With the GM meetings concluded and still more than a month to go before Christmas, this is the first weekend that the offseason really dragged for me.There is nothing going on. I mean, sure, Andy Martino hasn't updated his blog in more than a week now, but there were no stories in either the Boston Globe or Philadelphia Inquirer today. Not even a lame feature on what the Phanatic is doing for the holidays.
Even Christmas shopping provided bitter reminders of how the season ended. While looking at some doggie clothes (just browsing, we would never buy clothes for a dog, even if we had one), among the Phillies and Red Sox shirts was one that said 2008 World Champions, almost jeering at us that there was no need for a 2009 version.
At another store, amid the piles of books, there were ones recapping the Yankees championship. Christine flipped them over and put a different book on top of them. Reason No. 1,503,303 why I love her.
I can't even get a respite in Sports Illustrated. Every other advertisement in the magazine is congratulating them. I don't remember another champion getting treated like this. Money talks, I guess.
One beat writer is still working: In Scott Lauber's Sunday column, he offers a little disconcerting insight into the Phillies third base situation. Basically, they want to wait out the market and pick up whoever is left - kind of like getting a Christmas tree from a picked-over lot on Christmas Eve:
When they analyzed the market for third basemen, the Phillies envisioned a game of musical chairs in which there seemingly aren't enough spots for each player, a conclusion that led them to decide not to buy out their $5.5 million option on Pedro Feliz's contract.
"We could've misread the market," Amaro said, "but we just feel like there are more third basemen available than there are positions to be filled."
Great, I can't wait to see what scrawny little tree is manning third base next year. I know, I should relax and give the Phillies front office the credit it has earned during the past few seasons.
[Photo credit: Wikipedia]
3 comments:
I love your Christmas Eve leftover analogy. That's precisely what they might do.
There hasn't been any talk, that I've heard, about Lidge's elbow possibly being the reason for his dismal performance this year. If it was bothering him and he told no one about it, doesn't he owe everyone an explanation? And if he did tell the team, why wasn't it addressed then?
Have you heard anything on this?
There's been a lot of speculation whether Lidge really was hurt. Nither option (that he was healthy and stunk or secretly injured) is exactly comforting.
All you can do is hope he regains form. Making it to the World Series with the 2009 Brad Lidge was remarkable, but I wouldn't want to have to try to do it again with such an awful performance from your closer.
He does seem to have an up and down history. If that's any prediction, then 2010 should be a good year for him. We'll see.
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