Brian Cashman failed to bring in a bat at the trade deadline yesterday, but it wasn’t due to lack of effort. Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. just wasn’t having any of it, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
According to Heyman, Cashman and Amaro spoke on the phone around 3 pm yesterday – an hour before the deadline. Cashman offered to send a prospect AND pay the remaining $5 million on Michael Young’s salary. Amaro rejected the offer and didn’t care for a second offer involving a different prospect. Cashman then checked on the availability of catcher Carlos Ruiz, who has only one home run this year, and was told he wasn’t available.
Both Young and Ruiz are free agents at the end of this year, and the Phillies won’t get compensation if they let Young walk so it was puzzling that either one wasn’t moved. In order to gain compensation though, they’d have to offer him a qualifying offer – which would have to be at least the average of the 125 highest-paid players; last year it was $13 mil. If the Phillies plan on doing that, offering $13 mil to an aging bat who should be a DH is a bad idea.
Last night, Amaro snapped at Heyman’s article saying Heyman is “wrong a lot of times.” Even if he is here, it doesn’t change the fact that the Phillies weren’t willing to move guys to free up money or gain prospects for eventual free agents.
Of course, there’s always the chance that Young will be moved in a post-deadline deal. He will most certainly be placed on waivers, as most players in the league are. With the Yankees currently standing in fourth place, they’ll have the chance to look at some names passing by on the waiver wire.
