Big thanks to Edward Wade

by **FTN** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 22:40:28

1. You didn't trade Ryan Howard for Ted Lilly
2. You gave us Brad Lidge for basically nothing.

by **TenuredVulture** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 22:44:13

You signed Jimmy and Pat long term too.

by **desertphan** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 22:52:38

And you kept helping the Phillies build a champion even after you weren't working for them anymore.

by **Philly the Kid** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 00:02:24

ha ha

by **pacino** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 00:21:14

Thank for Cole Hamels

by **Grotewold** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 01:37:47

Nah he's cool

by **TheDude24** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 01:51:00

I would think he had the final say, with Arbuckle's help, in drafting a lot of the home-grown players on this team. Utley, Hamels, Myers, Madson, Howard, Burrell, Rollins...that's a good core to build around. Of course there was a lot of crap he left behind that Gillick had to clear away, but that's not important right now.

by **Houshphandzadeh** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 09:46:19

WADE RULEZ!!!!

by **philliesr98** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 09:59:17

The ghost of ed wade can party to if he'd like, fuck it

by **thephan** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:00:29

I am glad he is gone, but he does get credit for a lot of this team.

by **Phight On!** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:08:35

Ed Wade never gave me the impression that he was much of a baseball guy, let alone a talent evaluator. He does deserve credit for having the scouts that he did, though.

I vaguely remember that he tried to trade Howard for Ted Lilly but it is widely been reported that he offered him to Pittsburgh for Kip Wells. What a fucking disaster that would have been.

by **bugbear** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 18:04:40

sorry if this has already been posted here:

I dug into a story I wrote from last year's general meetings concerning the trade of Brad Lidge to the Phillies. You want to talk about luck playing a factor in a baseball season? Take this: The Phillies had a unique advantage in the Lidge sweepstakes, because the Astros' new GM, Ed Wade, ran the Phillies from 1998 through 2005. He knew outfielder Michael Bourn, and he valued him much more than anyone else did. Bourn OPSed a horrendous .588 for the Astros this past year.

The Mets were interested in Lidge at the time, as a setup man for Lidge's Astros buddy Billy Wagner, but Wade wanted a package headed by either Carlos Gomez or Fernando Martinez. The Mets couldn't do that, because they very likely knew at that point that Gomez would be needed to acquire Johan Santana, and they weren't going to give up Martinez for someone they perceived as a setup man; they wouldn't even trade Martinez for Santana. Even Gomez, somewhat of a disappointment for the Twins, OPSed .656.

So the Phillies received a circumstantial discount, influenced by something entirely out of their control: Astros owner Drayton McLane's decision to hire Wade.

link

I don't even know what to say. too perfect. ed wade just couldn't help himself.

by **karn** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 18:13:06

Here's the thing: no, Bourn's computer numbers didn't turn out looking good. But talking to a couple Astros fans...to a person they ALL said that he was running faster at the end of the season than he was at the beginning. I know Lidge was decent this year, but Bourn would likely LAP him in a foot race. We might be paying for that deal years down the road.

by **seke2** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 18:15:15

karn wrote:Here's the thing: no, Bourn's computer numbers didn't turn out looking good. But talking to a couple Astros fans...to a person they ALL said that he was running faster at the end of the season than he was at the beginning. I know Lidge was decent this year, but Bourn would likely LAP him in a foot race. We might be paying for that deal years down the road.

no, we will never be paying for it. we won the world series. brad lidge could break his arm and never pitch again in the offseason, and bourn could break rickey's SB record, and it was still a great deal for the phillies.

by **Bakestar** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 18:16:35

by **jerseyhoya** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 18:17:53

by **TenuredVulture** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 18:18:40

karn wrote:Here's the thing: no, Bourn's computer numbers didn't turn out looking good. But talking to a couple Astros fans...to a person they ALL said that he was running faster at the end of the season than he was at the beginning. I know Lidge was decent this year, but Bourn would likely LAP him in a foot race. We might be paying for that deal years down the road.

But the larger point remains--the deal turned out lopsided in retrospect. I don't recall anyone going nuts at the time of the trade saying OMG, we really pulled one off there. I recall liking the trade, but more because it was a signal that Myers was headed back to the rotation than anything else.

Or, to put it another way, no one in his or her right mind would have expected the season we got out of Brad Lidge.

by **BassGuiFloyd** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 18:21:06

bourn is cheaper, younger, faster, and now more hungry for a championship than lidge and a native of the state he's playing for. also he's playing for the gm that drafted him.

we'll see how lopsided this trade is. time will tell.

by **karn** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 18:33:41

Ok, whatever, all I was saying is that on his fastest day Brad Lidge would still be eating Michael Bourn's dust. Lidge could win 10 World Series and I still like this trade from Houston's perspective. Relief pitching is such a dice roll. Given the chance, Geoff Geary might have done the same thing Lidge did. Who knows. The one piece that might put us over the top is a burner like Bourn. Shrugs

by **bugbear** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 19:09:49

I mean, of course Houston was correct to trade Lidge. No question. But taking the package we offered was giving a discount even at the time, as even if Bourn could be expected to provide more value by virtue of being under control for 6 years, the value of Lidge putting us over the top really cancels that out. what's so funny is how much he was asking from the Mets in comparison. Bourn isn't and wasn't in the league of Martinez or Gomez.

Archived

Big thanks to Edward Wade

Big thanks to Edward Wade