Amaro's Offseason
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Amaro's Offseason
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
I have a confession to make: I missed the second half of the Villanova game. I wanted to wake up early today and get some work done on my season preview stories that were due on Wednesday (yes, last Wednesday). So at halftime, I turned off the TV, rolled over and went to bed.
I woke up this morning and I checked my Blackberry and saw that I had two missed calls and two voice mails from two of my friends back in Philadelphia. Both calls came at the exact same time -- 10:23 p.m. I knew right away that I had missed something great. And I knew right away that something happened at 10:23. Sure enough, I turned on the computer, and read all about Scottie Reynolds shot. I still haven't checked the voice mails. It is going to hurt to listen to them. I grew up following two college basketball teams -- Nova and Duke. My first favorite college basketball player of all time was Bobby Hurley. My second was Kerry Kittles. I remember the day they lost to Tony Gonzalez and the Cal Bears. Jay Wright has done a tremendous job doing what Steve Lappas could not -- establishing continuity in the program and getting his players to play big in big games. Not to brag, but my Final Four is still intact: Connecticut, Nova, Louisville and Oklahoma. For the record, I have Oklahoma winning it all.
Anyway, I say all this as a prelude to a question I will ask you all this morning. One of my stories for our preview section, which runs in Friday's paper, is a look at new general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. While working on the story, I came across the Five Keys for the Phillies' offseason that I examined when he was hired on Nov. 3rd.
Take a look at them, and let me know how you think he did accomplishing them.
1 Setting the outfield.
The most obvious situation that needs to be ironed out concerns leftfielder Pat Burrell. Burrell has said he would like to remain in Philadelphia, and the Phillies have said they would like to keep him. But with 10 days before the start of the free-agent signing period, the two sides are not close to a deal. Burrell hit .250 this season, his lowest average since he hit .209 in 2003. His on-base percentage of .367 was his lowest since 2004. But his 33 home runs were the second most of his career (37 in 2002) and he is a known quantity, having hit at least 24 home runs with at least 84 RBI in seven of his last eight seasons.
If Burrell does not return, it will be hard to replace that production with one player. Amaro yesterday indicated that Manny Ramirez, perhaps the only superstar of the free-agent crop, was not a leading option.
The Phillies have some flexibility, since Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino can play all three outfield positions. They also have veteran rightfielders Geoff Jenkins and Matt Stairs signed through next season.
"If Pat Burrell is not with us, we know we're going to have a void in leftfield," Amaro said. "We might have to deal with that internally with the Geoff Jenkinses of the world and the Matt Stairses of the world."
2 Arbitration.
It's something of a catch-22. To win a World Series, you need several players to have career years. But then you have to pay them for those career years. The Phillies will have 10 players eligible for arbitration. Among those in line for sizable raises are Victorino, Werth, reliever Ryan Madson, starter Cole Hamels and first baseman Ryan Howard. With Burrell's $14.25 million salary off the books and a payroll that will surely increase from $103 million after this year's record attendance and World Series run, the Phillies will have money to spend. But how much of that is spent on free agents will depend largely on how much is spent in the arbitration process.
3 Hamels and Howard.
Howard won a $10 million salary in arbitration last season after he and the Phillies found themselves far apart on a long-term contract. Hamels, meanwhile, was renewed at $500,000 after the two sides failed to agree on a contract. In the past, the Phillies guaranteed themselves some cost certainty by agreeing to extensions with Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley. It will be interesting to see if they are able to do the same with their two other stars.
4 The rotation.
Amaro said he is happy with the top of his rotation, which right now features Hamels and righthanders Brett Myers and Joe Blanton. If Myers remains the pitcher he was for the majority of the second half of the season, it could be one of the more formidable 1-2-3 combinations in the National League. That said, there is some mystery as to who will inherit the No. 4 and No. 5 spots. Righthander Adam Eaton, who is entering the last year of a 3-year, $24.5 million contract, was absent for the Phillies' postseason run and did not participate in any of the post-World Series festivities. But he is still a member of the team. Righthander Kyle Kendrick, 24, was in the rotation for most of the season but was left off the postseason roster after struggling down the stretch. Lefthander J.A. Happ pitched well when called upon and will surely compete for a spot. Prospect Carlos Carrasco could also be a factor. But the biggest question involves 45-year-old lefthander Jamie Moyer, who led the team with 16 victories. Amaro labeled re-signing Moyer a priority.
