The Phillies, their fans and their critics all knew that the window was closing, but no one really thought it was going to slam shut this season.
With Roy Halladay, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard all on the DL, the season is on the brink and trade rumors are beginning to fly around. Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and Shane Victorino are all among the players potentially up for grabs.
These three players could easily be the cornerstones of this organization for the next five years, but the offseason that followed their 2009 World Series loss to the Yankees changed everything.
| Phillies Significant Losses since 2009 1. Travis D'Arnaud, C 2. Anthony Gose, OF 3. Jonathan Singleton, 1B 4. Kyle Drabek, SP 5. J.A. Happ, SP |
Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. went into video game mode and made trade after trade, piecing together a rotation I jokingly created on my Playstation before he did.
The only difference between the two rotations was that I could hit the reset button when it fell apart.
In 2009, Amaro made by far his best move at the trade deadline to acquire Lee for four prospects who never developed for Cleveland.
He was at it again in the 2009-10 offseason, making a splash by trading for Roy Halladay and sending away Cliff Lee.
In this deal, the Phillies lost their top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek and catcher Travis D’Arnaud. Drabek hasn’t faired well in the AL East, but he was looking pretty good for the Phillies and who knows what would have happened had he remained in the organization. Nevertheless, D’Arnaud was the Eastern League MVP last season, and since moving up to Triple-A, he’s batting .335 with 15 HRs and 48 RBIs. This has proven to be a huge loss for the Phillies.
So was the return the Phillies got for Lee from Seattle. All three prospects have been busts and at the time, many fans wondered why didn’t the Phillies just keep Cliff Lee.
The fans were told the Phillies couldn’t afford both Halladay and Lee, but midseason, they made a move that sent a decent outfield prospect Anthony Gose and J.A. Happ to the Astros for Roy Oswalt.
This move looked great until the Phils couldn’t hit against the Giants in the NLCS and their run to a third straight World Series fell short.
Then, Cliff Lee returned in a blockbuster signing that gave the Phillies four stud pitchers (and Joe Blanton). They won 102 games behind this quartet (and Vance Worley), despite having their lowest run total since 2002. Those offensive deficiencies shined in their NLDS loss to the Cardinals.
In an attempt to fix that offense, the Phillies added Hunter Pence at the trade deadline, sending a pair of decent prospect pitchers and first baseman Jonathan Singleton, who is batting .281 with 11 HRs and 42 RBIs in Double-A this season. He was once said to be Ryan Howard’s replacement.
After all those moves, the Phillies find themselves nowhere near repeating the 2008 World Series title that sparked this Golden Era of baseball in Philly. Instead of their cozy seat in first place, the Phillies find themselves in the cellar of the NL East.
If Amaro — deemed a front office genius after making a plethora of blockbuster moves — had just stuck with Lee after 2009, let his Halladay dreams fade and not handed over the farm to the Astros in later trades, the Phillies could be sitting right now with this:
Starting rotation: Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, J.A. Happ, Vance Worley, Kyle Drabek, Joe Blanton (pick five) — which could be better, and definitely no worse, than the Hamels, Lee, Kendrick, Worley and Blanton starting five they’re currently working with.
The offense is up for your imagination, because who knows whom the Phillies could have signed without spending millions on Halladay, Pence and Oswalt.
In the minors, they could have a top-notch catcher in D’Arnaud, a speedy outfielder in Gose and a future first basemen in Singleton — this could be considered the next wave.
I know without Halladay, things could have been a lot different, but I feel like the 2008 and 2009 teams were the best Phillies teams we’ve seen in the last five years and it’s a shame that things were changed up in the offseason of 2009.
Now, with Lee and Hamels potentially trade chips to get prospects to rebuild, I can’t help but think that Lee and Hamels could be the key pieces of a reboot for the Phillies.
I guess I’ll just have to turn on my Playstation and make this happen.
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