Amaro's delicate position
It's rare for Ruben Amaro Jr. to acknowledge a rumor, no matter how baseless it is. The recent reports of the Phillies general manager calling other teams for an idea how much Cole Hamels et al. are worth were not baseless.
Amaro's delicate position
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
ON A TRAIN — It's rare for Ruben Amaro Jr. to acknowledge a rumor, no matter how baseless it is. The recent reports of the Phillies general manager calling other teams for an idea how much Cole Hamels et al. are worth were not baseless.
They were true; invariably, an executive from a team Amaro phoned leaked details to a national writer and a story is born.
Amaro, in turn, went on the offensive Monday by seeking forums in local media to spread his message: We're not waving the white flag. And he's probably not lying. Just because the Phillies called other teams hardly means a trade is imminent.
I don't believe Amaro has decided to sell yet. He is, of course, considering it — no matter what he says.
"A lot of these rumors are products of the timing and way we're playing," Amaro said. "This is what happens in July. You have a team that's not playing very well, and we have very good players. We are going to get these types of rumors out there. I just want to make sure people understand where we stand."
Where they stand is on the brink. No decision to sell must be made today, tomorrow, or next week. Part of the decision to sell will be dependent on what the Phillies can receive for said trade chips. Thus, the phone calls were made.
Part of the problem is this: The national reports were hardly wrong. But the fan reaction was.
Trades develop over weeks, sometimes months. Usually, the first step is to ask around to see what Player X could possibly net. Then the front office assesses and determines the next course of action.
"Shopping" and "trading" are two totally different steps.
Amaro and the rest of the organization — from Charlie Manuel to his players — speak with optimism. They believe a postseason berth is attainable, partially because there are now two Wild Cards, but mostly because Ryan Howard and Roy Halladay will return sometime in July.
So the GM wants the focus to be his team, right now, on the field. It's hard not to blame others for shifting their attention elsewhere.
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There are plenty of factors, most of them undetermined, that will go into Hamels' value on the trade market.
Bob Ford delves into the many layers of the Hamels situation and sees the lefthander ultimately leaving.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Oh. I was thrown off. I thought Amaro's delicate position had to do with him taking a job as GM of a World Series champion, given carte blanche to double the payroll and ending up with a team mired in last place and a roster full of either untradeable contracts or aging cast-offs. In the course of doubling the payroll and showering untold riches on players well past their primes, he was unable to lock up the franchises' best home grown pitcher since Robin Roberts. You'd think somebody who accomplished all that would be relieved of his responsibilities. That's the delicate position I'm thinking about.— jtj10- With something like a 3% chance on making the playoffs, Amaro is right to call around to see what the interest is on his players. There is little to no chance that the Phillies go 55-26 or better over the second half and make the playoffs. It would be foolish to keep Hamels after July 31 with no contract and hope that your offer is the best in November. If Hamels won't sign, and all indications are that he won't, then they have to trade him. If they are trading him to the Dodgers, I'm sure they would wait until after the Phillies go to LA, but if it is some other team (Ideally, Texas), then they can send him packing the weekend after the All Star Break.
Also, trade Victorino, Polanco, any of the bench players and ideally Rollins but I don't see that happening. Get some useful young pieces in here that can contribute at the ML level next year, then use the savings from Hamels, Victorino, Blanton, etc being gone to fill in the holes. Maybe sign Bourn or Cabrera to play center or maybe sign Greinke to be your third starter behind Halladay and Lee, with Worley and Cloyd to follow. Point is that they need to find a way to get younger at 3B, SS, LF and CF next season and trading their marketable pieces will get them that (ie Olt, the rangers CF prospect, etc). A line up of Bourn, Rollins, Utley, Howard, Pence, Olt, Brown, Ruiz, Pitcher would be pretty decent to pair with a rotation of Halladay, Lee, Worley, Greinke (or a FA pitcher), and Cloyd. It will at least give us more hope for next season than letting Hamels walk for nothing, or giving Hamels $28 mil a year and having $80 mil tied up in your top three starters and hoping to nickel and dime your way to generate offense at 3B, LF and CF.— sjuhawk416 - Amaro is funny. He says the way we are playing gives people reasons for trade rumors. They are playing that way because thats as good as they can play and he is the one that put this team on the field.
