Ed Wade, who are you working for? Are the Astros the new farm system of the Phils?

by crazyremy on Jul 30, 2011 7:14 AM EDT

Roy Oswalt, Brad Lidge and now Hunter Pence - you mean to tell me that out of every other team in the majors, the Astros could not get a better deal and had to trade with the Phillies in every single one of these blockbuster trades? We know about the Ed Wade connection but at some point shouldn't the Commissioner step in and ask the Astros why every single one of their proven veterans have to end up in Philadelphia? They didn't even have to give up major league ready talent in Domonic Brown or Vance Worley - Something's definitely not right in the AAAA affiliate of the Phils: The Houston Astros

Poll

Does Ed Wade secretly still work for the Phillies?

Yes, it's obvious he's still helping his old team

62 votes

No, he gets good return for what he sends to the Phils

33 votes

95 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

good sleuthin', son

John Olerud, Hall of Famer. Got a nice ring to it.

by squid92 on Jul 30, 2011 9:58 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

i just googled 'ed wade' on a hunch and sure enough

someone’s thinking the same thing, on the first page of results
http://blog.chron.com/jeromesolomon/2011/07/is-ed-wade-a-secret-agent/

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf. "

– Tug McGraw when asked about his preference for grass or astroturf

by Terry_is_God on Jul 30, 2011 11:15 AM EDT reply actions

You really are a crazy person

The Astros screwed the Phillies in the Pence trade. It’s more like the Phillies’ farm system now belongs to the rest of baseball.

by anonymous on Jul 30, 2011 11:27 AM EDT reply actions

Yes and no

Pence is having a career year. Ruben Amaro isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Wade could have gauged them a lot more, other than three/four prospects (mitigated by the fact they’re also giving Philly cash). Same thing with Oswalt last season. It’s not that the Phillies are screwing over the Astros by giving up only prospects, basically, but that the Astros could be getting a lot more for the guys they’re giving up.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

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by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jul 30, 2011 11:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Sure, Wade isn't necessarily the best GM in the world

Fine, you may be right about the Oswalt deal — but I’d be very surprised if he could’ve improved much on this deal for Pence. The market for Pence is limited (to orgs that think he’s better than he is, or that this year’s performance is sustainable), and the Astros got back two top-50 prospects and some PTNBLs who are, presumably, organization filler. I think it’s an impressive haul and I don’t really know why the anti-Waders are convinced that a better deal was available this time.

by anonymous on Jul 30, 2011 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions

What makes the Pence trade more baffling is that Ibanez is staying around

If they put Pence in LF and kept Dom Brown in RF it would be a much greater upgrade, but instead Ibanez will be manning LF and continuing his season of epic suckatude.

by Balagast on Jul 31, 2011 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions

Actually that's a very, very smart move

Sending Brown to the minors until Sept 1 is going to result in him finishing this season with less than a year’s worth of service time. The Phils are making the playoffs anyway, by suffering through Ibanez for a month they are giving themselves an extra year of Dom Brown before he’s eligible for free agency. As long as they go Pence/Dick/Browneye starting in September it’s actually a very good move.

by Stephen Schmidt on Jul 31, 2011 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions

I would trade Ibanez for Bay in a heartbeat.

If you think Ibanez sucks, hate to hear what you think of Bay.

by TheKid08 on Jul 31, 2011 11:21 PM EDT up reply actions

The two are not mutually exclusive.

Both are different levels of suck. Ibanez still has a little power but he’s hitting to the tune of a 92 OPS+ and a .290 OBP. Meanwhile, Bay still gets on base but has little power.

And then with Ibanez, you get this:

Chamption of the R.A. Dickey Face contest and "Cromulent Photoshopper Extraordinaire" of Amazin' Avenue!
You might know me as mistermet.

by Steve Schreiber on Jul 31, 2011 11:42 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs

These deserve a rec.

"And that's why anybody who invested with Lenny Dykstra should really call that number. Lawyers are standing by."

by BobbyV_Incognito on Aug 1, 2011 11:52 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't get all the heat Amaro is taking

He’s consructed the best team in baseball, and the scariest team to face into the post season. Maybe he’s dealt away prospects to do it, but for a world series title I’d say it’s worth it.

"I only wanted a few things out of life -- a wife, children, to play baseball and to hunt deer." - Turk Wendell

by Rey-O on Jul 30, 2011 12:21 PM EDT up reply actions

most of the heat

comes from the terrible contracts and perplexing moves. the foundations of that team were already built before he took over. dealing for cliff lee was a masterstroke, as was dealing for roy halladay. dealing cliff lee after getting halladay? not so much. very odd move. made even odder by the fact that lee came back anyway. the ryan howard deal is another perplexing move.

by cntrlalt on Jul 30, 2011 12:41 PM EDT up reply actions

There's no doubt that team is incredible this year...certainly the best in the league without question.

