Amaro: Phillies explored trade for Justin Upton
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Amaro: Phillies explored trade for Justin Upton
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
The Phillies were in need of a right-handed power bat for the corner outfield, and early in the offseason they made an offer to free agent center fielder B.J. Upton, so it wasn't too much of a leap to think that Ruben Amaro Jr. at some point kicked around the idea of trading for Diamondbacks star Justin Upton, B.J.'s brother and, as of today, a member of the Atlanta Braves.
Turns out, the Phillies did look into Justin Upton, talking to Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers on more than one occasion about a potential trade.
Alas, Amaro said, "We just didn't really see a fit."
"We communicated a few times with K.T.," Amaro said. "Clearly, what he was looking for and what we were willing to give were a little different."
What the Phillies could not offer the Diamondbacks was a player like Martin Prado, a very good hitter at a premium position who can help Arizona compete this season. The Diamondbacks also acquired promising young pitcher Randall Delgado, a former Top 50 prospect according to Baseball America.
"You've got to trade talent for talent," Amaro said. "They got a very good player, and obviously they got a third baseman back to kind of cover for him."
The Phillies will be attempting to re-establish themselves as contenders in a vastly improved National League. The Diamondbacks have bolstered their payroll by about $20 million. The Braves have added the two Uptons, while the Nationals added center fielder Denard Span.
"We knew it was going to be a challenge regardless, because (the Braves) had a really good team," Amaro said. "They've done a good job of improving their club. We think we've improved ours as well. We can't worry too much about what goes on in our division, we have to worry about what the Phillies are doing. If our guys can play the way we think they can play, we'll be OK."
For the first time since 2008, the Phillies will enter a season as an underdog.
"That's good," Amaro said. "I guess I like to be an underdog. We were the favorites to win last year and we didn't do so well. Maybe the tides have turned."
span not fowler— en37- The Nationals added Denard Span, not Fowler.— SI52
- Rube is a p.ssy— Jay Grace 69
- ruben's putting the load on his 20 million dollar pitchers. here's hoping everyone's healthy.— high water
- Better with Bourn/Chipper/prado or Upton x2, I say the Chipper package easy. More power now but not clearly better, just hyped.
— WFChamps - The Phils will looking at another 81-81 season at best and will be "sellers" by the allstar game.— farley
- What would have been a serious exchange of players? The Phillies would have had to give up Biddle. He is the only legitimate prospect and that would not have been enough. No one else would have generated much interest.— Phillip Phan
- Is it me or are the same post-ers saying they really, really, REALLY want to see Ruf and Brown get starting outfield shots also bemoaning the fact that Atlanta has the Upton twins and we don't?
"I hate that we got Delmon Young. Now Ruf may start the year at AAA." Same guy: "Why didn't we sign Victorino and get both Uptons? Ruin Tomorrow is clueless." Uh, hello.
— eman - My view here was this: If we had traded for Upton I'd have been fine moving Brown. At the same age Upton is a clear upgrade. In that scenario Brown, of course, goes on to be an all-star somewhere else since that's the way it works if you're a Phillies fan ...
Is Upton the absolute ideal outfielder to trade for? No way. The upgrade over Brown and the fact that his contract ends when he's 27, even if it is too high, was appealing to me though.
In an alternate universe I could also see this scenario had they gotten Upton: Trade Mayberry or Nix, LF goes to Brown or Ruf as the main starter. Assuming Brown can win that job, Ruf may be fine off the bench as a PH and sub'ing at 1B once in a while. It's that 1B role I don't see happening with Charlie.
Ruf's a problem to plan around because we really have no idea yet whether he can carry what he did last year into a major league career and his fielding is almost a complete unknown. My basic view is we'd be fine carrying one bench player who offers potential RH power but is a huge question mark or liability in the field. That may be Ruf. That is the current Delmon Young. The problem with having two of those is you really only want one on the bench and you'd like to be able to choose the best one without having contracts factor in. For a guy under contract in the NL I prefer someone who can play defense. It's why I had a problem with Thome last year even though I like Jim Thome. Thome and Wigginton were those two guys last year. Another thing I personally like is two or more bench players with options. It offers flexibility. That was Ruf and Galvis before they signed Delmon Young. Now it's probably just one of those two.— s - Phillip Phan: Depends on timing. If Amaro was willing (pre-Revere) to offer Worley, Asche and Joseph/Valle, who knows? But seeing that Arizona got Prado, that probably was the holdup. We don't have a proven, young power hitter to offer. Prado is proven; Brown and Ruf are not.
— eman - Justin is head and shoulders better than any position player in Phils organization, and even Chris Johnson might be better all-around player than anyone on Phils... CLueless Rube has made such a mockery of being a g.m. --wasting hundreds of millions of dollars over 4 years and losing all the Phils prospects and young talent --and then adds insult to injury this winter acquiring 3 players to be starters who have poor on base pcteg (Revere, Young and Young ) and 2 of whom can't even field their positions.. never seen a more inept joke of a g.m. and a travesty that so many ignoramuses come here evry day and write the most bizarre excuses for the most blatant malpractice exercised in the governance of a professinal sports team— warbiscuit
- after wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and losing best prospects for 1 year of Pence and 2 good months from Oswalt, seems like the well has run dry, and there's no money or talent left to field a good team or to acquire good players... gee now who woulda thunk it? like any ponzi scheme, you run outa cash or anything of value...— warbiscuit
- Can you name one prospect that we traded that has done anything? If you can I would like to know. — macoop2
- another fan who finally gets it ---much of what I thought (but I wised-up awhile ago)..from SBNation: "Done With Ruben Amaro Jr: A Special Comment ... For years, I believed people who hired him...couldn't be morons. ...couldn't have hired an idiot, or someone so grossly unqualified for the job that it's laughable. Someone so mired in the ways of the past and fooled by the illusion of experience that almost every move seems designed to take the team backwards, not forwards. ... ....Back in 2009, the signing of Raul Ibanez puzzled me. ... trading for Halladay in 2009 ... But of course, he sent away Cliff Lee. Which just seemed... stupid. ... Howard contract... only way this made sense is if Howard's contract was a steal or at least somewhat of a discount... knew would most likely cripple the team financially going forward... Pence was a hard pill to swallow. ...COULD WORK! And then it didn't. SHOCKER. Things went horribly wrong ...But the players were gone and the money was spent. ...you've traded away your farm system and you have no money to buy actual good players, that leaves you with, well...guys from the abandoned, lonely, pathetic bargain bin in the corner of the sale section of the surplus and salvage store. .... no plan. The Phillies were bad. I could do nothing but hope that the offseason would bring a smart signing or an intelligent trade, anything to restore my faith that THE PEOPLE RUNNING THE TEAM I LOVED HAD FUNCTIONAL BRAINS.
The combination of Delmon Young and Michael Young were the straws that broke the camel's back. ... As starters? In positions they haven't been regularly playing? Is anyone paying attention? Anywhere? Does anyone know what they're doing? IS THIS IS A RUDDERLESS SHIP!? THE MAST IS ON FIRE ...."— warbiscuit - no use crying over spilled milk. most gm's would have signed howard and that's your big complaint. relax. we'll see how it works out. seems easy to predict the worst.
