I realize that hindsight is 20/20. However, it really struck me last night as I was thinking about trades that the Phillies have made in previous winter meetings how much I wish the Phillies could operate by hindsight.
I was struck mainly because in December of 2006 the Phillies traded for Freddy Garcia of the Chicago White Sox. Do you remember who was in that deal?
That’s right. Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez were traded for Garcia. Again, at the time, this seemed like a pretty good deal. Garcia had quite a few good seasons with the Seattle Mariners and then with the Chicago White Sox. In fact, in 2001 he came in third in the American League Cy Young voting. It seemed that the Phillies were finally getting a top of the rotation starter.
However, things didn’t work out so well for him in Philadelphia. He only stayed for one season and went 1-5 with a 5.90 ERA over 11 starts. He was out of Philadelphia the next year. However, he did have a very nice year with the Yankees last season and it was nice to see him pitching very well again.
Again, I am playing with the benefit of knowing the outcome, but I was just thinking about all of the demand that is around Gonzalez right now. A lot of interest is coming from the Yankees, Red Sox and Marlins, according to several different sources.
Why is there all this demand? Simply put, he had a great season last year. He went 16-12 with a 3.12 ERA. Part of me was fantasizing about what the Phillies would have looked like with him as the fifth arm in the rotation.
I know that there are a lot of factors that made him into the pitcher he is today, and a lot of his development probably came throughout the Oakland farm system. Therefore, who knows how he would have developed through the Philadelphia system?
Nevertheless, this is where my mind went when I was thinking about the previous winter meetings.
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