July 31, 2015
As the rain fell sideways outside, Pete Mackanin was holding court in the manager’s office at Citizens Bank Park. The volume on the television was turned up loud, and an MLB Network talking head yammered on about the Mets-Brewers trade that wasn’t. On the crawl, a picture of a familiar face was accompanied by the headline: Report: Hamels traded to Rangers.
And yet there Cole Hamels’ manager sat, in the same predicament as everyone else, expecting the reported deal to eventually go through but unable to say anything of substance. If you take him at his word, Mackanin knew very little about what was going on between the two teams’ front offices.
“There is really nothing for me to say on that,” Mackanin said before the sky cleared and the Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-1. “I’m just waiting like you guys are, but not digging into it.”
Weird vibe on Thursday night at the ballyard, as the Phillies as a whole were seemingly stuck in a state of limbo. Nobody embodied the mood more than hard-throwing and erratic reliever Jake Diekman, who reportedly is heading to the Lone Star State in the aforementioned transaction.
“I don’t know if I feel anything right now,” Diekman said. “Until something happens, I’m still here, I’m still a Phillie. I was a Phillie when I woke up and I was a Phillie during the entire game.”
When the game began, Diekman was surprisingly in uniform and seated in the home bullpen. The deal wasn’t official yet, as the Phillies and Rangers were apparently sorting through medical records. Understandably, Diekman’s normal routine was thrown off. He didn’t start getting ready for the game until jumping into the hot tub around 6:30.
“It sucked,” Diekman said. “This could be the last time I walk in here. I have no idea, but just sitting out there thinking about it sucked.”
The 28-year-old lefty used the term “emergency” to describe how his availability was communicated to him. Frenchy, Part Deux felt like a more likely scenario. Mackanin said Diekman was available after the game, but the manager didn’t want to use him considering the circumstances. As it turned out, his team played a clean game (remarkably, a fairly common occurrence as of late) and didn’t force him to make any difficult decisions.
In the age of social media where there is such a demand for information as soon as humanly possible, traded professional athletes are placed put in a weird position. As someone who refreshes his Twitter feed approximately 100 times per day, I’m not casting judgment on anyone else, either.
In Diekman’s case, he made it back to the visiting clubhouse Wednesday night in Toronto to a couple of texts from friends alerting him of the news. Immediately, he went online and saw that all of Major League Baseball knew his fate before him. Not only that, Diekman also dealt with the surreal experience of suiting up one last time for a team he was 99.9 percent sure he didn’t play for anymore.
“I don’t know if I feel anything right now,” Diekman said. “Until something happens, I’m still here, I’m still a Phillie. I was a Phillie when I woke up and I was a Phillie during the entire game.”
Up in the press box, we were on #HugWatch and analyzing his every move in the dugout. When Diekman left the bullpen for an inning or so, was the trade finalized or did he simply have to take a leak? Those were the types of insane thoughts seriously running through my mind, which makes for a pretty uncomfortable day at the office for Diekman.
“I don’t know what was behind all of it, but I just know that I couldn’t use him tonight,” Mackanin said. “We’ll wait and see what happens tomorrow.”
By all indications, what happens on Friday is the Hamels deal is officially announced. It will have gigantic implications on how quickly and successfully the Phillies are able to turn this thing around. For the current team, the end of the trade deadline will be a welcome development. Mackanin, who will have a better idea of the players he can write in the lineup, alluded to a possible team meeting on Friday. Managers usually choose to leave red-hot ballclubs alone, but Thursday was admittedly pretty strange.
Unlike Diekman, Hamels didn’t appear to be at The Bank on Thursday even though he was still technically a Phillie for one more day. There was still gear in his locker, and his manager wasn’t sure of his whereabouts.
“I didn’t see him,” Mackanin said. “He might have been lurking in the shadows somewhere.”
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
