Years ago, a former member of the Phillies' front office was asked whether a certain pitcher could be a viable rotation piece. The longtime baseball man wrinkled his face and shook his head.
"Not in this ballpark," he said.
As the Phillies evaluate this year's crop of free agent and trade candidates in their annual attempt to cobble together a functional rotation and bullpen staff, it is impossible to separate the pitcher from the home stadium. This is true across baseball, to varying degrees. In few places is it as central a variable as it is at Citizens Bank Park. Every offseason forces the Phillies to confront a paradox. They are a team that needs to find value in the pitching market. Yet the pitching market does not view the Phillies as a great place to provide value.
