Following the Jim Hendry/Pittsburgh Pirates relationship model.

He's like that guy Mayo, "I got no other place to go!"

From Houston

and yeah, that's the sentiment around here.

"You helped us win a World Series and bring us good talent...meh, here's a scouting job for you"

Agreed. There's pretty close to zero people in and around Houston who are remotely surprised at this.

Maybe he'll send the Phillies best players to Houston. Fair is fair.

You know, the joke was that he stayed loyal to Philly while working for Houston, but the truth is he was a shiatty, shiatty GM for both teams. Other than Bill Bavasi, I can't think of a single baseball executive who has wrought more destruction on multiple franchises. No idea why anyone in baseball wants to hire him for a more prominent position than beer vendor.

Dougie AXP: As a Phillies fan who spent almost 4 years in Houston during the Wade regime I LOL'd hard.

Even I, a jaded Philadelphia fan, thought the deals between the 'Stros and the Phils were always just a little too in favor of the Phils. So much so did I think there was something going on that I called the Pence trade back in freaking April.

It probably looks that way from the outside. These were not straight up trades. Each trade had particular motives. Lidge needed to be moved. He had become erratic on the mound and many say that mentally he needed an environment switch. Pence and Oswalt were salary dumps in exchange for prospects.

Lidge had a perfect season for the Phils helping them win the big one. After that he was mired by health issues and the yips after the Phillies blew 40+ million dollars on him. Anybody who signs him now (likely the Rox) is basically taking a chance in terms of his performance. Once free agency hits for Bourn, he'll definitely be in demand. Neither will be with their traded team but most would probably go with Bourn right now.

The Oswalt trade did not accomplish what the Phillies had hoped. So that didn't work out for them. Happ had a great season but then floundered. He's still young, as the other prospects are that the Stros received.

Really, Pence is the only player that they picked up that's not on the decline. It was another salary dump for the Stros who got back a few prospects. The Phillies will be paying Pence big time come free agency next season should Pence choose to stay.

Wade is familiar with the Phillies farm as well as upper management over there which makes dealing with them easier compared to some other teams. The biggest key is that the Phillies farm system was ranked around #7 last year. So why not deal with a team who apparently has a good prospect collection. He grabbed a few for the Stros and is now back with Philly in order to replenish the stock.

Super Chronic: You know, the joke was that he stayed loyal to Philly while working for Houston, but the truth is he was a shiatty, shiatty GM for both teams. Other than Bill Bavasi, I can't think of a single baseball executive who has wrought more destruction on multiple franchises. No idea why anyone in baseball wants to hire him for a more prominent position than beer vendor.

What?! Who didn't think Scott Spiezio could be a legit starting 3rd baseman?

/sarcasm

Scouting was always the only thing Wade was ever really talented at. Well, that and offering ludicrously high contracts to middle relievers, but I don't think that can be called a "talent".

It'll be good to have him scouting for the Phillies and try to rebuild the farm system that Amaro destroyed with his fascination for shiny new toys, like when he forked over his top two prospects for an unneeded (and rather marginal) upgrade at RF, and Wade was all too happy to take them given his familiarity with the Phillies' farm system.