Before Utleys injury his production was down and he didn't seem to be the same ballplayer he was. Why would anyone let alone a GM think that after the injury he would return to form.?
The same with Rollins. His production has dropped steadily and shouldn't have been signed to a 3 year deal.He has a couple good games and then disappears and shouldn't be leading off.
No one knows if Howard will ever be the same .
Pence needs to be in the AL as he just can't play the field and has left many ,many runners in scoring position.His HR totals are misleading.
He knew Thome couldn't play the field anymore and that Howard would be out. Why pick a guy who could only pinch hit or play against the AL when you need a first baseman who can play everyday until Howard gets back?
He has no choice having depleted the farm system into trading away some of the current players who we are not winning with anyway.
Good pitching is great but players who help you everyday are better and good hitters can make up for average pitching.— gardner - Everybody seems to assume that Amaro makes all these personnel decisions in a vacuum.
The fact is, that with the Phillies, the decisions are made by commitee rather than one person.
Amaro may be the spokesperson but he is far from having complete control.
The Phillies have operated this way for many years now.
Whatever happens at the trading deadline or before, you can rest assured that Amaro is just one voice and opinion in the direction the Phillies want to go.— candidly - @palmyra -yes you repeat the same rejoinder every time you decide to pipe up with your same drivel-- Gillick made some bad (awful) moves and moved on and made enough terrific moves to win 3 World Championships and build up 4 franchises and go to Hall Of Fame...Amaro by contrast has one zero champiionships and has simply destroyed a franchise for the 3 dozen reason I've delineated ad nauseum for past year— warbiscuit
Ruben Amaro is an employee … with a boss.
I don’t believe that any general manager runs a high profile team like the Phillies without plenty of assistance from advisors (Gillick), scouts, assistants, etc. and also a great deal of input from the ownership; including financial leeway and/or limits.
But let’s assume that Amaro does have the keys to the kingdom. And let’s assume that his job is evaluated like any other.
1) Phils, in the past three years, have won more games and sold more tickets than at any time in their history.
2) Phils, in the past three years, have won more games and sold more tickets than any other team in baseball.
Whether some of you like him or not … he’s not getting fired any time soon.
So keep calling him names and calling for his head. I’m sure the Phils management is amused by it.
My dog barks at the mail truck every day. We think it’s adorable.
— zubzub- The awful way the Phillies are playing is harder to watch because everyone is used to a very good baseball team. It was easier when they stunk every year.— fish1463
- zubzub -- like the Soviet Union, the Amaro-era will come to pass as well and be acknowledged as the fraud that it was...I am only attempting to educate the public and expedite the process :) ...the way Rube's each and every decision is falling like a house of cards and he is basically batting .000 on everything he's done recently, the process may be quicker and more inevitable than you think— warbiscuit
- Carry on, Biscuit. We all have a destiny to fulfill :)
I just hope the hitting, pitching and fielding improve. And if it does, I promise I won't credit Ruben for it. Actually I might, but only as a joke.
ps ... I like the USSR reference.— zubzub - educate the public?????? LOL!— Grazman
- Ruben is a smug, arrogant failure— shawnmac
- He's not even that good. — fmMD
- Amaro looks more and more hapless every day.
He could be in the bottom 1/3 of all GM's.— fmMD - I think he is one of the worst of all-time. I liked his trade to acquire Lee for a year and a half at low cost- which he then undid by trading him when they had him locked up for a year at $9.5 million. I thought the Oswalt deal was good too. Every other single thing he has done, I think made the team worse in both the short and long runs. — jtj06
- BULL...— jmb53