What people are saying is that by dealing all his prospects and locking himself into long term deals with old players, Amaro is basically making the “expiration date” of his team that much sooner. I’m pretty sure we saw the same thing in Omar Minaya the past few years…trading prospects for old players, giving up draft picks to sign old free agents, making the team payroll skyrocket in exchange for losing all flexibility. Obviously they’re a great team but they’re just not that young. Eventually they will succumb to age and injury and those big contracts will cripple what they can do, just like it’s crippled the Mets the past few years. Maybe not this year or next year or the year after. But guys get old. Unless they decide to go all in and spend Yankees level money (which they probably can’t do) or they completely re-commit to the draft (they tend to draft a lot of high-risk toolsy guys which seems like it hasn’t been working in recent years) that team is probably going to be a mess soon.

They’ve got 112.9M already committed to 11 players, not even including arb raises for Cole Hamels, Hunter Pence and Ben Francisco among others. They still have to figure out what they’re doing long term to re-sign Hamels and then they have to figure out what they’re going to do at shortstop, since Jimmy Rollins is a free agent. Do they overpay a declining Rollins or do they go elsewhere? The good thing for them is that now that they have Pence in the fold, Domonic Brown can take over in left when Ibanez walks so that saves some money for them.

Chamption of the R.A. Dickey Face contest and "Cromulent Photoshopper Extraordinaire" of Amazin' Avenue!
You might know me as mistermet.

by Steve Schreiber on Jul 30, 2011 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions

True

I actually didn’t realize that Ryan Howard’s extension didn’t even kick in until next year…Jeez.

"I only wanted a few things out of life -- a wife, children, to play baseball and to hunt deer." - Turk Wendell

by Rey-O on Jul 30, 2011 12:53 PM EDT up reply actions

Because for the most part

he wasn’t the one who constructed it. He inherited Howard, Hamels, Utley, and Rolins and if not for the gifts of Lee and Oswalt, he’d have done little to make that team better.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Jul 30, 2011 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions

I'd rather win 95 games three years from now (and after)

Than win 105 games now, and then rapidly fall off a cliff.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 453 posts (10/03/10)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jul 31, 2011 7:01 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

They also pretty clearly won the Lidge trade in terms of WAR

by Stephen Schmidt on Jul 30, 2011 9:33 PM EDT up reply actions

It sounds to me like you're saying

Chamption of the R.A. Dickey Face contest and "Cromulent Photoshopper Extraordinaire" of Amazin' Avenue!
You might know me as mistermet.

by Steve Schreiber on Jul 30, 2011 12:28 PM EDT reply actions 6 recs

this is what I was going to say

I LIKE IKE!

by astromets on Jul 30, 2011 12:58 PM EDT up reply actions

No

you’re just paranoid.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Jul 30, 2011 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions

what?

Houston fleeced Philly in the Lidge deal. You think they would trade for Pence if they still had Bourn?

by secret defense on Jul 30, 2011 12:33 PM EDT reply actions

Or Werth, for that matter.

Amaro failed to recognize the hole in his lineup in December, had to overpay to fix it now.

Shouldn’t have traded Lee in the first place, so the “but he signed Cliff Lee” argument is null to me.

traveling photoshooper.
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by sparbz on Jul 30, 2011 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Plus it was more of Lee wanting to come back than Amaro getting the job (re)done.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Jul 30, 2011 7:40 PM EDT up reply actions

WHO DOES NUMBER 2 WORK FOR

"Dont blame me, I was given this world, I didn’t make it."
-Tupac Shakur

by NetsMets4Life on Jul 30, 2011 2:33 PM EDT reply actions

They're always stealing me lucky charms

by Shevshevy on Jul 30, 2011 10:33 PM EDT up reply actions

they're magically delicious

"Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

LET'S GO RANGERS!!!

by Moshe52792 on Aug 1, 2011 5:04 AM EDT up reply actions

does sound like austin powers

by jadedeed2327 on Aug 1, 2011 10:33 PM EDT up reply actions

I think that's the joke.

Chamption of the R.A. Dickey Face contest and "Cromulent Photoshopper Extraordinaire" of Amazin' Avenue!
You might know me as mistermet.

by Steve Schreiber on Aug 1, 2011 10:36 PM EDT up reply actions

indeed

by jadedeed2327 on Aug 1, 2011 10:54 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah i was pretty happy with what Houston got in this deal

The Phils are going to be a powerhouse this year, thats unavoidable. However between their huge contracts to aging husks of baseball player like material and their completely gutted farm system, they’re on the path to implosion.

Hey, wait! I'm having one of those things. You know? A headache with pictures?

by KeithsMoustache on Jul 31, 2011 11:26 AM EDT reply actions

I'm leaning towards this being satire but if it isn't...

the Astros acquired a slugger who is OPSing .800 as a 19 year old in the Florida State League in Jonathan Singleton. Those don’t come around every day.

Add a crazy high ceiling arm to the deal in Jarred Cosart and I’d say the Astros made off very, very well in this trade. Hell, Josh Zeid could even make contributions even though his ceiling is most likely an organizational player

The Oswalt they got a plus defensive shortstop in Jonathan Villar (#94 in BA Top 100 preseason list) and flipped Anthony Gose for Brett Wallace, who has all the tools to be a really good hitter.

"Hey Paul, re..remember when you were in The Beatles? That was awesome."

by Five-Tool Tool on Jul 31, 2011 10:11 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs