Ed Wade, the Houston Astros, and the 2010 Philadelphia Phillies
When it comes time to renew a player's contract, make trades, or sign free agents, major league general managers can seem incredibly cut-throat and can be perceived as demonstrating little loyalty to their players.
But when major league general managers change jobs, they are often stricken with a dose of loyalty, and will often seek to acquire many of the prospects and youngsters they developed during their time with the previous team.
It is the reason Sammy Sosa went from Texas to the White Sox to the Cubs at an early age, as Larry Himes went from being the White Sox GM to being the Cubs GM. It is the reason the Cincinnati Reds were littered with former Twins under Wayne Krivsky, and it is the reason the Washington Nationals were littered with former Reds under Jim Bowden.
And so it is that Ed Wade, the current Houston Astros GM and former Philadelphia Phillies GM, has also had his imprint on his current and former teams during the last four years. As the Phillies have become World Champions and the Astros have become Phillies-South, players developed, signed, and traded by Ed Wade have made their mark on both teams.
Pat Burrell
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Phillies fans have mixed emotions about Pat Burrell, who was Ed Wade's first ever draft pick in June of 1998. Pat the Bat had an up-and-down tenure in Philadelphia, but was on the 2008 World Series championship team.
Carlos Ruiz
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As crazy as this may seem, Carlos Ruiz has the second longest tenure—after Jimmy Rollins—with the organization, having signed as an amateur free agent under Wade in 1998 as a 19-year-old out of Panama.
Brett Myers
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Brett Myers was Wade's first round draft pick in 1999, and he had one of the greatest at-bats in Phillies' history in the NLDS against C.C. Sabathia in 2008, on the way to the World Series.
When the Phillies opted not to re-sign Myers after the 2009 season, Wade snatched him up for Houston, and Myers has had a career year there.
To Phillies fans who look at the season Myers is having and lament not having re-signed him, one can only point out that Myers was in Philly for eight years and never ever pitched like he has in Houston.
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Chase Utley
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Wade's first pick in the 2000 draft, after whom a rather impressive track record begins to develop. Utley has emerged into one of the best second basemen in baseball.
Ryan Howard
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How many teams passed on Ryan Howard in 2001?
All of them, several times.
Wade drafted Gavin Floyd with the fourth pick in the first round of the 2001 draft, and then took a shortstop named Terry Jones in the fourth round before grabbing Howard in the fifth.
All Howard has done is win a Rookie of the Year and an MVP and lead the league in RBI three times in five years.
Cole Hamels
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Wade drafted Cole Hamels in the first round of the 2002 draft, and Hamels has since won the 2008 NLCS and World Series MVPs before taking 2009 off and re-emerging in 2010 as a dominant starting pitcher.
Brad Lidge
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The nice thing about Ed Wade is that he continued building the Phillies even after he left the team.
Fired by the Phillies in 2005, Wade joined the Astros in September 2007, and by November of that year, he executed a trade with the Phils that sent troubled closer Brad Lidge, along with Eric Bruntlett, to Philly in exchange for Michael Bourn and Geoff Geary.
Lidge would prove to be worth every penny the Phils paid for him in 2008, as he did not blow a single save the entire season and post-season and was one of the essential elements of the World Series championship team.
After taking 2009 and much of 2010 off, Lidge is back in form and pitching well.
Eric Bruntlett
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Eric Bruntlett, meanwhile, was a nice, defensive role player for the 2008 team, and made a name for himself on August 29, 2009, by turning the 15th unassisted triple play in baseball history.
Michael Bourn
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Michael Bourn, meanwhile, has given Wade and the Astros plenty to be happy about.
A native of Houston and a fourth round pick of the Phillies in 2003, Bourn has become one of the elite defensive outfielders in baseball and is well on his way to his second straight NL stolen base crown.
Pedro Feliz
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Pedro Feliz has been a minor role player in all of this. Signed by the Phils before the 2008 season after Wade had left, Feliz was a key contributor to both Phillies World Series teams.
When the Phils opted not to sign him after the 2009 season, Wade snatched him up, perhaps figuring any former championship Philly would do.
Feliz has had one of the worst seasons in recent baseball memory in 2010, and has since been traded.
J.A. Happ
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Wade drafted J.A. Happ in the third round of the 2004 draft, and after a lengthy career in the minors Happ emerged as a starter-of-the-future for the Phils in 2009.
But when the Phillies needed to bolster their rotation and Roy Oswalt became available, Wade managed to bring another one of his former prospects over to the Astros, along with post-Wade draftees Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar.
Roy Oswalt
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The curious thing about the Roy Oswalt trade is that it would have seemed that Wade could have gotten more for the veteran pitcher. Wade not only took Happ plus a couple of low-level minor leaguers, but he also agreed to eat part of Oswalt's contract.
It is almost like he wanted the Phils to be in good shape.
The Guns Of August: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA, August 23-26
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Ed Wade's final contribution to the 2010 Philadelphia Phillies didn't take place in the front office, but rather on the field.
With the Phillies getting healthy and trailing the Atlanta Braves by only 2.5 games in the NL East, they returned home for a four-game set against the seemingly lowly Astros in late August. But the Astros had something else in mind, delivering a slap-in-the-face four game sweep to one of the supposedly mightiest teams in baseball.
And the Phillies haven't looked back.
As though dunked in a bucket of ice water, the Phils snapped out of their seemingly season-long hitting malaise and went on a 20-4 tear that has taken them from three games behind the Braves to four games up on the Braves.
So Nice Of Him
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It is worth noting the record of both the Phillies and the Astros since the Oswalt trade.
The Phillies, of course, have had the best record in the National League, going 34-14 over that period and taking over the lead in the NL East.
The Astros, though, have also been excellent, and are tied with the Colorado Rockies for the second best record in the National League at 30-18.
In the end, while Ed Wade has continued to build a winner with the Phillies in Philadelphia, he may also finally be building a winner of his own in Houston with the Astros.
Or, as we like to say, the Phillies-South.
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.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
