Dodgers Employing Trade Rumor Mindgames That are Really Just Inappropriate

So there we all are, sitting around, wondering if $120 million is enough money to keep Cole Hamels, secure a tiny bit of the future, and avoid losing every shred of hope and dignity over the next few years.  It’s been a real fun afternoon.

And then the Dodgers–you remember the Dodgers; they’re the team that likes to joke about how Cole is basically already playing for them–shoot out this little trade nugget that involving our starting shortstop.  Is there a homegrown Phillies All-Star the Dodgers don’t want to put their grubby, formerly bankrupt hands all over?

Yes, several.  For now.

But this move, which at the moment is very far from a move and more like a casual whisper that someone accidentally overheard and then put on the internet, raises a variety of eyebrows and voices.

For instance, infielders.  We’d like some.  There is no definitive replacement for a Jimmy Rollins, and I’m not even talking about the “leadership, clubhouse presence, etc.” crap yet.  I’m just talking about a warm body that you could stick at short and still take yourself seriously.  That takes Michael Martinez and Mike Fontenot and pretty much everybody other than Jimmy who played a middle infield position in the first few months of the season out of the running.

Of course, this doesn’t take Freddy Galvis into consideration, but a suspended 22-year-old with a broken back isn’t the most hopeful image the organization can offer.  One hopes.

And then, there’s the “leadership, clubhouse presence, etc.” crap!  Yeah, we can bitch about these invisible feelings as not very important, but there are some pretty distinct roles burned into this roster.  Jimmy has one.  And unless this team is in the process of getting blown up, then I can’t really grasp the notion behind sending L.A. to be a bat.

Which is, by the way, what they’re looking for.  Danny Knobler, in his article that broke this news, described Jimmy as a “big disappointment” to the Phillies this year, which isn’t exactly true.  Jimmy is a part of a big disappointment, and anybody counting on him to be an XBH machine is probably still excited about Bulgaria and Romania joining the European Union.

…because that also happened in 2007?  When J-Roll won the… the NL MVP?

The compensation in such a deal is—PRESUMABLY—Dee Gordon, the injured Dodgers shortstop who is, what, like 14 years old and fast like a freak?  This deal, if this were to be the deal, would need a hell of a lot more than another injured young middle infielder to be a payoff of any kind for the Phillies.

Anyways, Jimmy is merely one name on an apparently long list.  All this while Cole sits in front of a table with a pile of money on it, scratching his hairless chin, deciding whether he should burn it or not.

Negotiations are hard.