Pat Gillick built a dynasty in Toronto, then constructed a 116-win team in Seattle after subtracting Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Randy Johnson. But the legendary general manager had enough left near the end of his career to hand over an unbelievably good situation in Philadelphia to his hand-picked successor, Ruben Amaro Jr.
Amaro’s trade for Cliff Lee last week, along with his signing of Raul Ibanez to replace Pat Burrell last winter, continues the string of wise decisions that have made the Phillies the team to beat in the National League.
Give manager Charlie Manuel and the ownership group headed by Bill Giles and David Montgomery credit as well. None was satisfied after the Phillies beat the Rays in the World Series last October.
Their goal is to make the Phillies the first NL team to win back-to-back championships since Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine” (1975-76), which is why Manuel was so dismayed when the Phillies were an underwhelming 39-37 on July 2. They entered the weekend having gone 19-4 since then while adding Lee, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, and three-time Cy Young winner Pedro Martinez, the latter for a role to be determined.
Starting pitching has been the weakness for a team that leads the NL with 5.4 runs per game (an increase of half a run from a year ago, when it was second to the Cubs) and catches the ball — and runs the bases — as well as any team in the majors. But the current stable of pitchers is full of possibilities, thanks to the moves of Gillick and Amaro and the work of the player development staff that Gillick nurtured.
At the top of the rotation are the left-handed Lee — an innings eater extraordinaire who has a 2.78 ERA over the last two seasons — and the right-handed Joe Blanton, whom Gillick acquired from Oakland a year ago for lefty Josh Outman and two other minor-leaguers. Then there’s Cole Hamels, who is showing signs of his 2008 form; rookie J.A. Happ, whom Amaro wouldn’t include in the Lee trade; and 46-year-old Jamie Moyer, a Gillick guy who has double-digit victories for the 15th season.
Not included in the current top five are Brett Myers, who is two months removed from hip surgery and could be back in September; Martinez, whom some see more as closer insurance for the downward-trending Brad Lidge than for the rotation; and top prospect Kyle Drabek, who caused the Phillies to turn their attention from Roy Halladay to Lee.
The really bad news for the Phillies’ NL competition is that this core could be better in 2010 than it has been this season. Myers, a free agent after the season, and Martinez probably will be gone. The other six are under control, which should buy time for prospects Antonio Bastardo, Drew Carpenter, Joe Savery and Yohan Flande to fight for attention, Darwinian style.
Notches on his belt: You can’t say Indians GM Mark Shapiro is timid. One of his first moves in December 2001 was trading Roberto Alomar, and he made a signature trade when he sent Bartolo Colon to the Expos for a package that included Grady Sizemore, Lee and Brandon Phillips. Now he has become the first executive in history to trade reigning Cy Young winners in consecutive years.
The Indians added eight players in the deals that sent CC Sabathia to the Brewers and Lee to the Phillies, and none of them is with the Indians at Progressive Field this weekend.
“I honestly never even thought about that,” Shapiro said about trading two Cy Young winners. “It’s always painful to trade an established player, but we had to look at this moment in time and where we were as a franchise.”
Shapiro says 22-year-old right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who came from the Phillies, “is nearly major-league ready,” and outfielder Matt LaPorta, the headliner in the Sabathia deal, has played in the big leagues and is hitting .297 with 13 homers in Triple A.
Shapiro calls 23-year-old Lou Marson “a championship-caliber catcher” and believes 24-year-old shortstop Jason Donald can help the Indians next season. The highest-ceiling prospect in the Lee deal was 18-year-old right-hander Jason Knapp, who is years away.
Manager Eric Wedge, spared the firing line by Shapiro earlier in the season, predictably rocked no boats.
“When you’re trying to be competitive, sometimes that involves making tough decisions,” he said of the Lee trade.
Real victories: Brewers third baseman Casey McGehee, a former Cub, is spending his first season in the major leagues. He won’t have a bigger thrill than the one he got last Wednesday when his 2 1/2 -year-old son, Mackail, threw out a ceremonial first pitch, helped by Prince Fielder.
Mackail has cerebral palsy. He was participating in a fundraiser in which the Brewers raised almost $50,000 by auctioning off players’ jerseys.
As it turned out, McGehee delivered a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the 7-5 victory over the Nationals. It’s fair to say the son inspired the father.
“That’s going to be a moment I remember for a long time,” McGehee said. “He’s something special. For him to go through what he’s going through, he just keeps plugging and you never really notice he has anything wrong with him most of the time. … That was pretty special.”
In the wings: Last weekend’s Hall of Fame induction generated conversation about the 2010 vote, which will have Alomar, Barry Larkin and Fred McGriff on the ballot for the first time. McGriff is going to be an interesting case.
He was great early in his career but somewhat staggered to the finish line, playing with three teams (including the Cubs in 2002 with 30 homers and 103 RBIs) in his last three years. He ended up with 493 home runs and 1,550 RBIs and would have been a no-brainer choice for many voters with 500 homers.
He still could get elected, in part because he consistently spoke out against steroid use when he was given the chance.
“I take a lot of pride knowing I worked hard to play the game for 18 or so years,” McGriff told the St.Petersburg Times. “I know I can take to my grave I didn’t do steroids, performance-enhancing drugs, whatever you want to say.
“I played the game the correct way.”
McGriff admits he’s curious to see how voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America will judge him.
“To say my numbers should be judged better because some of those guys are considered having used steroids, I don’t know if that’s the right wording,” he said.
The last word: “There does come a time when the standings are the standings.” — GM Andy MacPhail on the last-place Orioles’ decision to trade All-Star closer George Sherrill to the Dodgers.
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Whispers
The collapse of the Brewers’ pitching staff, which persuaded general manager Doug Melvin to largely sit out the trade deadline, could have been seen coming in May. You don’t lose CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets — and not replace them with anyone better than Braden Looper (left) — and compete. … The Mets are about two weeks away from getting center fielder Carlos Beltran back. They look like road kill at this point but are beginning a stretch in which they play the Diamondbacks and Padres 10 of 12 games. It’s a chance to re-enter the wild-card race if the Cubs or Cardinals stumble. … How bad are the Royals? They are 10-11 in starts by Zack Greinke, who has a 2.08 ERA, the best in the majors. Greinke says the 2009 Royals are playing “as badly as any team I’ve played for,” and that says a lot. … Rich Hill now says he was pitching with a torn labrum throughout his short career, but the Orioles aren’t claiming Cubs GM Jim Hendry intentionally dealt them damaged goods. They said they will compare recent X-rays to ones taken when he had his initial physical in Baltimore but believe the tear he was pitching with was a partial one, relatively common to pitchers. … White Sox GM Ken Williams says people still don’t understand the significance of the team’s pickup of Tony Pena, and he’s right. Given how they’re using him mostly in non-stress situations, it’s hard to see why they gave up first base prospect Brandon Allen to get him. Allen looks like a regular of the near future for the Diamondbacks, hitting .379 with eight homers in his first 18 games at Triple-A Reno after the deal. … The Twins engaged in serious discussions with the Pirates about second baseman Freddy Sanchez but wouldn’t meet the asking price. Pirates GM Neal Huntington asked for center fielder Aaron Hicks, the Twins’ top prospect, or Triple-A third baseman Danny Valencia. The uncertain future of Joe Crede left Twins GM Bill Smith unwilling to deal Valencia, who could be a regular next season. … It’s easy to underestimate the value of rookie shortstop Elvis Andrus to the Rangers. He’s not a run producer, at least not at this point in his career, but he has helped the Rangers cut their total of unearned runs allowed from 107 in 2008 to only 25 entering the weekend.
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