Julio Franco is back with the Braves [1]. They’re desperately giving one last shot to an old, broken-down baseball refugee in the hopes he will rekindle the lost magic both he and they had together…or he and they will revive on contact and wreak all kinds of vengeful havoc on the Mets.
Guess which scenario I’m living in fear of.
Cesar Cedeño was as scrap heap as scrap heap could be in 1985. Then Whitey Herzog picked him up, cleaned him off and inserted him at first base down the stretch. He hit .434 in 28 games for the Cardinals who flew by the Mets for the Eastern Division title. Two years later, a similar (he batted only .233 in 24 games but it was similar enough) phenomenon unfurled, except the washed-up vet who helped do us in was Dan Driessen, also a first baseman. And precisely one decade later, our mini-miracle of 1997 was derailed when the Marlins poached Darren Daulton from the end of the line and stuck him at first.
What position does Julio Franco play again?
Past isn’t necessarily precedent. Not every oldie grab is a goodie. The Phillies, for example, picked up Jeff Conine late last year and they didn’t make the playoffs. Speaking of Conine, he’s on the Reds. So is Brandon Phillips.
Let’s get Brandon Phillips.
I don’t usually care to indulge in hypothetical trades, but waiting for West Coast starts and a position to be definitively filled is making me antsy.
Let’s get Brandon Phillips.
I don’t mean to be the big-market team fan who believes small-market teams’ rosters exist for our plucking pleasure, but the Reds are atrocious and show no signs of ambition toward being anything but that.
Let’s get Brandon Phillips.
I don’t like the idea of giving up our own young chips, not so much Ambres, but the ones I’ve actually seen. Pelfrey I believe has a future. I do like Lastings. Humber was a No. 1 pick for a reason. I’d hate to give any of them up.
But I would for Brandon Phillips.
Not much used to trolling in trade talk, I have no idea if Brandon Phillips is explicitly available, but the way baseball works and the way Omar works, everybody is available. Omar once made Brandon Phillips available, trading him five years ago for Bartolo Colon, one of the gutsiest moves the GM of a constricted, contraction-bound club could have made. Didn’t work out, but it was the right move for the Expos then.
Getting Brandon Phillips for the Mets would be the right move now.
What would it take? Damned if I know. I don’t do hypotheticals normally. But if they wanted one of our pitching studs, go ahead. If they wanted Milledge, too, go ahead. If they need Gotay to help fill the void and ironically chill with Jeff Keppinger, fine. If we have to take Conine or even David Weathers off their hands, I have no problem with any of it.
Let’s get Brandon Phillips. This guy has been killing us for two straight seasons. Murdering us. He should be extradited to New York and brought up on charges. Or, better yet, traded to New York to become our second baseman for the next several years.
Brandon Phillips was all that stood between us sweeping the Reds this weekend. (Well, that and our general nimrodedness Friday.) He had a deleterious impact on us last year. I just watched him almost singlehandedly beat the Braves. I’d leave him to do that some more except I don’t think Cincinnati’s schedule will allow him the luxury.
We need a second baseman. We’ve needed a second baseman since Roberto Alomar decided to quit the game (albeit several years before he retired). We haven’t had a dependable second baseman since Edgardo Alfonzo moved to third. We’ve had one Danny Garcia after another. Bless Jose Valentin’s heart and one good knee and uplifting 2006, but he ain’t getting it done either.
Brandon Phillips [2] apparently hits well against not just the Mets and Braves. Brandon Phillips is only 26. Brandon Phillips, unless I’m missing something nobody’s told me, can play his position, a position nobody around here has played competently in anything approaching a long-term nature in six seasons. Brandon Phillips is probably due for arbitration soon, which means the Reds could be talked out of him. They love youth movements in Cincinnati. It keeps them feeling hopeful.
We need youth. We need a bat. We need a glove. We need a spark. It’s not going to come from Chip Ambres. It’s not going to come from Marlon Anderson. It could very well come from Brandon Phillips. He’s playing on the Reds. It’s not like he has something important to do.
Let’s get Brandon Phillips. Now.