5 Fortifying the bullpen.
Amaro said he will try to re-sign veteran lefthander Scott Eyre, who performed well after the Phillies acquired him from the Cubs in August. Madson was a star in the postseason and seems poised to enter the 2009 season as the team's setup man. But the Phillies are always looking to improve the bullpen, and there are plenty of options available in free agency. Ideally, they'd like to add another lefthanded arm to go with Eyre and J.C. Romero.
you're a genius Malcolm!!!!— flash gordon- Next time set the alarm— mick314
- So I read this why?— Mark1npt
- Amaro gets the following grades in my book :Outfield B plus: he reacted swiftly with Ibanez, but going to management for money to sign Manny would have been a bold statement - and why no arb offer for burell; esp. when you lose the pick for signing Ibanez? Arbitration A minus. Hamels and Howard A plus; Rotation B - the five spot is still influx, and are we really ready to count on Moyer for 180 innings at 47 and 48? Bullpen : B . Overall this team is set for the next 2 years except at 3rd. Hopefully these short term deals won't mean complacency. What happens if we need to stir the pot? Do we have the money to do that? Amaro gets a B but it is kind of precarious.— johhos
- yo, Marky-Mark: U read this cause your mom locked the basement door from the kitchen side and thus you needed to kill time til she returned and unlocked it...allowing you to venture upstairs into your house (actually your mommy's) to sit in front ofthe tube all afternoon.— dksurf
- So you missed a great game and the resulting article was a series of quotes copied from the offseason? Seemed like an interesting premise of an link, rating Amaro's moves. Turned out to be dreck.— rulz
- I'll give him a A- overall. Ruben's accomplished exactly what he set out to do, which is to keep the WFCs intact. As a fan, I'm certainly thrilled we haven't tampered with my favorite team ever (except Ibanez for Burrell, which is pretty much a wash). And after increasing the payroll to $130, I don't think the Phils were in position to compete for any of the premier FAs on the market this year. But it did seem Ruben overpaid for Ibanez, money which could have been put towards a lefty reliever or a righthanded bat. And I sure hope he has a plan to move Jenkins who is just taking space at this point. But all in all, good work by the new guy.
- I give amaro B outfield,He could sign rocco and have that righthanded bat of the bench.A in arbitration,He got all of them to sign.C on the rotation he could sign or make a trade for a more stablish pitcher for the 5 spot.— Phillies08
- what was the point of this article?— LongestYard
- The point of the article is to look back at what challenges Amaro faced in his first off-season as GM and then let Dave know what grade you would give Amaro for his work now that the off-season is done. I thought that was pretty obvious when he said "Take a look at them, and let me know how you think he did accomplishing them." But then again, I actually read the article. I'd give Amaro an A-. He did a fantastic job with arbitration avoiding hearings and keeping Hamels and Howard happy with 3 year deals. I think he made a nice pick-up with Ibanez. He had to give him the deal he did because other teams actually wanted Ibanez unlike Burrell, Abreu, etc. who had slim pickings to choose from. I think Ibanez will give us more consistent production in LF but it would have been nice for him trade Jenkins or Stairs for a RH hitting OF, although I've heard they are trying to move Jenkins which is hard because of his salary. The rotation is fine. There were a couple of old guys we could have gone after but I think he did a good job. Better to divert funds to re-signing our guys and bringing in Ibanez instead of giving a 4 or 5 year deal to a pitcher in his mid to late 30s. Park was a very nice pick-up and will help us either in the 5th spot or in the bullpen/spot starting. The bullpen was in great shape, would have liked to see him pick up a better lefty like Ohman though to fill-in while Romero is out. He took care of the things that were real needs and the rest would have been gravy.— JimG
- HA - the point was to "let dave know what grade you would give Amaro for his work now that the offseason is done". Hey JimG i hope you like 20 year olds giving you homework assignments. So Dave Murphy is now a discussion board monitor I guess instead of a reporter. A real article or blog would have been for HIM to review each of his old points. Martino and Murphy seem to love creating daily news articles about their life and using copy and paste functions. I check this website to learn things from professionals about the Phillies. Not read discussions -- we have discussion boards already buddy...do your job or you wont make it to the next Nov. 3rd.— nicknac21
Comment removed.- I'd give Ruben a B+. What would keep him from an "A" is failure to come up with a RH bat off the bench. But there is still this week to go. I think that Amaro surprised a few people with the way that he handled things this winter. I don't know what, if any, power Ruben has over the minor league operations and scouting. Isn't it about time one of the team's No. 1 picks makes a little noise up at the Major League level?— Original #11
- Good bye jenks, hello scheff. Chearleaders don't win pennants and bad boz don't loose em. sheff might be 40 but there's 1 number you can't ignore; he's a 5 tooler and i hope on the mend. sign him!— brinkmang
