Hot-Stove Hacks

With Rumors Aplenty, a Phan Can't Separate Phact from Phiction

DOES PAT Gillick really think a Wes Helms-Greg Dobbs platoon at third base is the way to go? Are the Phillies really considering bringing back Jon Lieber if the slim pickings in the free-agent pitchers' market bypass Citizens Bank Park? Does Adam Eaton's MRI really disappoint the team the way Gillick lets on in his public comments?

Who knows?

Reading the tea leaves in early November is a fool's errand. For every nugget of truth that Gillick or Ruben Amaro Jr. speaks, imagine how much posturing for the sake of negotiation tumbles out of their mouths. Publicly drooling over Mike Lowell or Garrett Atkins is a sure way to drive up  the respective price each player would command -- how much scratch it would cost to bring Lowell to Philadelphia, how many players the Rockies would demand in a trade for Atkins. It is impossible to discern what the organization truly thinks, and that's not a bad thing. Far better for the Phillies to conduct their business cryptically and field the best possible team come April than to lay their cards on the table now and have little to show for it next season.