That's according to Ed Wade hisself, in the Gloucester County Times.
But Wade who has orchestrated two big trades with his former team, including one with protg Ruben Amaro Jr. said his familiarity with the organization had little to do with his acquisitions.
"Pure happenstance," assured Wade.
Wade:
"You can never predict, the sentiment when I got here was Brad needed a change of scenery to have the type of year he had. Would that have happened in Houston? I don't know, nobody will ever know. We can only worry about the players we got in these deals. We're very, very happy to have Michael here...
...In the Lidge and Oswalt deals, we made the most effective deal for that particular time. We have to take advantage of getting multiples of young guys who fit what we want to do going forward and take advantage of that."
On his challenges, and the possibility that he'll get fired:
"We had a lot of work to do when I got there. The system was barren. We've been trying to be effective in the draft and I think we have been."
Added Wade with a laugh, fully aware he was fired in Philadelphia before finishing the job: "We might get this one figured out right around the same time frame the Phillies situation got figured out, you never know."
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
