If this guy says it, it’s wrong. His premise apparently is that the Phillies don’t think, but only when at home.

I am very concerned that the Phillies will panic and pull the trigger on a very unfavorable trade. I do NOT want to get ripped off for the likes of Brad Penny.

Speaking of the Red Sox, an interesting fact about them is that they haven’t made a single major midseason prospects-for-veteran trade in this decade. I understand that we’re not in the same boat as Boston, but there still were years when they could have used the help and they chose to ride it out and, if need be, live to fight another day. I’m not necessarily opposed to all deadline deals: I’ll always stand by the Blanton trade, even as Outman is now outperforming Blanton in the majors and Cardenas is ripping up AA ball at age 21. But you can’t just keep going to the well. There’s a reason why Boston does what it does, and that’s because the midseason market (especially for starting pitchers) is a suckers’ market. And yet, all the rhetoric on talk radio is that “The Phillies can’t look to make the same type of mid-level pickups they’ve been making the last couple of years. They need to pull the trigger on something big to put them over the top.”

If the right deal comes along, that’s fine, but I don’t buy that this organization has to put all of its eggs into the short-term basket or that we only have a short window of opportunity to succeed. If you’re not a poor franchise, the window of opportunity can be as short or as long as you choose to make it. It’s in the nature of all fans, and in fact all humans, especially Americans, to overvalue the present and undervalue the future. The “window” theory is just a convenient way to articulate an irrational tendency of human nature.

I don’t know anything about these young players, but I remember when Schmidt was starting out. It seemed that years were spent waiting for him to develop and then just about when many fans had given up on him he hit his stride. Possibly most young players will excel if given enough time. They all progress at different rates. it depends on how much patience you have as a fan.

When the Philles were lousy year after year people"s patience lasted a lot longer. Now, since they have been doing well, people have a lot less patience with them.

Thank for your comments. I think that Schmidt was a great player. I am not a stats person. I went back to look at Schmidt’s stats. In 1973 he played in 132 games and hit .196. He had 367 at bats and struckout 136 times. I guess when you are watching those games it seemed like a lot longer period than it was.