Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Where's Kenny?

There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that Kenny Lofton is aiming to play for all 30 MLB teams before he retires. Sure, Kenny is a free agent and could sign with his twelfth team in fifteen years (including two stints with Cleveland), but at age 39 time is running out.

Meanwhile, every Phillies fan’s favorite outfielder JD Drew has just signed with his fourth club, a mere piker next to Mr. Lofton. Eight years Lofton’s junior, Drew has a lot of catching up to do and it doesn’t appear there will be time given the terms of his deal with Boston. Yesterday Drew signed for five years with the Red Sox, meaning he would be 36 years old before he could move to his fifth club. At last report, Lofton isn’t even looking in his rear view mirror any more but if he were, you can be sure JD’s image wouldn’t even appear.

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Pat Gillick’s affinity for players from teams for which he previously worked is getting a little scary. Did Gillick, a Canadian, spend his off-season comparing notes with former Flyers’ GM Bob Clarke, who not only liked to reacquire players he’d previously traded, but had a fatal tendency to trade for players who had great records against his club?

While it would be very nice to have the White Sox’ Freddy Garcia in red pinstripes next season, my enthusiasm would be tempered if he were a one-year rental. Garcia, who played for Gillick in Seattle, can become a free agent at the end of next season. Unless he agrees to an extension before any deal is made, highly unlikely given the kind of numbers being thrown around at less accomplished pitchers this off-season, Garcia might come at too high a price.

Gillick’s penchant for the familiar may only be exceeded by his inexplicable attraction to players with the Texas Rangers on their resumes. We needn’t list all the deals Gillick has previously made with Texas other than to point out that not a single one of the players he received in these transactions is still on the Phils’ 40-man roster. Now, there are rumors he might try and acquire Kevin Mench in a deal with Milwaukee. Anyone want to guess where Mench spent 5.5 of his 6 year career prior to his stint with the Brewers?

3 comments:

Tom Goodman said...

After writing the above about Gillick's "fascination" with the Texas Rangers, I wondered whether the Phils' GM would one day stop nibbling around the edges and simply swap the entire Phillies team straight up for the Rangers? I sure hope not, but stranger things have happened.

In my youth, Baltimore Colts owner Carrol Rosenbloom pulled off one of the biggest trades in any sport's history. Robert Irsay had just purchased the Los Angeles Rams and had barely settled in before Rosenbloom, apparently unhappy living in Baltimore, proposed a deal. Irsay agreed so they simply swapped franchises. Irsay, who later grew disenchanted in Baltimore himself, sneaked the team out of town under cover of darkness and moved to Indianapolis.

Anonymous said...

Lost in the shuffle of all these proposed trades is that it's very difficult to see how the Phillies would really stand to improve through any of them. Trade Rowand, and the OF suddenly looks like a total quagmire. I think they ought to just be contented with the rotation as it is, hope Lieber rounds back into form (pun kind of intended), and focus on solidifying the bullpen and the bench.

GM-Carson said...

i like the garcia trade. i very much dislike floyd and gio gonzalez is unproven. he could end up being likely johan santana or julio santana. it's a good trade because garcia is solid and proven, plus it puts the phils in a good situation with excess starting pitching to deal...bye-bye lieber.