It was just two days ago that the announcement came, one that I had expected would be coming by this year’s MLB trade deadline or soon thereafter: the Phillies had traded away longtime starting catcher Carlos Ruiz.
I wanted to wait a couple of days before writing anything, letting the departure of Chooch sink in fully, before trying to write anything to might have been overly emotional or sentimental in the immediate aftermath of the deal.
Unfortunately, that is simply not possible with the Phillies primary catcher for the vast majority of the past decade, one of what I have come to refer to as the Phils’ “Core Five” that dominated the National League for a half-decade or so.