File this one under: What Brad Lidge means when he talks about talent.
Earlier this week, Brad Lidge said in a MLB.com video that the Nationals were the most talented team he's ever been on. Of course, there was immediate backlash from Phillies fans: some took offense to it (check the comments here, for example), while others seemed indifferent.
In any case, ESPN's Jayson Stark caught up with Lidge to clarify what Lidge meant by "talent". And clarify, he did, along with ex-Phillies mates Chad Durbin and Jayson Werth: Talent doesn't equal winning. Until it does. Or something. *shrug* The key takeaway from the Stark piece is that Lidge doesn't believe Stephen Strasburg is better than Roy Halladay; but both Lidge and Durbin believe the radar guns were not running hot at Roger Dean Stadium the other night (via Stark):
"That's what people are struggling with right now," Lidge said. "When I talk about 'talent,' I would expect people to have enough baseball sense to know that 'talent' does not translate into wins. It translates to nothing. I'm just specifically stating, if you come and watch BP or watch [Stephen] Strasburg throw, there's no denying the talent. You can take whatever you want out of that.
"Is Stephen Strasburg better than Roy Halladay?" Lidge went on, at his rhetorical best. "No. I'm not going to say he's better than Roy Halladay. But he throws 103 [mph]."
"He went 101-103-76 to [Giancarlo] Stanton the other day," Durbin interjected. "And that's spring training."
"And if you're throwing 103 in spring training," Lidge chimed in, "that's the most talented you could ask for. That's Nolan Ryan stuff." (via ESPN.com, 3/15/2012)
FU Philly
Posted by: Michael L.G. | March 16, 2012 at 08:04 AM