We shall persevere. We shall persevere.

Juan Casto? Wilson Valdez? Come on down!

Greg Dobbs.

Well fuck me with a brick…

In response to Jon’s previous comment, my thoughts remain the same….

Fuck me with a brick

OK, this is bad, really bad, but might not be catastrophic. If they go on the 15 day DL today, they would be eligible to return for the first game after the All Star break. Before the break the Phils finish up this series with the Reds, have a 4 game stand with the Pirates, face the Braves in Philly (and do not face Hudson or Hanson), then again face the Reds, this time in Philly.

That is not that rough of a schedule, especially compared with what they went through in June. The bigger concern is, will that 15 day break be enough to allow them both to heal up. Despite what Buster Olney has said, Utley is one of the most irreplaceable players in the game. If he is out for a significant stretch, the Phils will find it very difficult to make it to the playoffs.

We are so boned.

But see, we root for the Phillies. A team that has proven time and time again that they will win with grit and scrapiness and other such buzzworthy intangibles. Even though we appear to be “so boned”, as Mr. Vote Polanco has put it, I refuse to give up on this team. It’s not even the all-star break yet. Let everyone heal up, and we’ll be ready to go in the second half.

It’s not time to despair, it’s time to believe.

Time for Ryan Howard to fuck bitches, get money, more than ever.

You rang?

I’m with kurt

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

Front page, Ken Rosenthal believes that Lee will be making his last start as a Mariner tonight. It seems more and more likely he’ll end up with the Mets. Ken Rosenthal hit the nail on the head with the previous Cliff Lee trade to Seattle, and also the Halladay trade. I don’t like this.

O.
M.
F.
G.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I’m going to puke.

Even masturbating won’t make me happy.

Oh great – just when I was getting used to guys not posing after they strike out.

fuck off dobbs

I think Charlie just went off Nutrisystem

So wait.. let me get this straight. No Utley or Polly for 15 days…Dobbs is back…and to top it all off Cliff Lee is possibly/probably going to be a MET?!?!?!! Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Where’s Tadahito Iguchi when ya need him?

What a bunch of whining pussies on this blog. Grow some cajones and believe in your team.

Utley and Polanco to the DL.

Cliff Lee very well on his way to the Mets.

WHAT A GREAT TIME TO BE A PHILLIES FAN!!!!!!!

If the Mets get Lee the Phillies have no shot. Stone cold Mortal Lock.

Andy Reid would never have traded away Lee.

Fuck me with a brick too. (no, seriously guys – fuck me with a brick. I’m into that).

What time is it? Time to slob on the Dobb knob again!!!!!

Chooo Chooo!!! All aboard to meat-chord sucker express! Choo Choo!!!

Regards,

Amandah

I’m not gonna lie, I laugh at every one of those “Amandah Posts”. I wanna know who does them, cause they’re brilliant.

J, the Phillies don’t have the prospects to get Lee. It won’t take Dom Brown, but it’ll still take more than Kendrick and low level guys, and do you really think Amaro is gonna trade another 3-4 guys for half a year of Lee?

Amandah, what are you making for dinner?

If Lee goes to the Mets then we’ll KNOW for sure he’s still feeling pissed off at RAJ. There’s no other reason for him to go there. He’s still on this $9mil yr. More money isn’t coming until the contract runs out.

Bococks Lehigh Valley Stats this year:
AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO
.179 65 212 14 38 4 2 1 12 49 17 49

Phan, Cliff Lee doesn’t give a rat’s ass where he plays, and it’s not his call either way. This season he’s going to whoever the Mariners choose and next season he’s going to whoever pays him what he wants. You really think Lee is there demanding a trade to screw Amaro?

Dobbs and Bocock replace Utley and Polanco?

I haven’t seen that much talent fall-off since Eric Clapton’s son sat on the windowsill.

Heyyyyy-ooooohhhh.

Regards,

Amandah

So who’s singin’ the same tune that I was that people bitched at me for? Hahahahahaha!

Ruben Amaro, you’re LOWER than my shit in the toilet. Fuck off.

Yo Eskin: No. I don’t think Lee is ‘demanding’ anything. But I do think that players have the ability to make it a whole lot easier to go one place or another in a trade like this, especially if they’re ticked off. And since he doesn’t have any say at all in his paycheck this yr, I do think he’s exercising what little control players have in this situation (is that enough deferential language for you) to go where he might prefer.

