It’s getting late early in Philadelphia. Here’s Jonah Keri on the Phillies:
They’ve already turned over more than half the lineup, handing starting roles to much younger players. But none of those players are premium prospects. Moreover, the team’s trio of infield stars, the ones who’ve been the face of Phillies baseball for nearly a decade, are still around, fighting injuries and Father Time as they desperately try to keep the Phillies relevant in a division that’s left them behind. Then you’ve got the starting rotation’s three aces and the fire-breathing closer, all making big bucks, all hugely attractive gets for many other teams were they to become available. Four months from now, if Philly appears on its way to another mediocre season, should the team cash in their biggest trade chips for younger players who could help build a winning team for 2014 and beyond?
Maybe the bigger question is this: If the Phillies do reach that point, could they go through with it — tearing down the most dominant collection of players the team has seen in 30-plus years?
Don't look now, but things might get really ugly in a couple of weeks ...
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/newsstand/discussion/rumor_cano_a-rod_braun_to_be_suspended_for_failed_ped_test/
Just a rumor and hopefully it stays just that, because I really don't want to have to deal with "Curtis Granderson - PED user".
It would sure make for an "interesting" first half of the Yankees' 2013 season, though ...
The Phillies sound like the Yankees. On the other "news", I hope Bisceglie is wrong this time. If he's right, this Yankee team will be a bigger mess than it appears to be right now. Braun, should have been suspended already; his defense was a joke and I can't believe an arbiter agreed with him. A-Rod would not surprise me but Cano and Granderson? That would take me back to how I felt about the owners and players in 1995.
1) Awesome!
(1) LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!
i'd be surprised about grandy, though i guess i shouldn't be...
if cano is guilty - and he has worked out with a-rod and fat liar - i hope it comes out before we hand him a huge contract...
My theory, and I've only shared this with a few until now, is that the Yanks knew all along, but were hoping to extend a "good faith effort" deal to Cano's camp to show the masses they are trying their gosh darnedest to keep him, but by golly the market and Scott Boras have taken it out of their range. With this, if it were to turn out to be true, that strategy could either explode like an A-Bomb (cough) in the Yanks' faces, or protract negotiations to such an extent that one could argue that baseball ethics will come to national attention and be strongly affected going forward.
But that's too doomsday for me to think about on a nice sunny day in such an awful winter about to turn spring. Let's play ball and get it over with...