Dreaming

I guess the purpose of BLOGs, aside from stating ones opinion, is also to dream a bit, for everyone to read, so here's my Phillies dream.....Realistic dreams, players that not only became available, but moved, and didn't demand a king's ransom like Dr. Halladay.

Along with Cliff Lee would have come Victor Martinez. Not only would he really have fulfilled the needed righthanded bat, but he would have been a far better solution to shore up the catching than Paul Bako. Ben Francisco appears to be a suitable bat off the bench and for an occasional start, and his power seems well-suited for our ballpark, but he's no Victor Martinez and he joins a club with little room for another outfielder, right now.

Mark Derosa is my Brendan Shanahan for this year. (Flyers fans should get the reference.) Not only would he also have supplied some righthanded power, but he would have relegated Eric Bruntlett to, well, some other team, perhaps in AAA.

Lastly, George Sherrill would have not only provided a potent lefthanded arm in the 'pen, but a needed alternative should Brad Lidge continue his shaky performance heading down the stretch.

While I have to admit that aside from questionable moves trading away Jason Jaramillo (.250, 3 HRs in 47 games for the Pirates) and Ronny Paulino (.263, 5 HRs in 52 games for the Marlins), and replacing them with Paul Bako (sub-.200), and getting essentially nothing in return, there's little to quibble with Ruben Amaro's moves thus far. As a matter of fact the Cliff Lee move was the much better choice in light of Toronto's ridiculous demands. That said, the moves above wouldn't have cost a whole lot and would have solidified the remaining weak points of the team heading into another Fall bound to be as stress-filled as the last.