By Bill Mattis

AllStarInc

Thoughts about Lee, James, & Russell...no it's not the latest law firm.

There’s been lots of speculation about why Ruben Amaro traded Cliff Lee at the same time he acquired Roy Halladay.  In essence, he wound up passing on having an opportunity to have Halladay, Lee, AND Cole Hamels as his one, tow, three punch in the starting pitching rotation. 

To me, it was simple.  It was about money. 

Somebody in the Phillies front office must have warned Ruben about NOT blowing through any dollar budgets that had been set in stone regardless of the circumstances.

Amaro, likely wanting to continue his employment with the Phillies organization, has never said that was the case.  He keeps holding to the “we had to restock the cupboards” remark in reference to the minor league talent pool which had been drained by earlier deals (mostly being the original Cliff Lee deal and the one that brought Halladay to Philly).

“The jury is still out about that trade”, say some people.  Uh, no it really isn’t.

Are the Phillies trying to win now?  Or are they “building for the future”?  This mind set of "winning now" was not any different 9 months ago, and it still hasn't changed today. 

See what I mean?  That’s why the Cliff Lee deal NEVER made any sense (from a Baseball perspective).  It HAD to be financially motivated.

All you have to do is find out if Seattle would take back the three prospects they dealt to the Phils in exchange for Cliff Lee right now, and you’d have your answer.

You wouldn’t need a jury to know that they wouldn’t.  So at this point, that trade must be labeled an absolute and complete failure.

Oh sure, one of these three “prospects” may become something down the road.  But the fact remains that the trading deadline is approaching and Ruben Amaro is seeking something he had just months ago…a top notch starting pitcher …like …maybe…Cliff Lee?

Whoops!  Call me crazy, and overall I think Ruben has been great for this franchise in it’s “post Pat Gillick period”,…but I think Ruben dropped the ball on this one, big time. 

Then again, maybe it was those mysterious Phillies owners and their financial planning accountants that we never see that forced Ruben’s hand? 

Hmm…makes you wonder…I’m guessing it had very little to do with restocking the minor league system.  It was a little penny pinching and some very cute and wishful hopes that the Phils could make it back to the World Series anyway.  Then we'd have the best of both worlds!

Yeah, well.... things don’t look as promising right now as some may have hoped, and it appears as if they may wind up spending that money anyway. 

Irony is not always a funny thing.

NEXT TOPIC!...

Re: LeBron…enough already?  Please?

I don’t know about you, but whatever team LeBron James goes to is going to be my least favorite team in the NBA next year.  A good day will be when either the Sixers win, or LeBron’s team loses.

I’m so tired of hearing about where he might go, where he won’t go.  It’s gotten so ridiculous that now there will be a one hour TV special on ESPN for the announcement of what team wins the “LeBron Lottery.”

The best scenario to me is that LeBron goes to the Nets.  He has four straight losing seasons.  He whines and complains about the fans booing him and the team, and then the team has to declare bankruptcy because they are paying too much to one guy in salary.

Then you’d have a lesson learned.

And the same goes to all of these other teams offering “max contracts” to the superstars.  I hope they all lose more games than they win and they all go bankrupt.

It’s a crazy world in the NBA where 5% of the players make 90% of the money, but that’s where we’re headed.  One superstar and 13 league minimum contracts on every team.  Good luck with that.

It’s enough to make you want to overdose on codeine syrup.

Speaking of Codeine Syrup…NEXT TOPIC!

(In your best fairy tale story voice)...Once upon a time, JaMarcus Russell was thought to be one of the top new players to enter the NFL.  He was the potential savior to the storied franchise called “The Oakland Raiders”.

But after failing miserably and finally being released by the Raiders, you’d think JaMarcus would spend his time getting himself into great physical condition and preparing himself for another chance with some NFL team looking for a longshot?

Nope, not JaMarcus.  Instead, JaMarcus gets arrested for possession of a controlled substance.  This all came down after a two month undercover narcotics investigation.

I guess he was too high on syrup to notice the same car parked outside his house for eight weeks?  How'd you like to be HIS agent?

What’s next for Jamarcus?  Guess it’s back to sniffing tubes of model glue and bottles of white out.

OH C'MON!…you never did that?