I don't get it...

By John McMullen

Time for a confession.

I’m a card carrying member of “The Evil Empire.”

Reggie Jackson was the pure evil that brought me over to the dark side in the ‘70s and I never left.

So when Pat Gillick handed my club Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle for a bucket of chum on Sunday, I must admit I was as giddy as a school girl. But, I quickly realized that it wasn’t because I love Abreu or Lidle.

While Abreu is a solid addition, any of my collegues can attest that I loathe the way Lidle pitches. The reason I was so happy is because Gillick affirmed many months of hard work and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, he is exactly what I said he was -- a fraud.

After throwing out names like Erik Bedard, Philip Hughes, Vernon Wells and Miguel Tejada -- the crown jewel this mastermind netted for Abreu was a 20-year old athlete, C.J. Henry, who is the baseball equivalent of Samuel Dalembert.

According to scouts, Henry will wow you with his athleticism but has no baseball instincts and is years away from sniffing Citizens Bank Park..

Of course, in reality we all know this was purely a salary dump and “Trader Pat” was so obsessed with moving Abreu’s money that he threw in Lidle. This, the same Gillick that told all of you the Phillies had a really good nucleus and were just five wins away from the playoffs.

Of course even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally and Gillick was right about one thing. The Phils did have a very good nucleus -- until he screwed it up -- but they were only ONE GAME from the playoffs.

The lap dogs and apologists who think Ed Wade was Billy King in a mask are still bowing at the feet of the master and are thrilled Pat is disassembling an “underachieving” clubhouse.

Even I give Gillick credit for one thing -- using his overrated past to buy time for what is a future pegged for certain failure. Even though Gillick will almost certainly be working with a checkbook few, other than Brian Cashman, will be able to match this offseason he had no problem uttering this gem:

"Realistically, it'll be a stretch to think we'll be there in '07.”

Really?

I’m sure that’s exactly what all the long suffering Philly fans wanted to hear.

With the great Pat Gillick in charge the Phillers have no chance and with the impotent Ed Wade, they were oh soooooooo close.

So I offer a mea culpa to all my critics...I admit -- I just don’t get it.

-You can reach John McMullen at jmcmullen1@comcast.net or john@phillysportsline.com


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