I know that Ed Wade made some weak trades, some bad conracts, and bears some responsibility for Scott Rolen's refusal to resign with the Phils, however, he clearly was not as much of a disaster as Billy King. As proof, here are the Phillies' first-round draft picks during the Ed Wade era (first-round only, so it doesn't count a guy like, oh I don't know, Ryan Howard):
1998 - Pat Burrell
1999 - Brett Myers
2000 - Chase Utley
2001 - Gavin Floyd
2002 - Cole Hamels
2003 - [no first round pick]
2004 - Greg Golson
2005 - [no first round pick]
So, that's two starters and two starting pitchers, and an outfield prospect. Plus Floyd. I'd say that's pretty good, and Billy King has nothing like this to show.
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I have to say that I completely disagree with this argument. Anyone who knows the Phillies front office, knows that they have a phenomenal talent evaluator in Mike Arbuckle, who is assistant GM, scouting and player development, for the Phillies. Last year, he received consideration for Red Sox and Pirates GM vacancies. It was Arbuckle, not Wade, that scouted these players and ultimately made the decision for the picks. Wade should only be evaluated on trades he made, unless you want to give him points for the people he put around him (and I'm not even sure who hired Arbuckle or if he even liked Wade).
Interesting note: In a little research into the two lack of Phillies first round picks...obviously the free agent signings were Thome and Lieber, both good moves. But guess who the Yankees took with our 17th pick in the 2005 draft...CJ Henry...who is now a member of the Phillies via the Bobby Abreu trade.
No way, Pete. If Arbuckle is such a genius (and I'm a big fan of him), then Wade gets credit for hiring/keeping him and listening to him. But if Arbuckle calls all the shots on young players, why do we fault Wade for when the prospects we pick up in trades don't work out? OK, so Bud Smith didn't do anything. But why is that Wade's fault, but Arbuckle gets the credit for Myers and Hamels? You can't have it both ways.
And still, Billy King could have hired a talent evaluator, but the Sixers still don't draft well. He is worse than Wade; I'm not saying Wade is good.
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