No way, no way I trade Nick Williams. My gosh, Alfaro notwithstanding, he was the prize of the Hamels deal...so we now are going to move him for another pitcher that is unlikely to be as good as Hamels was?
This is a guy we wanted, we celebrated when he got to Reading, we agonized over when he was struggling and benched at LHV and now we are watching him succeed as the clean up hitter in a line up that right now is among the 12 best in baseball.
And it really makes no sense when the Phils have all that money to spend on a free agent hurler who is just as likely to be as good as any pitcher the Phils might bring in. Not to mention how painful it will be for all of us if Williams continues to hit and said acquired pitcher develops arm problems or struggles [as have, oh lets see...Eickhoff, Thompson, Eflin, Velasquez, Buchholz, Appel and I am sure I have forgotten 1-2 others.]
If I learned anything from the Giles trade, when we originally were going to get the hitter, Fisher, and instead because of Velasquez arm issues, got Appel instead [and how has that worked out for both of those two hurlers?], go for the hitter over the pitcher. Its a hitters league now and the Phils seemingly have as good a chance striking it rich with a Leiter Jr. as they do an electric arm like Velasquez or former top pick, Appel.
It was way back in 1966 that a veteran hitter named Frank Robinson was traded for a seemingly solid starter named Milt Pappas. Robinson became the AL MVP in Baltimore and Pappas became Clay Buchholz. When asked about the deal almost every scout queried said, "you always get the hitter for the pitcher in a deal because 90% of the time the hitter will have a longer career than the pitcher."
Nick Williams is going to make an All-Star team someday, regardless of what Keith Law says. I want it to be as a Phillie,
