injuries (Sheff came back at the end but gone for most of the season). And they picked up Abreu without giving up top prospects.
The article addresses this a little…relaying how Abreu really limited the teams he’d accept to trade to.
It was a salary dump which enabled Jayson Werth to take over in right full time after Aaron Rowand left the following year and Vic moved to center. It only resulted in a World Series win. Yea, but you’re right, horrible deal……..
Just because they won doesnt mean it wasnt a bad trade.
Except it does. Abreu has never won anything and there’s a reason for that. He was bad for the clubhouse. He brought with him this lazy attitude and was content with coming close but not finishing the job. The team needed to get him out of there so that Utley, Rollins, and Howard could step up and become the leaders of the team. Sure, they didn’t get much in return. But, they freed up a ton of payroll and allowed the younger players to become leaders.
Uh, Jayson Werth full-time? We signed GEOFF JENKINS. Werth platooned with Geoff rarely and was a bench player.
Werth wasn’t even on the team in 2006. Victorino became the full time RF when Abreu was traded through 2007 with Aaron Rowand in CF. Werth was brought in by Gillick in the 06-07 offseason and was a role player in 2007. We then signed Geoff Jenkins and let Rowand sign his ridiculous contract with SFG so we could move Victorino to CF. Werth then platooned with Jenkins for the first half of 2008 before becoming the full-time starter and never relinquishing it.
That trade was a great example of the difference between the way the numbnuts who post here and a Hall of Fame executive like Pat Gillick evaluate trades. The Phils did not get equal talent back for Abreu in that deal, but it was still a hugely successful trade, regardless of whether Sanchez ever pitches in the big leagues. I’m an Abreu fan, but he’s a laconic guy. He was the veteran presence on that team and in that clubhouse & the team’s personality matched his. Once he left, the dominant personalities on the team became Utley, Rollins, Howard and Rowand. You began to hear people in baseball describe them as “gritty” and “gamers” — terms you didn’t hear when Abreu was the face of the franchise. The team was transformed almost overnight. They were seven games under .500 the day Abreu was traded. They were 15 games over .500 for the rest of 2006. They won the division in each of the next three years and have made two appearances in the World Series. It would have been a lousy trade in fantasy baseball, but in the real workd it worked out nicely.