Post by Bish on Nov 14, 2023 15:56:30 GMT -5
Philadelphia–Cory Seidman from NBC Sports Philadelphia reported the trade
The Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs shocked the world when they made this blockbuster trade that included the current MVP. The Phillies dealt Catcher Joe Mauer, future ace SP Nick Adenhart, SS Jemile Weeks, and next year’s 1st round pick for Catcher Carlos Ruiz, MVP SS J.J. Hardy, and MR Jose Veras.
When I talked to the GM of the Phillies, he was very excited about this trade, but also sad to see his guys leave as well. He goes, “I am certainly upset to see a guy like Joe Mauer go. He won a world series with us in 2006, and you simply don’t forget that. He was a leader, and as much as we thought he had more in him in terms of hitting, we knew that day will eventually come.” When I pressed him on that, Steve said, “I just think he’s a much better hitter than he has shown. While I think that day will come, we also know the type of guy we are replacing him with. Carlos Ruiz could’ve and maybe should’ve won the MVP in 2006. This is a guy who is one of the 5 best hitters in the NL. We needed to upgrade our offense and find guys that are absolutely dynamite in terms of hitting for a high average as well as deliver some pop. Ruiz literally checks all those boxes off.”
When I asked Steve about losing guys like Nick Adenhart and Jemile Weeks who were in that classic 2005 draft class that the Phillies ultimately nailed…Steve says, “I mean, we don’t just trade our farm system because we are all in, right? Like we go through a process, and if it doesn’t intrigue us, then we won’t even entertain the thought. We’d rather be patient, and reap the rewards of talented guys like this. Nick Adenhart was a guy we valued immensely. It’s funny because another GM asked about him, and I immediately said he wasn’t available. I thought he would be up with us next year. We’ll miss him, believe us. The Cubs got a great one there. With Weeks, I feel as if he’s going to be a dynamite leadoff type guy, or even play a nice 2-way role with the ability to swipe bases. He was a guy that had been asked many times by other teams, too. We were picky about who we’d involve him in. And let’s get this out of the way as well, we don’t just deal our 1st round pick to deal it. We try to get guys that will contribute for many years, and not just one year.” Fair enough!
When I talked to Steve about how this came about…was it the Cubs that came to you guys, or was it our Phillies that wanted to feel the temperature…he goes, “It’s funny you mentioned this, but I don’t think it really came about until I saw Play make that first move. I always need to see him make a move before really knowing if he’s serious because I’ve seen some of his blocks where they aren’t as serious, right? And so once we saw Jeff Weaver traded, we knew right away. This guy is serious, let’s talk about his two best hitters, and see if we can come up with something. We sent our original offer, and it was pretty much right there…we needed to make a couple minor adjustments, and the deal, I kid you not, was done in less than 45 minutes. It happened quickly. I just give credit to Play as a GM because he is fair. He will make trades, but be fair, and come at him correctly, and you’ll get something done if you do so.”
Almost everyone wanted to talk just about that trade, but there was one with the Twins where the Phillies acquired an elite bullpen arm in Mike Adams and while expensive…a truly elite CF in Hideki Matsui. This is what Steve had to say about it, “You know we did well there, I think. We used the high price tag of Matsui to our benefit. Unfortunately that will affect a player’s value when trying to sell him. We also wanted to get Adams in there because frankly we lost 2 high quality relievers in Saito and Otsuka. I think for us, we give up a couple younger relievers, and just our 1st this year. I think that’s acceptable business for us. We needed to replace Brian Giles' bat, and I think we possibly might’ve been able to upgrade there because Matsui is more balanced as a hitter as well as he was able to play the field at a very high level, too.”
With that said, the Phillies really were aggressive and a lot of that has to do with the Braves continuing to reload, and still being a big time player in the NL East division. Factor in that teams like the Brewers and Cardinals making big time strides…with the usual suspects in contention in ‘Zona, San Fran, and possibly the Cubs still…the Phillies needed to get better after a complacent 2007 season where they weren’t even able to defend their crown despite winning 100 games. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how these Phillies fare this year.
The Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs shocked the world when they made this blockbuster trade that included the current MVP. The Phillies dealt Catcher Joe Mauer, future ace SP Nick Adenhart, SS Jemile Weeks, and next year’s 1st round pick for Catcher Carlos Ruiz, MVP SS J.J. Hardy, and MR Jose Veras.
When I talked to the GM of the Phillies, he was very excited about this trade, but also sad to see his guys leave as well. He goes, “I am certainly upset to see a guy like Joe Mauer go. He won a world series with us in 2006, and you simply don’t forget that. He was a leader, and as much as we thought he had more in him in terms of hitting, we knew that day will eventually come.” When I pressed him on that, Steve said, “I just think he’s a much better hitter than he has shown. While I think that day will come, we also know the type of guy we are replacing him with. Carlos Ruiz could’ve and maybe should’ve won the MVP in 2006. This is a guy who is one of the 5 best hitters in the NL. We needed to upgrade our offense and find guys that are absolutely dynamite in terms of hitting for a high average as well as deliver some pop. Ruiz literally checks all those boxes off.”
When I asked Steve about losing guys like Nick Adenhart and Jemile Weeks who were in that classic 2005 draft class that the Phillies ultimately nailed…Steve says, “I mean, we don’t just trade our farm system because we are all in, right? Like we go through a process, and if it doesn’t intrigue us, then we won’t even entertain the thought. We’d rather be patient, and reap the rewards of talented guys like this. Nick Adenhart was a guy we valued immensely. It’s funny because another GM asked about him, and I immediately said he wasn’t available. I thought he would be up with us next year. We’ll miss him, believe us. The Cubs got a great one there. With Weeks, I feel as if he’s going to be a dynamite leadoff type guy, or even play a nice 2-way role with the ability to swipe bases. He was a guy that had been asked many times by other teams, too. We were picky about who we’d involve him in. And let’s get this out of the way as well, we don’t just deal our 1st round pick to deal it. We try to get guys that will contribute for many years, and not just one year.” Fair enough!
When I talked to Steve about how this came about…was it the Cubs that came to you guys, or was it our Phillies that wanted to feel the temperature…he goes, “It’s funny you mentioned this, but I don’t think it really came about until I saw Play make that first move. I always need to see him make a move before really knowing if he’s serious because I’ve seen some of his blocks where they aren’t as serious, right? And so once we saw Jeff Weaver traded, we knew right away. This guy is serious, let’s talk about his two best hitters, and see if we can come up with something. We sent our original offer, and it was pretty much right there…we needed to make a couple minor adjustments, and the deal, I kid you not, was done in less than 45 minutes. It happened quickly. I just give credit to Play as a GM because he is fair. He will make trades, but be fair, and come at him correctly, and you’ll get something done if you do so.”
Almost everyone wanted to talk just about that trade, but there was one with the Twins where the Phillies acquired an elite bullpen arm in Mike Adams and while expensive…a truly elite CF in Hideki Matsui. This is what Steve had to say about it, “You know we did well there, I think. We used the high price tag of Matsui to our benefit. Unfortunately that will affect a player’s value when trying to sell him. We also wanted to get Adams in there because frankly we lost 2 high quality relievers in Saito and Otsuka. I think for us, we give up a couple younger relievers, and just our 1st this year. I think that’s acceptable business for us. We needed to replace Brian Giles' bat, and I think we possibly might’ve been able to upgrade there because Matsui is more balanced as a hitter as well as he was able to play the field at a very high level, too.”
With that said, the Phillies really were aggressive and a lot of that has to do with the Braves continuing to reload, and still being a big time player in the NL East division. Factor in that teams like the Brewers and Cardinals making big time strides…with the usual suspects in contention in ‘Zona, San Fran, and possibly the Cubs still…the Phillies needed to get better after a complacent 2007 season where they weren’t even able to defend their crown despite winning 100 games. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how these Phillies fare this year.
