I don’t want to rain on everyone’s parade here because this is obviously a tremendous time to be a Philadelphia fan in general and more specifically, a Phillies fan, but I have a couple of issues that need to be aired out. Living in this area, and rooting for this Phillies team for most of my life, I have heard all of the anger towards the Yankees and the frustration with the team’s in New York “buying” championships. Many fans in 2009 would go as far as to say that “at least we didn’t have to buy our World Series.”, which was pretty ridiculous during that time but it becomes even more ridiculous now that the Phillies are participating in this same type of activity that was once bashed so vehemently in this very town. Ruben Amaro is praised as a hero and a genius (we’ll get to that later) along with the front office being praised for doing anything to win when if this same signing were done by the Yankees, fans would be pissing and moaning about how the MLB needs a salary cap (it doesn’t) and how the little guy can never win (they can).
Don’t get me wrong here, I don’t disagree with the actual move to sign Cliff Lee. It’s a tremendous signing that catapults the Phillies to the clear favorites in the National League and likely World Series Champs, its just the complete double standard that is being applied here. Just like the Desean Jackson celebration where fans are clamoring “Desean is just having fun” or “If you don’t want us to celebrate, then stop us”. Stop for a second and consider what the reactions would be if Miles Austin stopped at the one yard line to fall backwards into the end zone like he was a kid jumping into a swimming pool. There would be complete outrage that would never be forgotten. Show some class and act like you’ve reached the end zone before. There’s nothing like a little bit of humility. I’ll get off my soap box about the Jackson celebration for now.
My point basically is: Will we still be complaining about the Yankees or Red Sox buying World Championships? When we are sitting in a position with Roy Halladay signed for $ 20 million, Cliff Lee signed for $20 million, Ryan Howard signed for $20 million, and Roy Oswalt signed for $15 million.
Some other notes on this Cliff Lee deal:
1. This should not change your opinion on Ruben Amaro Jr. I’m not trying to sway you to be pro-Amaro or anti-Amaro but signing Cliff Lee is not something that should make you change your mind here. Any person with half a brain with or without a back ground in baseball would have signed Cliff Lee if you were given the financial freedom that Amaro received. If you thought Amaro was a bad General Manager two days ago, guess what? He still is.
2. Why did Ruben actually trade a pitcher of Cliff Lee’s caliber (100+ mill on the open market) for 3 sub par prospects that most scouts were not very high on?
I realize this isn’t going to be a very popular opinion and I’m sure most people will call me nuts but I’m willing to debate if you have any questions or issues you’d like to bring up.
Tags: Cliff Lee, Phillies, Ruben Amaro
“Stop for a second and consider what the reactions would be if Miles Austin stopped at the one yard line to fall backwards into the end zone like he was a kid jumping into a swimming pool.”
Excellent line.
Who fucking cares? Seriously? Rreceivers are sitting ducks for insane hitting safeties, cornerbacks and linebackers! I say let them celebrate when they reach the promised zone. Why is it an excellent line cb4130? Seriously? I know the great Vince Lombardi said once you get to the end zone act like you have been there before. That is cool, but last time I checked that was the 1960’s. This is 2010 and the brand/personality type playing receiver in the NFL has radically changed to the likes of Tupac and Biggie fans. Seriously…how the hell you gonna tell a borderline gangster wanna be to behave? Answer…ain’t gonna happen brother tatoos and all!
Well i realize this wasn’t to me but i outlined why i dont like it below in response to your other comment.
I am in the camp of thought that MLB should do one of two things. Either adopt a far better price control system than it does now OR remove ALL constraints, stop pretending it is a totally free market which it is not, and allow it to truly be free. Remove the anti trust agreement with congress, stop the control of athletes with the draft, allow owners and players to bargain totally unrestricted in all manner including buying selling and moving teams and see where the cookie crumbles.
Now the Lee signing has me completely stoked under the present “price controls” because my team just got better. But the Lee signing has nothing to do with how I feel about salary caps and the like, and nor do I think it should matter to anyone else’s opinion on the matter. It is mixing apples with oranges IMO. As long my team is going to live under a system that I think could use some real change and improvement, of COURSE I want my team to excel under that rule.
In fact, if anything, being a fan of what some would now call “one of the rich clubs” legitimises my position because as of the moment my team prospers from it. In the same way, a Yankee fan that proposes salary cap changes to make things fairer for smaller teams can not be accused of bias towards the larger teams.
I have a feeling alot more baseball towns are headed down this insane $$$$$ road in the footsteps of New York, Boston & now Philadelphia.
True if Lee were never given away before we would not have Oswalt. We would have Happ. Who would you rather have? Curious?
As for Austin Miles…if he did the Nestea Plunge against the Eagles I would not be offended at all. If he has the skills to do it, we’ll then flaunt it. The NFL is full of mental patients, mostlty receivers. Remember the year TO had a new celebration for every TD with Philly?
If it puts an X on their head against corners and safties so be it. We all witnessed one of the most insane violent hits the Falcon knocking out DeSean Jackson this year and apparently DeSean does not care or it motivates him or possibly he is SUPER TALENTED & SUPER NUTS! LOL!
I don’t see anybody else going to this level of spending because their market won’t tolerate it. Philly is the 5th biggest in the mlb and they sell out every game. I would rather have Oswalt over Happ 8 times a week.
We are just on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to celebrations. I don’t think players should be showing up the other team the same way i dont like howard staring at his homerun balls for 45 secs before he leaves the box.
as far as Desean, he definitely does care about having an x on his head and all that stuff because whenever he sees contact coming he slides to the ground like a frightened qb. I know you see it during the games, schmitty. Don’t lie!
I know am quilty of being a fan celebrations! When I played and of course at a low level it motivated me and my more cocky talented teammates to kick some butt! I do see Maclin and Jackson and especially smaller receivers go down quickly, unlike that BEAST last night ANDRE JOHNSON run over damn linebackers! INSANE! That guy is the BEST!
I hope I see Howard staring at more HR’s this year, he NEEDS a 50 HR year! Problem is who will be the outfielders besides Shane to get on base and not strikeout alot?
In my opinion we have lost that right…and actually lost it when we went over the $100 million mark. Those complaints are reserved for small market teams, and we’re now part of that “salary cap” conversation. I’m still all for the salary cap, even though it would hurt us as much as anyone at this point.
The reason we have been able to continue to raise payroll, sign big name FA’s, etc. is a combination of smart drafting, great trades, and a winning product…which has brought in the crowds and sellouts needed to continue this. I agree with Rosenthal…more teams should be doing what we have done the past few years.
agree 100%
Talk about a buzz kill…
Fact is, if we hadn’t traded Lee initially, we wouldn’t have Roy Oswalt right now. Also, i feel sorry for someone living such a miserable life that you have to turn everything good happening within the sports in this town into a negative. Go be a Yankees or Dallas fan….negadelphian at his finest right here.
So you’re saying you agree with trading Lee for three prospects that have been an absolute failure? You’re acting as if Ruben traded Lee so he would get Ruben. We were originally told we couldn’t keep Lee and Halladay because of payroll limitations but now we suddenly have Halladay, Lee, Hamels, and Oswalt? Something doesn’t smell right there.
I’m not being negative about anything but the fans in this town being morons. If the Yankees sign Lee, they buy World Championships, if we do it, we are great.