Winter is Coming: The Phillies at the Winter Meetings, Part III
By Justin Klugh
What a dormant hangout these meetings had been.
Silent as the 2012 Phillies’ grave, a festering corner of activity here, a conniving Marlins representative there, and dotted sporadically throughout the construct were hushed conversations about Michael Bourn, Jeff Keppinger and the gang. A-Rod will be out for 4-6 months. The Mariners want to buy everybody.
It’s a dim state of affairs in Nashville, as Rube relaxes, not interested in a splash, more interested in people watching and the people considering and people deceiving that go with it. Hey, is that Jeffrey Loria shoving doughnuts in his pock–
Phillies and Diamondbacks are discussing Justin Upton for Cliff Lee. Money coming to AZ would also be involved.
— The Pedro Gomez Foundation (@PGFoundation_) December 4, 2012
Suddenly, the world rips in half as everyone forget for a second that Pedro Gomez is a mindless assclown and takes his word for scripture. How could we do this to Cliff?! Again?!
Deep breaths.
Deeper than that.
You knew you shouldn’t have thrown your inhaler at that club bouncer on a dare and then run away, but how were you supposed to know the Phillies would be trading Cliff Lee again in a manner of seconds?!
Okay, okay, okay. Cliff is a hyper-talented starter–part of this club’s contemporary image as “pitching-first,” and then “pitching-only,” and he’s beloved by the city and pitched one of the greatest World Series games of all time, but if this is happening, let’s look at what we’re getting: Justin Upton, that guy the Diamondbacks dangle out there every Tuesday to see who bites. He talks to his helmet.
Yes, he a masher, too. And he can play the outfield–not center, but he can like, be out there. But for Cliff? Cliff Lee?! I mean I guess you could wander over to MLB shop and figure out how “Upton” would look on a Phillies jer–
Dbacks source tells me the Upton/Lee stuff "hasn't been discussed" and is "off base."
— Nick Piecoro (@nickpiecoro) December 4, 2012
Gibson on that Upton/Lee rumor: "I can tell you that's not going to happen."
— Nick Piecoro (@nickpiecoro) December 4, 2012
Ruben Amaro with a strong denial of the Lee-Upton report. "I don't comment on rumors but that one is Absolutely and unequivocally false."
— David Murphy (@ByDavidMurphy) December 4, 2012
Pedro Gomez, however, continued his argument from a dimension in which all of the debunking of him hadn’t happened and also Jeff Bagwell was constantly admitting to being a steroid user, unprovoked and usually to strangers.
Listening to ESPN Radio this morning, Pedro Gomez is sticking to his Upton-Lee story. Not backing down. No mention of RAJ or Gibson denials.
— John Stolnis (@JohnStolnis) December 5, 2012
Hey, maybe this thing’s got legs. Maybe it’s being confirmed right now that the description of the deal was slightly wrong enough for Rube to truthfully deny it. Or maybe he just lied. It’s a lot more fun if he didn’t; people like Cliff, he’s very good, and nobody wants Pedro Gomez to be right about anything.