Apropos of nothing, here is Darnell Dockett live tweeeting jury duty.

Cubans are being allowed to leave to play baseball. Do they still have to go to another country first?

High school football head injury lawsuit. Is this the first pebble of an avalanche?

It seems to me that Ruben Amaro, Jr.'s greatest failing in his non-waiver trade negotiations was not that he failed to make a trade, bu the way he explained his failure. Michael Bauman explains in Let Them Eat Money: MLB Salary Dumping, the Precursor to the Proletarian Revolution that MLB teams, and the Phillies in particular, can get by just fine without "shedding salary." With their new Comcast broadcast income, the Phils can afford to play Ryan Howard in a platoon or pay Marlon Byrd and A.J. Burnett. So when Amaro goes to trade these guys, he really is in a position of no trade is better than a bad trade. Instead of countering the rumors that he asked for 3 top prospects for Cole Hamels, he should have come back and quoted statistics rather than vague comments on the counter-offers. I also wonder what people would be saying if Amaro had traded away Byrd and gotten nothing back.

I was going to say more, but what's the point?

It can be extremely amusing to read diametrically opposed articles on the same web site. Rantsports.com had an article on Thursday with David Goodman saying Ruben Amaro might lose his job for not making big non-waiver trades while Mike Gibson wrote on Friday that there was no way David Montgomery was going to dump Amaro. Hmmmm...

In Sadly, There’s No Way Philadelphia Phillies Owner/CEO David Montgomery Will Fire Ruben Amaro Jr. Gibson sites the close relationship between Montgomery and Amaro, the convoluted multiple owner situation with the Phils and Amaro and Montgomery's joint Penn Charter roots. Gibson rightly points out the futility of anguishing over what the Phillies SHOULD do, rather than analyzing what is probable or even possible.

In Philadelphia Phillies: Inactivity At Trade Deadline May Cost Ruben Amaro Jr. His Job Goodman looks to other sports writers to support his circular logic that Amaro will go. He completely ignores the fact that Amaro works for Montgomery and the Phillies, and no matter how much the fans and sportswriters complain about Amaro, David Montgomery's is the opinion that matters. I guess the internet has turned us all into delusional chuckleheads who figure if we write it down and it gets posted, it must be true. It's on the internet, right?

I have been following the Phillies trade rumors with some interest and a lot of incredulity. Of course, the so-called journalists have to create content for their publications, but it seems to me that the approach of take whatever you can get for whatever people will buy is perhaps the worst approach that the Phillies can follow. It is exemplified by calltothepen.com's article The trade chips for the Philadelphia Phillies. I've seen the sell at any price approach repeated many times, but I've never seen an example of where it has quickly produced a winning team. It seems to me that if you get rid of your most valuable players at bargain prices, you are going to end up with a team of players who are has beens and never gonna be's, with nothing attractive for your fans. At least if you keep Hamels pitching every 5 games, in a couple or 3 years you could have a Hamels, Buchanan, Nola, Biddle, Kendrick rotation (not necessarily in that order) that could put you back in contention.

On the other hand, there are many other considerations for the Phillies as well. Forbes.com point out Baseball Trade Deadline: Phillies Are A Mess, But Don't Feel Sorry For Them. The new TV deal injects a lot of cash into the Phillies' coffers, and it gives some flexibility on how to approach the future. Sure, they still need to approach the future with a smart strategy (that everyone will second guess at every step of the way), but there really isn't a lot of pure financial pressure to shed salary.

My favorite article on the subject is The Phillies, trade rumors, and asking too much for Cole Hamels from SBNation.com. Mark J. Rebilas outlines possible strategies for the Phillies to use in trading Cole Hamels. He indicates that the prevailing wisdom that the Phillies are crazy for asking a high price for Cole is where the intelligence is lacking, not in the Phillies asking a high price. I tend to agree. So what if the Phillies don't trade Hamels now? Will he be any less valuable this winter? Not unless Hamels gets "hurt in a freak salon accident over the next two months." as Rebilas puts it.

It seems to me that 10 years ago, the Phillies came up with a strategy to put together a team to beat the Braves. Now they need a new strategy to put together a team to beat the Braves and the Nats. The emphasis being on "new" because the old strategies won't work. Neither will a fire sale.