Cliff Lee, without any kind of no-trade clause, has positively no say in what team he ends up on. The fact that he is a Mariner right now is proof enough of that. How exactly do you think he can make it “easier” for certain teams over others to get him? Jack Zduriencik is the one that determines where he goes, not Cliff himself. That’s just how it works.

Also Ruben is a terrible GM

The thing is, the “every 5 days” thing is a total nonsequitur. There are several starting pitchers that can easily provide the most value for their team over a 162 game season, more than players that play every day, just by the nature of their job. If Utley sees any extended period of time on the DL, which it appears he will, Roy Halladay will probably be one of those guys. It doesn’t matter how often he pitches, it matters how much value he provides when he does.

@Tony…

I’m aware of his struggles, but he’s still a more valuable investment than any of the healthy prospects that are available in the Mets organization. And I say healthy because I doubt the Mariners make an injured prospect a centerpiece of any deal.

If the Mets offer Martinez, Tejada, Neise…….then maybe I see the Mariners pulling the trigger. But right now I see teams making a more attractive offer.

But like I said, even if it does happen……I’d welcome it.

Phylan: You think the human element has absolutely nothing to do with a trade? He makes it difficult by being a prick to both parties, in particular to the new teammates. I’m not saying it benefits him in any way, in fact it prob goes the opposite way, but it sure as hell does not benefit the new team either and they know it. Why would you want someone who doesn’t want to be there and acts like it?

@ Undo

I think you’re right on target. I have a hard time imagining a situation in which the Twins do not make that move.

This spat of injuries sucks, but I’m not about to despair. The Phillies have a better record today than at this point in the season in any of their previous playoff runs. This will be a major setback, but we don’t even know the severity of the injuries yet. If Utley and Polanco can come back immediately after the all-star break, the Phils might lose a little bit of ground in the standings, but it won’t be insurmountable. If they’re out for a more significant period of time, then we can start to worry.

I still wonder if they’ll search around for a better infield solution, regardless of how long Utley’s out, given the team’s general weakness in depth at these positions. Grudzielanek is old, but hit .273 when he was up with Cleveland earlier this year. I also think Aki Iwamura is better than what he’s shown the past year or so, but the pricetag is outrageous. If the Phils can get the Buccos to suck up some of his salary, he might be a decent upgrade, at least defensively.

We should bring back Brett Myers too!

Feliz would be absolutely useless off the bench, he needs a lot of at bats to get into any kind of hitting groove. Valdez has been fine when he’s played, he seems to be hitting into fewer DPs and making good contact, and his glove is more than OK. I’d like to see them bring in Atkins and see if you can get anything out of him close to what he gave Colorado a few years back. Plus he’s another UCLA guy that would have no problem sitting on the bench once Utley’s back.

No, the “human element” (can someone rid us of this ambiguous catch-all term?) has nothing to do with front office transactions like that, at least not from the player’s perspective. That’s the most ridiculous use of “human element” I’ve heard, and that is saying a whole lot. It’s a business, and a player with no trade-related clause in his contract just doesn’t have a say in where he ends up.

Also, Pedro Feliz is god awful, even his defense sucks this year. He lost his starting job on the fucking Astros, can we please not talk about bringing him back? If Rube trades for him he’s an even worse GM than I thought and that’s not an easy bar to slide under.

thats because he needs a backeotomy

I think I can say with a whole lot of certainty that there aren’t many people who give a crap what you think is “ridiculous” Phylan, especially when you make sure to talk down to people like that. And frankly what you think is ridiculous has very little to do with this discussion. However, whether or not you like it you are dealing with human beings – in any business – even in a baseball trade. And whether or not you wish to acknowledge it, Cliff Lee was upset about the trade from Philadelphia. And no matter how many times someone says, “There’s no crying in baseball,” it doesn’t take away the fact that Lee was upset enough that he made sure he was in newspapers, on tv at press conferences, and on the radio giving interviews doing everything but crying about the trade. During ST with Seattle he acted like a wanker, managed to get injured, and NOW Seattle is trading him. It’s all just business, huh. I think it’s all pretty interesting, on a human level.

OK, none of that has anything to do with the fact that Cliff Lee has no say in where he goes. Z will flip him to wherever he thinks he can get the most value. In fact, I’m not even sure what you’re arguing anymore.