Last season I thought I knew what was going to happen. I figured we probably would not be in contention for a playoff spot, but I was excited about the possibility of reloading at the trade deadline. We had guys like Beltran, Reyes, Dickey, Izzy, Hairston, Byrdak and Krod. All of whom I felt had the potential to bring back something from a team in contention who wanted to bolster their starting staff, bullpen, lineup or bench. Right now the plan is the future, so this only made sense right?
Sadly that was not the case. We held onto everyone with the exception of Krod and Beltran. Alderson made a great trade for Beltran in getting Zack Wheeler who became arguably our top prospect overnight. Aside from that I felt he did a disservice to the team and the future by not unloading guys who would ultimately not be here in 2013 when it’s all supposed to turn around.
His mantra since day one has been to stay competitive now, while trying to address and fix the financial and minor league system issues at the same time. It was somewhat successful last season in that we stayed competitive until Frankie got traded. After that we couldn’t hold leads and the hope of a .500 season diminished.
I am not saying that we could have gotten top prospects for everyone on our roster, I am just saying that we could have brought in younger talent. With young talent you just never know, not all good major league players were top prospects. One thing that happens at the trade deadline is that teams are willing to pay much more for players they need to bolster their playoff chances.
Did we really need to keep Jason Isringhausen to tutor Parnell? It didn’t work, and it may have cost us one or two decent young players we could have gotten for the the bullpen or for depth.
It’s nice to have Byrdak back this season, but he is 37 years old and not part of the future. A quality lefty reliever is a very valuable piece to a contending team and they usually pay a premium for it.
As one MMO writer mentioned in a post this past weekend, RA Dickey should be gone as well. He is way too old to be part of the future, and if we are in full rebuild mode, why have we not traded him for a few young prospects. He has a VERY, VERY affordable contract at $4.75 million for what he gives you and would have been in high demand.
Even players like Hairston or Harris could have brought back a few players to be named later in a deal. It’s worth it because you know they are not going to be here in 2013 and you never know, one of the players you get back could turn into something.
A few of these players are back this season so hopefully they perform well enough to entice another team to inquire about them. I just hope that Sandy does the right thing his year. I don’t care about being competitive in September if we have no shot at making the playoffs. If it’s about the future then make it all about the future. Don’t do it halfway because you think the fans won’t come once we trade everyone away. The fans aren’t going to come regardless, unless they just want to come and watch a ballgame or see a prospect who got called up.
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