Go Cubs Go

My dad was a year old in 1945, so it's not quite true that he went his life without seeing the Cubs in the World Series, but I feel confident in saying that he didn't remember it.  And of course, the Cubs rather famously didn't get it done that year.

Throughout my relationship with my dad, baseball was the constant.  When we first moved to Pennsylvania, Dad got a Sunday season ticket package for a few years, which ended up including trips to the NLCS and World Series in 1983.  When I was a teenager, we usually stayed closer to home, going to dozens of Reading Phillies games each summer.  And the last trip I ever took with my dad and my brother was a long baseball weekend out to Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

When we found out he was sick, we were literally days away from leaving for a family reunion and trip to Wrigley, which obviously we ended up missing.  I've always secretly wished he'd been able to wait to get his diagnosis, just so we could have one last memory.  But it wasn't to be.

I know I'm only one of many sons that are thinking of their fathers today, who weren't here to see the Cubs finally win the World Series. I honestly don't know what he would have made of it; he was never a demonstrative person, and between you and me I think he was more of a Phillies fan for the last few years of his life, having watched the core of those great recent Phillies teams develop in Reading.  But I know he would have been happy, and would have loved that game.  More than anything, my dad just liked to watch baseball.  He was just as happy going to Reading as he was going to a Major League park (probably moreso, when you consider the out of pocket costs).  He liked to remind me that he'd sometimes take me to watch slo-pitch softball down the street.  He was never a diehard, because to him the result wasn't what mattered, it was the fun of watching the game.

Earlier this year, when it was clear that this could be a special year, I made it a point to go and see the Cubs when they came through Philadelphia.  I took my daughter with me, even though she's not much of a fan, and doesn't pay attention, and can't sit still, and wants something to eat every two innings, and it meant I couldn't keep score, and we'd be leaving before the game is over, and all those other things that probably bugged my dad when I was nine.  But she loved it, wearing the Reading Phillies hat her grandfather got for her at her first ever baseball game years ago.  I hope I can spend the rest of my life telling her that she saw the Cubs the year they finally won the World Series after 108 years.  After all, that's why sports matter.  They bind us together, as family, friends, and community. They give us common ground to relate to one another, even during the hard times.  And they allow us to stay connected, even to loved ones that have long since passed.

Heady Time to be a Phillies Fan

Here's a link to something Tom Verducci wrote on SI.com last week about the Phillies becoming the closest thing to the Yankees in the NL. Basically, they've become the team for which every other contender must account. This was as it was first emerging that the Phils were aggressively pursuing Roy Halliday-- a pursuit that looks as if it has come to fruition.

If you're a longtime Phillies fan, this new, elite-level Phillies franchise is a little hard to wrap your head around. After all, it wasn't that long ago that stars like Curt Shilling and Scott Rolen were looking to leave Philadelphia, because they were convinced that management wasn't committed to winning. And who could blame them? I saw Curt Shilling pitch a lot of games, and I can't tell you how many wins he lost because of the inferior Phillies bullpen. One year, it seemed like every game Shilling pitched, he took a lead into the eighth, when Steve Schrenk would inevitably be brought in-- and, also inevitably, he would blow the game. Shilling, clearly, felt that his only chance to win in those days was to throw a complete game. He was probably right.

But Rolen, as it turns out, probably should have been a bit more patient. He was actually the beginning of a youth movement that has become the core of this Phillies team. Rolen was soon followed by Pat Burell and Jimmy Rollins, and later Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Cole Hamels. Again, if you followed the Phillies for awhile, this is still hard to accept. I grew up going to Phillies minor league games in Reading, and let me tell you, if ever a farm system was bare, it was the Phillies in the '80s. I recall only one even remotely impact player from that era, part time first baseman Ricky Jordan. Ricky Jordan!

But now the Phillies look to be contenders for a long, long time. Their core is still young, and already has a World Series title under their collective belts. The farm system remains deep, meaning the team will continue to get better either from within, or by parlaying their prospects into players, as they did first for Cliff Lee, and now for Halliday.

But....

I don't quite understand the mechanics of this trade. Basically, the Phillies are getting Halliday from Toronto, and shipping Cliff Lee to Seattle; in addition, the Phillies are sending prospects (reportedly outfielder Michael Taylor and pitchers Kyle Drebeck and J.A. Happ) to Toronto, and receiving prospects back from Seattle. I don't know anything about them, but reportedly the Seattle package is not as good as the Phillies prospect package, nor as far along.

This prospect package is essentially what the Blue Jays asked Philadelphia for over the summer (with the substitution of Taylor for Dominick Brown, who may be better ultimately but is not as far along as Taylor). The Phillies decided this was too high, and went and got Lee for a package of good, but inferior, prospects. Drebeck, in fact, was considered untouchable.

So why make that deal now, when you'll actually be getting less out of Halliday? What has changed? If the Phillies have decided that they need another elite starter to compete with the Yankees in a possible World Series rematch next fall, then yeah, they're right. After all, Lee was the only starter that proved capable of beating the Bombers, and you just can't be sure that Cole Hamels will regain his 2008 form. So adding Halliday, even at such a steep price, seems like a reasonable idea.

But....

Why trade Lee? If the idea is to make your rotation lights out in October, Halliday/Lee does that. But just Halliday puts you back at square one. Granted, Halliday is an upgrade over Lee, but Lee is an upgrade over Hamels or whomever else the Phillies will plug into the rotation. Plus, now you've lost Happ, and Drebeck, who would probably be pitching in Philadelphia by the end of the summer. Who will pitch those innings? Pedro Martinez? Kyle Kendrick?

I understand that the Phillies thought that they couldn't lock up Lee long-term, but they can Halliday. Fine. So why not keep Lee for the year? If the goal in trading Lee for prospects is to restock the farm, then the two draft picks the Phils would pick up if Lee signs elsewhere as a type A free agent after next season accomplish that. It just doesn't make much sense. I would understand if the Phillies were shipping Lee to the M's, then sending Seattle's prospects to Toronto and thus keeping their own farm system intact, but this seems like the worst of both worlds.

Oh well. Roy Halliday's a Phillie, or about to be, and it's hard to complain about that. The Phillies have shown that they have no intention of being satisfied with a two or three year run, and are looking to be the team to beat in the National League for a long time. Considering where they've been, they get a pass.

For now. It doesn't take long for fans to go from suffering to spoiled; just ask the Red Sox.

UPDATE: So the trade was finalized today, finally, and did not include Happ, but a catching prospect that I haven't heard of. So that's certainly better, although the Phillies have now traded two catching prospects in the last six months. I hope they really do like Ruiz.

So the Phillies rotation would look to be Halliday/Hamels/Blanton/Happ/Moyer or Pedro. Not bad, but they are really counting on Hamels to rebound, and Happ to be the real deal. I think both those things will happen, but I'd feel a lot better if Cliff Lee was in front of Cole Hamels, or Kyle Drabeck was waiting in the wings.

Oh: I misspelled Kyle Drabeck's name. Knew it was one or the other.