As i watched tonight's game, and my happy pills lost their effectiveness, I started feeling really bad for Neal Huntington. If we had more talent in the system he might have had an easier time making such a deal, and it might even have been justifiable. He is in a very tough position now. He has spent several years restocking the most barren system in modern baseball history, and not enough time has elapsed to determine which of the guys he has drafted are keepers. He’s playing blind poker with limited house money and a stacked deck. The Phillies can afford to make mistakes with a couple of A prospects. The Pirates don’t have that luxury. In many ways, this contention thing has been a miracle for the team and all of us, but it couldn’t come at a worse time for a GM who knows that he isn’t yet close to being able to win deep into the postseason. Hunter Pence is not going to make anywhere near the kind of difference now as the two best prospects in the system will over the long term. If the other team in a deal with the Pirates got what turned out to be two of the top five guys in our system and we got bounced in the first round of the playoffs this year, all of this clamor will be so much caterwauling in a couple of years. I’ll enjoy this season for what it is, but my head tells me we should have been selling this week. While I know the reality is that it would be a mess for the team and the front office, if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that we are still not there, and need more 20 year olds, not 29 year olds.