Hunter Pence Trade Reactions And Fallout

The Phillies love to make a big splash at the trade deadline and they continued the trend this year by acquiring Hunter Pence from the Astros for Jarred Cosart, Jonathan Singleton, Josh Zeid, and a player to be named later.  Let's take a look at some reactions to the deal from around the baseball world:

• Up until late yesterday, the Astros were looking to get even more out of the Phillies, tweets Jayson Stark of ESPN.com.  Houston insisted that the Phillies had to include two more of their top ten prospects, including 2010 first-round pick Jesse Biddle.
• Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. will continue to listen to other teams up until the trade deadline on Sunday, but he's likely done trading after landing Pence, writes Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
• Astros GM Ed Wade was still talking to other teams until ten minutes before he made the deal with the Phillies, tweets Bob Brookover of Philadelphia Inquirer.
• Keith Law of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) believes that the Astros took a considerable risk in dealing Pence.  While they received a ton of potential long-term value, the major prospects coming over in the trade are high-risk, high-reward prospects.
• Wade's decision to trade Pence certainly isn't a popular one but it is the right move for the organization, writes Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com.
• Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle writes that it could take two years or longer to fairly judge the return that the Astros got for Pence.
• Phillies officials have questioned Cosart's maturity in the past, according to John Manuel and Matt Eddy of Baseball America.  Furthermore, the right-hander's command issues led others in the organization to believe he was destined wind up in the bullpen.  However, Cosart had the best pure arm in the Phillies' system.