Sentimental Value

I probably got the first few suggestions from my friends/readers over a month ago.

“When are you going to write a ‘blow it all up’ piece for the blog?”

“They just need to trade everyone but Hamels and Lee!”

“This is what Amaro should do…”

It’s a ridiculously narrow tight rope that Phillies GM, Ruben Amaro Jr, has to walk to please this insatiable fan base. You can’t turn on 94.1 WIP or 97.5 The Fanatic right now and not listen to somebody who thinks he knows it all screaming his head off about needing to blow up this team. Everyone who has an opinion seems to think theirs matters more than the next person and that their opinion should be the one that Ruben follows. And for the most part that would include old Rube exiting stage left along with just about each player on this roster.

The Phillies are in a unique position in their franchise’s history. It’s probably similar to how things were in about 1985 when Mike Schmidt and pals were on their last legs. The Phillies roster is currently chock full of players with sentimental value. Sports has become a business that has zero room for this type of mentality, but when you’ve watched Jimmy Rollins go out and take his position at shortstop damn near 2000 times it’s hard to imagine him not there. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard have taken their spots on the other side of the diamond for close to a decade at this point. These are three home-grown bonafide superstars that every Phillies fan over the age of 15 has watched come up through the ranks, have meteoric rises with unbelievably high peaks, and are now all on a precipitous fall from grace.

It’s depressing.

We thought in 2013 that maybe these guys entering their mid-30s would all be able to, well maybe not turn back the clock, but at least stop it from ticking. That has been far from the case. Rollins can still pick it at shortstop but he is just not effective at the plate and this horse has been beaten to death by me, but he just does not “get it” at the plate. He still swings and pops up early in the count way more than he should, and I just can’t get over it every time I see it. Howard, despite having a decent batting average even riding a current ohhh for 19 streak (with 10 Ks for good measure), has had about the worst possible season you could expect from him considering he’s played almost every day. I won’t get into the Big Piece’s defensive woes, just know they are woes. Utley, well Utley still seems to be able to mash the ball and play with his usual reckless abandon, but he spent a month on the DL to make it however many seasons in a row for him not getting to the 140 game mark. These guys not pulling the weight that’s expected of them, coupled with (really its way more than coupled) Hamels being borderline awful, Halladay being awfully hurt, the Young acquisitions being bland, and the bullpen basically self-destructing has led the Phillies to the current state they are in. 10 games back at the beginning of July.

So should Ruben pull the trigger and blow it up? You’ve heard the line that rooting for pro sports teams is basically rooting for laundry, but that hasn’t been the case in Philadelphia for close to a decade. It’s basically a lose-lose situation for Amaro. If he trades Utley, he’s most likely not going to get back any talent that will pan out on the Major League level right away. Then, of course, there will be a serious backlash for trading one of the most beloved sports figures this town has ever seen. Rollins could garner some attention but he’d attract even less talent than Utley would. Howard and his contract are immovable.

It comes down to one thing really. Are you ready to say goodbye to the Phillies as we know them? You’ll be hard pressed to come across a team again in your lifetime with more sentimental value than these guys we’ve had the absolute pleasure of watching night in night out for years. Allen Iverson’s tenure has almost ruined the Sixers for me, I feel like I’ll never care about the Sixers like I did when he was with them. He was the standard bearer and Nerlins Noel will have to turn out to be one hell of a ballplayer for me to come even close to caring now like I did for AI. It will most likely be a similar feeling with these Phillies. It takes a ton of invested time to come to love a team like I love these Phillies. To watch it all taken from us a bit before we we're ready will be sad, but it is inevitable.

So Rube, do what you have to do, this team is not going to be any better than .500 for a few years regardless. If it means we have a better chance to win next year or the year after by dealing Chase Utley then so be it, just make sure nobody ever uses Kashmir as their at bat song ever again.

As an addendum – Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee absolutely must stay. We’re not gaining a single thing if either one of them goes.  I realize that Hamels isn’t really on the block, but if Rube trades Lee then Rube is dead to me. Lee must stay for the future.

Also as an addendum – I have not written off this team yet. They’re one 17-3 stretch from turning this town on its head, and if more than 1 guy could catch fire at a time I think they have the pitching to do it. Hamels and the big sentimental 3 will have to drive it though.