The rumblings started at the end of last season. A very vocal group of Phillies fans wanted Ed Wade out as the general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. Now at the end of this season those fans have gotten their wish as Ed Wade was fired yesterday.
Many of them were upset with the firing of manager Larry Bowa thinking he didn’t have the players to win. Many were frustrated by the under performing Kevin Millwood while watching Johnny Estrada blossom in Atlanta. (Even though at the time it seemed like a slam dunk trade for the Phillies) Some were upset that he never made the “big” trade to put the team over the top, (I wouldn’t call the Billy Wagner deal a small trade though) but Wade continued to do his best to put the best team on the field.
Wade never seemed worried about what the fans wanted and maybe that was part of his undoing, but over the last season and a half, many times it seems he was right. If Dave Montgomery kept a score card over the last two seasons it might look like this.
Last season many fans wanted Wade to trade for pitchers Kris Benson or Victor Zambrano. Getting either would have resulted in giving up Chase Utley. Instead of giving up Utley, Wade made a deal a few weeks latter for Cory Lidle giving up much less then the Mets did for either Benson of Zambrano and over that time Lidle has out pitched both of them, at a fraction of the cost. While Utley was voted by the players co-MVP and looks to be a perennial All Star 2nd basemen.
Ed Wade- 1, The Fans – 0
During the last off season many fans wanted Wade to go after one of the top free agent pitchers, namely Carl Pavano. Instead Wade quickly signed John Lieber who has out performed all off the big name free agent pitchers with the exception of Pedro Martinez and showed his ace like ability this pass September, while also coming a lot cheaper.
Ed Wade – 2, The Fans- 0
Fan wanted Carlos Beltran in center, but instead Wade brought in Kenny Lofton, who ended up making almost 15 million dollars less a season and along with Jason Michaels made up the most productive center field in baseball, while Beltran slumped in New York.
Ed Wade – 3, The Fans- 0
Before the start of the season fans called for Wade to move Ryan Howard while his trade value would be at it’s highest. Wade elected to hold on the Howard and when Thome went down to injury, Howard emerged as a rookie of the year candidate with a David Ortiz like flare for late inning heroics and majestic home runs.
Ed Wade 4, The Fans- 0
Wade fired Larry Bowa at the end of last season to a large outcry despite the fact that the players had quite on Bowa for the second strait year. Fans believed that Bowa was a good manager despite young players never developing well under him as well the manager malting down when the pressure of the races became too much for him and the team. Bowa’s in your face attitude even helped chase Scott Rolen away despite being offered more money from the Phillies then he would eventually take from the Cardinals. In Bowa’s place Wade hired Charlie Manuel and though while many of Charlie’s in game decisions left many scratching their heads, the team learned to be resilient (something they never were under Bowa) and they never quit even thought the fans had quit on them. Many wanted Jim Leyland as the new manager but as my brother pointed out, Leyland hasn’t managed since 1999 and his own in your face style may have hurt the Phillies more then help coming down the stretch. At worst you can call this a push at best it was another right call for Wade.
Along the way during this pass season Wade traded Marlon Byrd who would still be sitting in triple A if he was still with the organization and acquired Endy Chavez a player that helped the team all year with his defense and speed a clear improvement. Also when Tim Worrell under performed and then left the team leaving the bull pen in shambles Wade made probably the best deal of the whole season by bringing in Ugueth Urbina while clearing 2nd base full time for Chase Utley by sending Placido Polanco to the Tigers. A move that actually saved the Phillies about 2 million dollars over the course of the season, but Wade was not fired because of all he’s done right over the last two seasons. Wade was fired for his sins in the pass.
Wade paid the price for over paying Mike Lieberthal and David Bell. Wade is being punished for not getting more for Rolen and Schilling despite have his hand forced in both situations and not knowing Kevin Millwood would fold under the pressure of pitching in Philadelphia. Ed Wade may not have been a great general manager (even though the The Hardball Times ranked Wade as the 5th best in the league at the season's start) but Wade was a very good general manager. He made mistakes, but all GMs do, and he made some outstanding moves as well. For the most part he made good moves that made the team better than the year before.
Back to Dave Montgomery’s score card there is one thing I left out. The Fans did have one big thing on their side. They had their money and the fact they were not willing to give to the Phillies any longer. With attendance down close to 600,000 the fans scored big on Dave Montgomery’s score card.
The Fans – 25 Million Dollars, Ed Wade – 4
Now the fans got what they wanted. Wade is gone and the search for a new GM is on, but there in no guarantee that a new GM will solve the Phillies problems or be better than Ed Wade. There is no guarantee that the next GM won’t destroy the young nucleus of Burrell, Rollins, Utley, Howard and Myers to put “his” stamp on the team for the better. So the fans might have gotten what they asked for, but there is a chance that they might end up not liking it.
No comments:
Post a Comment