Gillick Feedback
from pete barr: -
"You kind of 180 degreed with Gillick. Stepping back from this for one second, your second concern was that Gillick is a guy that stands Pat during the pennant stretch. I kind of agreed with Nerd's philosophy that you didn't want to trade away young talent for rent-a-players. People kind of got on Wade because he didn't make deadline deals. The only kind of moves that you make at the deadline are for players that are going to be available because they will be free agents the following year or they are aging veterans who are being traded in order to win a championship (see Ray Borque). Was there ever a time (I just don't remember) that the Phillies needed one cog to make a serious pennant chase? Not just to appease the fans? I just don't think those deals come around too much. Just don't get hung up on the deadline deal stuff. If there is a chance to get a quality player for peanuts at the deadline then do it. Don't forget, too, that the Phillies never really had anything to give up to get anything.
The way to win in baseball is to improve your farm system. That is Gillick's forte. Hopefully Arbuckle is packing his office up because that is an area that needs some serious improvement. Look at the Braves, Houston, Chicago, etc. they have players that can just fit in when big ticket free agents leave. I would rather have 10-15 good players than a team with 2 superstars and scrubs (look what happened to San Franscisco this year)....I think that Gillick's track record speaks for itself. He goes into situations and has been successful. He obviously can judge talent and puts a good team together. Again, don't get hung up on the deadline deals....good teams don't need to make them, and sometimes minor deals (Shawn Chacon) are just as good (you don't have to mortgage your future).... Here is what was bad with Wade. He had a really bad, weasily, condescending personality. He was also too brutally honest when it came to his decisions. Oftentimes using words that fans did not want to hear, like "economical", "prudent", blah blah, Wharton school terms. I don't want brutal honesty. I thought it really made the Phillies come across as being cheap and too much like they were running a business. It's the truth, but we didn't want to hear it. Wade also could not assess who to give big contracts to and has strapped the Phillies with players that flat out suck. Yes, it was nice to get Thome in here, but they are going to lose money if and when Gillick's moves him back to the American League. Why give money to a 30 plus year old slugger who can't play anywhere except first base? He was good for 2 years."
that's completely fair. i know that i'm not giving gillick a fair shake, and i know i probably should given his success with other teams, but i'm nagged by the thought that the phils picked him. i'm having a hard time trusting that they made the right choice. my concern is that this could be one of those "no-brainer" moves like millwood that blows up. hopefully not.
here is the other thing that bothers me about this move. gillick is not a long term answer at GM. he's like 67 or 68. he's only going to be here for 2-3 years. who's up after him? you guessed it, ruben wade jr. gillick has gone out of his way several times to mention what a great job wade did here. my bet is that the phils didn't hire hunsicker because he wanted to be the man for a while. montgomery only wanted a guy to serve as a bridge between wade and wade jr. hopefully time will prove me wrong.
"You kind of 180 degreed with Gillick. Stepping back from this for one second, your second concern was that Gillick is a guy that stands Pat during the pennant stretch. I kind of agreed with Nerd's philosophy that you didn't want to trade away young talent for rent-a-players. People kind of got on Wade because he didn't make deadline deals. The only kind of moves that you make at the deadline are for players that are going to be available because they will be free agents the following year or they are aging veterans who are being traded in order to win a championship (see Ray Borque). Was there ever a time (I just don't remember) that the Phillies needed one cog to make a serious pennant chase? Not just to appease the fans? I just don't think those deals come around too much. Just don't get hung up on the deadline deal stuff. If there is a chance to get a quality player for peanuts at the deadline then do it. Don't forget, too, that the Phillies never really had anything to give up to get anything.
The way to win in baseball is to improve your farm system. That is Gillick's forte. Hopefully Arbuckle is packing his office up because that is an area that needs some serious improvement. Look at the Braves, Houston, Chicago, etc. they have players that can just fit in when big ticket free agents leave. I would rather have 10-15 good players than a team with 2 superstars and scrubs (look what happened to San Franscisco this year)....I think that Gillick's track record speaks for itself. He goes into situations and has been successful. He obviously can judge talent and puts a good team together. Again, don't get hung up on the deadline deals....good teams don't need to make them, and sometimes minor deals (Shawn Chacon) are just as good (you don't have to mortgage your future).... Here is what was bad with Wade. He had a really bad, weasily, condescending personality. He was also too brutally honest when it came to his decisions. Oftentimes using words that fans did not want to hear, like "economical", "prudent", blah blah, Wharton school terms. I don't want brutal honesty. I thought it really made the Phillies come across as being cheap and too much like they were running a business. It's the truth, but we didn't want to hear it. Wade also could not assess who to give big contracts to and has strapped the Phillies with players that flat out suck. Yes, it was nice to get Thome in here, but they are going to lose money if and when Gillick's moves him back to the American League. Why give money to a 30 plus year old slugger who can't play anywhere except first base? He was good for 2 years."
that's completely fair. i know that i'm not giving gillick a fair shake, and i know i probably should given his success with other teams, but i'm nagged by the thought that the phils picked him. i'm having a hard time trusting that they made the right choice. my concern is that this could be one of those "no-brainer" moves like millwood that blows up. hopefully not.
here is the other thing that bothers me about this move. gillick is not a long term answer at GM. he's like 67 or 68. he's only going to be here for 2-3 years. who's up after him? you guessed it, ruben wade jr. gillick has gone out of his way several times to mention what a great job wade did here. my bet is that the phils didn't hire hunsicker because he wanted to be the man for a while. montgomery only wanted a guy to serve as a bridge between wade and wade jr. hopefully time will prove me wrong.
posted by The Mean Guy at 12:44 PM
1 Comments:
Also, he fails to note that the aliens in V (in addition to stealing water) want to eat humans. There are no humans available for eating in the Oort cloud.
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