Yesterday at about 2:00 I recieved the call. Abreu and Lidle to the yankees for a bunch of rookie league players. None of which are named Hughes.

The phils recieved 4 prospects from the yankees. None of which blow me out of the water, but still we had to move abreu and shed his 13.6 million dollar salary. Of the 4 minor leaguers shipped to the phls, only one is major league ready. Reliver Matt Smith, who in 12 appearences has looked fairly good, giving up only 4 runs. The phils also get 3 rookie league players, including the Yankees top draft pick in 2005, C.J. Henry. Their plans with him with Rollins tied up for at least another 5 years ought to be interesting. Rounding our the trade are two rookie league players, catcher Jesus Sanchez, a position we saw this year needed some depth in the farm system, and right-hand pitcher Carlos Monasterios.

Hard to say just yet what we can expect from these playes, but it is a good sign to see the phils restocking the farm. I’ll take two years of non-contention to see these kids mature and grow into a team that will be in position to make a few runs at October.

One thing, I’m tired of seeing the Yankees pillaging other teams for theirs, using the rest of the Majors as their farm club, and just buying free agents or using their bottomless purse to take advantage of teams needing to shed salary.. like the phils, and strong arm them to make trades that are not quite worth the value. I’m also sick of the arms race between the Red Sox and the Yankees. And hope to god that the mets are not becoming part of this free-wheeling money spending to hell with developing our prospects when we can jut overpay-them and steal them in trades once they are good mentality. It’s sickening.

And for once, could we just see the yankees and red sox not in the playoffs. Do I have to listen to another fall of Joe Buck bowing to Derek Jeter like he’s the second coming. Enough with the Yankees. Enough with the Red Sox.

So I sit in anticipation of another block buster trade today from the phils. Names being thrown out are Rowand, Burrell, Leiber, Delucci, Cormier, Rhodes, and Gordon.. Who goes next! It’s kind of exciting watching the news waiting for the next trade, but the past week + has destroyed my stomach.

The phils are dead this year. Long Live the Phils next Year!