OK, quick question: When you think of Ed Wade -- and his eight-year tenure as Phillies GM -- what comes to mind first?
The good stuff: Drafting Brett Myers, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels; not trading Howard before Jim Thome got injured in 2005; giving Jimmy Rollins a five-year, $40 million contract extension in 2005.
The bad stuff: Trading Curt Schilling to Arizona in July 2000; firing Terry Francona after a 97-loss 2000 season; giving Pat Burrell a six-year, $50 million contract extension in 2003; trading Placido Polanco for jailbait reliever Ugueth Urbina in 2005; missing the playoffs for eight straight years?
The embarrasing stuff: Landing in a tree in South Jersey during a skydiving mishap last August?
Wade, fired by the Phillies after the '05 season, returns to The Bank tonight with his new team, the Houston Astros. The 'stros have a decent nucleus, including first baseman Lance Berkman, left fielder Carlos Lee, closer Jose Valverde and ace Roy Oswalt, who hasn't been very ace-like lately. They also have some promising young players, including right fielder Hunter Pence, center fielder Michael Bourn and catcher J.R. Towles. And they play in the weak NL Central. Still, it's hard to see Houston contending for a playoff spot in the near future.
A few weeks ago, the Phillies would've done anything to skip Adam Eaton's turn in the rotation. But, considering he has made back-to-back quality starts to open the season, and considering that he's 5-0 with a 2.90 ERA in eight career starts against the Mets, they've flip-flopped him and Kyle Kendrick, lining up Eaton to start tonight against the Astros and again Sunday against the Mets.
Eaton attributes his early-season success to the work he did in the offseason with Seattle-based athletic trainer Ken Roll to strengthen his right shoulder. If he pitches at least six innings and allows three runs or fewer tonight, it will be the first time he has had three straight quality starts since last June when he beat the Mets and White Sox and lost to the Tigers.
But will Eaton get cheered tonight by fans who booed him on opening day?
"I pitch for the guys in this clubhouse, not for public scrutiny or praise," he said. "I know the Philadelphia Phillies represent the city. At the same time, I've got to respect these guys in here and give it my all, regardless of a cheer or a boo."
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
April 15 -- WELCOME BACK, WADE
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Asked a front-office official yesterday about former Blue Rocks pitcher Kyle Snyder, who was designated for assignment last week by the Red Sox. Apparently, the Phillies aren't interested. So, there's that. Also, within the notebook, there's an update on old friends Geoff Geary and Michael Bourn, who return to The Bank tonight with the Astros.***
Mets third baseman David Wright made a guest appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman last night and admitted he's amused by watching fights in the stands at Shea Stadium between Mets and Phillies fans. He also hit a few Letterman-pitched baseballs over taxi cabs on 53rd Street. Funny stuff.
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4 comments:
The first thought that comes to mind is "IDIOT"! Yeah, he did some good things, but the horrible moves he made don't make up for that.
How did Houston ever give this guy a second chance?
When I think of Ed Wade, all I can think of is the constant mediocrity of middle relievers he always kept acquiring for us:
Mike Williams, Turk Wendell, Dennis Cook, Jose Mesa, Roberto Hernandez, Todd Jones, the list I'm sure goes on and on...
jeff, keep in mind that some of those guys weren't actually bad. Mesa is the all time Phillies saves leader and his stats the first time around were great (2001 42 sv, 2.34 ERA; 2002 45 sv, 2.97 ERA). Wendell had a 3.38 ERA for his only full season with us.
PG is the silly one that re-signed them when they were old and washed up.
But due to the complete lack of playoffs he will be forever remembered on the surface as terrible. Sure, we got Utley, Howard, Burrell, Hamels, Rollins, Myers (not to mention Billy Wagner too) all under his reign, but we also lost Rolen, Schilling (travis lee, really???), Francona, and Polanco, among others...
Overall, Wade sucked... but at the same time, he could have been worse. Grade C-
Jailbait reliever ah hahaha good one Mr. L
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