Comments on: Trading a Drabek

By: Daily Box Score 7/29: The Other Shoe

Daily Box Score 7/29: The Other Shoe — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:53:39 +0000

[...] of jokes about Hal and Hank Steinbrenner, River Ave. Blues takes a look back at the folly of trading a player with the name Drabek on the back of his [...]

By: DieHardPhan

DieHardPhan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:14:46 +0000

Without getting into the many times the Phils have traded away very good talent for guys who didn’t work out, let me tell you why I don’t think the Phillies should be so quick to trade Drabek or to sell the farm for Halladay. In 2004, there was a trade for arguably the best pitcher(or at least the top 5) in the AL, where the team who traded him got two pitching prospects with pretty nice upside, both who had pitched the past season but who hadn’t done it for as long as said pitcher, and a catching prospect. Who was the pitcher you ask? Mark Mulder. And the two pitching prospects? Dan Haren and Kiko Calero. Who got the better of that deal? Mulder had ONE good season, in 05, and every one after that was not even average, while Haren has become arguably one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, and Calero hasn’t done too poorly either. Plus, Haren ended up getting Oakland a few good prospects in return for him, so they benefited twice from this trade. Halladay and Mulder have similar numbers in the AL(and Mulder put his up in less seasons than Halladay), similar builds, similar pretty much everything, and Mulder was only 27 when he was traded, and had played in the postseason and been dominant, whereas Halladay never has. Furthermore, I see a lot of similarities between Drabek and Haren, from the build, to the delivery, to the poise on the mound. Plus, the Phillies don’t necessarily need Halladay. Cole Hamels just needs to find himself again, Blanton has been pitching great so far all year and has been a huge innings eater, Moyer gives you mostly solid starts or at least enough of them that he’s still serviceable, Happ has stepped up big time and has pitched great in almost every start he’s ever had in the majors, Lopez is a pretty sold number 5 and if he stays healthy, they’ll have Pedro freaking Martinez at the back of the rotation to replace Lopez. On top of that, they still do have a few pitchers who can come in and pitch for them from their farm system if need be, a few of which have already pitched in the big leagues for a start or more and not done half bad. And believe me, this is coming from a realist who can never criticize this team enough when they deserve it, especially when it comes to personnel decisions. If we can get Halladay without selling the farm then great, but there’s no reason to overpay for a guy who you don’t even actually need. We’ve seen what happens when teams gamble by mortgaging the farm and losing, bothm in Philadelphia(many times) and elsewhere.

On the other hand, I’d really like to see Happ go to the Blue Jays because I think he’s a perfect fit for the AL and that he’ll actually get a chance to have a permanent spot in the rotation that he doesn’t lose to whoever the GM brings in that particular year to take the job that he earned *cough* Chan Ho Park *cough* because Happ definitely deserves it. And Toronto fans, I’ve been watching Happ pitch since televised AAA games, and I’m sure that anybody who has watched him pitch will tell you that not only does he know how to pitch(a lot moreso than most young non-phenom pitchers), has the poise and attitude towards pitching that fits the AL perfectly, but he also has good enough stuff that he can pitch a shut out or shut a team down at times, and isn’t just a Jamie Moyer out there trying to play chess. I’d say that he could easily be a solid number 2-3 for you. I also don’t get why the Blue Jays aren’t asking for Jason Knapp, who some say has the most upside out of any of the Phillies pitching prospects, whether in the rotation or out of the ‘pen.

Personally though, I’d rather keep all of our young prospects and have a rotation of Hamels, Blanton, Happ, Carrasco, and Carpenter next year, with Drabek probably joining the rotation in 2 years, and a lineup featuring both Ryan Howard AND Michael Taylor in the next two years. I’m okay with anybody but Drabek or Taylor being traded for Halladay, but getting rid of either of those two is just ludicrous. We’ve already traded Golson, Bourne, Castro(who admittedly isn’t at the level of anybody mentioned in this post), and you have to admit that we’ve had mixed results from those trades. That’s just since last off-season too. With all of our starting outfielders right around 30, and a rotation that will have 2 definite spots to fill in it within the next 2 years, why trade two players who can fill those spots for years to come?

By: Tom Gaffney

Tom Gaffney — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:50:10 +0000

Sorry, too quick on the trigger, there.

By: RollingWave

RollingWave — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:39:12 +0000

If the teams of the 80s had McGriff / Rijo / Drabek / Bueher around, they probably ended their pufility about 4-7 years before 95.

Sure, Rijo was traded for a inner circle hall of famer in his prime (Ricky) but really, I’m sure that’s comforting when you watch him pitch like Pedro Martinez before Pedro Martinez in the 1990 world series, and for a 7 year stretch he was essentially the best pitcher in the NL.

By: tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside

tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:00:43 +0000

Yes, you generally do fail when you stop reading. He addressed in the article why the comparison he was making wasn’t apt.

By: Mikebk

Mikebk — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:03:35 +0000

we all know francessa is ridiculous but people in here were questioning joba as a starter as well after 2 horrific outings in a row and an era that ballooned to 4.25 so that doesnt mean after two excellent ones in a row he is should now be back to being the savior. same with porcello, young pitchers will have ups and downs as they learn their consistency.

By: sabernar

sabernar — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:46:13 +0000

Did you just compare Rick Rhoden to Halladay? Sorry, but I stopped reading after that. #fail

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:36:53 +0000

Missed the point. Point was Francesca was trashing Joba as a starter, saying even Porcello, a rookie from Jersey, was better than Joba, because Joba was not a “starting pitch-a.” No Yankee bias, Porcello could become a better “ptich-a” than Joba, just a comment on Francesca’s ridiculous rant using 10 starts by a rookie to make his point that Joba would fail as a starter.

By: Moshe Mandel

Moshe Mandel — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:02:09 +0000

+ a lot. The consensus on Porcello has become that he has a high probability to be a very good pitcher and eat innings, but is unlikely to become an ace. Joba has more probability questions, but he has that ace potential.

By: mryankee

mryankee — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:50:06 +0000

Well thats good to hear. Maybe Health bell would be a good fit and move hughes to the rotation-that is not my original idea. I also think I have given up on the Yankees aquiring Halladay. I have two thoughts one: why is Riccardi moving Hallady if he does not knwo he will be back next year and all he preched was 2010-2010-we will compete. If I were the Jays ownership I would not want a lame duck gm trading away the only reason people watch that team. 2: why aren’t the Texas Rangers trying to get halladay-they have the top farm system and clear need for a #1 starter and are close the the playoffs this year.