Where Have You Gone, Carl Pavano?

The Phillies blogosphere has reacted to the Jon Lieber signing in a not unexpected lukewarm fashion. After all, when the team is putting its chips on guys who are, well, nearly my age, it's hard to get excited. Nevertheless, Phillies City-State is perhaps too close to the situation for a fair evaluation, so it's worth checking in with outside observers to see what they thought of the deal. Alex Brath thinks the Yankees made a mistake in letting Lieber walk in favor of Jaret Wright and, probably, Eric Milton. David Pinto likewise thinks the Phils got a decent hurler for the money, but adds:

Still the Phillies seem headed in the wrong direction. They're adding expensive old players, instead of developing young, inexpensive talent that can be signed cheaply for the long term.

Well, once upon a time the front office told us that the plan was to mine the farm system for promising, affordable youngsters who would be around for a while. But with the chronic underachievement that clung to Larry Bowa's teams in singular fashion came increasingly desperate efforts to patch holes in order to find something -- anything -- that might work. So Ed Wade traded prospect after prospect in order to stockpile ... sucky middle relievers. Meanwhile, the young guys who have stuck around are, with few exceptions, nowhere near as productive as they were projected to be. And so that one-time long-term winner has turned into an aging playoff wannabe that must play for today only, since yesterday was a disappointing failure and tomorrow looks grimmer and grimmer.

Comments

[Mark]

I'm just glad we weren't ever in the running for Jaret Wright. NYY may be the only team other than the Braves to have the caliber of pitching coach he needs to picth well, but if he slips up once the NYC press is going to be all over him. 2004 looks like it had "late-career year" written all over it for him.

Maybe I'm too optimistic, but I think one day (soon?) Randy Wolf will be that home-grown ace in our system.

[mark]

Screw Carl Pavano, why isn't anyone talking about Odalis Perez and Matt Clement -- two (relatively) young pitchers that can probably be had on the cheap and would allow the Phils some flexibility with unprovens like Brett Myers?

[John Hill]

Jon Lieber isn't worth $21m/3yrs (else the Yankees would have picked up his $8m option for 2005), but he's a good pitcher and the Phillies have to spend to win now, for your (sorry, I'm a Cubs fan) window with Thome and Abreu isn't going to be open forever. At least you're spending their money here on a good player (unlike Lidle, you should turn the clock back and un-sign him), so your motives are right. Or so you'd think, except the A's offered Tim Hudson for Chase Utley (2B) and Ryan Madson (RHP), and the Phillies turned it down.

Wade: "Hudson, Lieber, Padilla, Wolf and Floyd in the rotation, Polanco at second base, you say? Hell no, I ain't giving up no middle reliever for that!"

[mark]

Utley and Madson for one year of Hudson? I'm sorry, but you'd have to be insane to take that deal. Not even Ed Wade is that stupid.