If the parade always went to the team that makes the most audacious move, there would have been confetti on the rutted dirt roads of Milwaukee this fall. The Brewers rented CC Sabathia for a half a season and, ultimately, what did they have to show for it? Not much, and they no longer have top prospect Matt LaPorta, either. Same goes for the Dodgers and Manny Ramirez. No ticker tape on the Santa Monica Freeway.
In the end, Eric Bruntlett and Joe Blanton can trump CC Sabathia sometimes, and Matt Stairs and Scott Eyre can mean more than Manny Ramirez. Not always, but occasionally. If you are lucky enough, and patient enough.
Those waiting for Amaro, in his new role as the general manager, to unveil a splashy plan for the 2009 season are waiting in vain. There are some guidelines and some general principles, but the Phillies aren't going to scorch the earth with their checkbook as the Yankees will no doubt attempt to do.
It isn't necessarily because the organization is cheap. The payroll which began the 2008 season at $103 million will probably jump to around $120 million for 2009. The hesitancy comes because you don't always get what you pay for in baseball, and there are often bargains for those who wait.
"You keep your eyes and ears open, and look in all areas for something that might fit into your overall program," Gillick said. "Two of the guys that were pretty involved in our club - Chad Durbin and Jayson Werth - were non-tenders. [Greg] Dobbs was a damn waiver. We traded for Stairs, traded for Blanton, guys that were below the radar but that kind of fit in with us."
