Amaro's goal: Take 2 of 3 in Atlanta
ATLANTA — The Phillies arrived here late Thursday night for a series that could decide their 2012 fate. It is difficult to parse a 162-game season into a three-game stretch in late July, but the Phillies occupy a tenuous position between contending and irrelevancy.
Amaro's goal: Take 2 of 3 in Atlanta
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
ATLANTA — The Phillies arrived here late Thursday night for a series that could decide their 2012 fate. It is difficult to parse a 162-game season into a three-game stretch in late July, but the Phillies occupy a tenuous position between contending and irrelevancy.
"The numbers don't lie," Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "We've put ourselves in a very difficult position."
The Phillies general manager was accompanied by three of his assistants, or "henchmen" as he calls them. There are decisions to be made with Tuesday's trade deadline nearing.
A good or bad weekend could provide clarity.
"These three games are important, yeah," Amaro said. "How determinant they are about how we go about our business from here on in, I don't know yet. Again, it’s kind of a fluid situation. If we get swept here, it's going to make things very daunting for us. We take two out of three, that's good. We happen to sweep them, even better."
Amaro played coy and issued the standard declarations around these times: He has spoken to many teams in the last few weeks about a variety of ideas. He wants to keep his expensive starting rotation together. He does not know if he will make a trade before Tuesday.
The Phillies have sought bullpen upgrades, but they are not alone in that quest. They have reportedly offered Shane Victorino for a young middle reliever only to be rebuffed by Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
"Somebody has to want to trade with you," Amaro said.
The Phillies, of course, are not bound to the July 31 deadline. Should they have a good weekend against the Braves and compel Amaro to not sell off important pieces only to falter later, deals are still possible.
Players must clear trade waivers after July 31 before they are eligible to be dealt. Those waivers are revocable. So, for example, if a contending team were to claim free-agents-to-be Victorino or Joe Blanton, the Phillies could attempt to work a trade or simply let the acquiring team assume the remainder of their salaries.
How realistic is any action after July 31?
"I don't know," Amaro said. "I know there's a lot of talk out there. I know there is a lot of dialogue going on between different clubs, different ideas. A lot of interesting stuff. A lot of crazy stuff. We’ve talked about some crazy stuff."
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Trade Halladay for Freddie Freeman so that we can have a 1st baseman who can do splits, trade Polanco for A-Rod and use Howard as the DH.— lonewolf 10- Amaros goal- take 2 of 3 in Atlanta. The problem i have with that is the GM should have a goal to win all 3, what he should have said is that he wants to win all 3, but will settle for 2 if thats all we get. What im implying is that by saying your goal is just 2, its seems ok to lose a game and not worry about it. Loses are a part of the game, i know that, but dont already settle for a lose when the series hasnt started yet! Stupid,i think!— huntnmike3666
- Interesting stat from Braves announcers: without Howard in the lineup, the Phillies have the fewest strikeouts among major league teams thus far this year. Interesting.— dogman5
- Do not trade Victorino. He is the spark plug of this team and he is only 31 and in the prime of his career. If we can't salvage 2012, we are in place to go for the crown in 2013........ with a new 3B and some help in the bullpen.
And how about considering moving Ruiz to 3B? Sebastian Valle appears to ready to come to the majors and this would resolve the problem of a lack of available third sackers. Hell, if Pete Rose could make the switch, I am sure that Chooch could do so also.— World - Vic is a 260 hitter at this point with little power and speed that will be sure to decline as he gets older. Since no one wants him safe to say we should keep him for the rest of this year, and I would offer 5 a year for 3 years to bring him back. No one will pay more so we might get him. — lazyboy
- How did Andruw Jones, Ken Griffey Jr., and Bernie Williams do in their 30s? Beyond that, Victorino is the oldest regular centerfielder in baseball. Granderson and Angel Pagan are the only other ones over 30 and they are both younger than Victorino. — jtj06
- When's Freddie G. coming back to the lineup?? We need someone who can play 3rd base with out looking like a sieve. These guys are kill'in us.— dogman5
- I don't think I've ever read a more idiotic comment that from LoserWolf above - your banter is getting weaker and weaker with every letter you type.— IGGLES1980
- Braves announcer said this series will put Phillies out of their misery— baeboo
- okay folks-the phillies are down 6-1 in the seventh,lets see if they have that majic to come back against a MAJOR LEAGUE BULLPEN-I dont
think so!-The real Phillies,emerge again tonight.— flyers11 
Everyone wants the fightins to win this series. We need a 3rd baseman who can field, who is not prone to error after error. fontenot/wiggiboy are not 3rd basemen. Trade pence for someone who can play 3rd. The Hunter is truly a liability-we can only hope that some other team is dumb enough to want him in their lineup.
Keep Victorino and the rest of the bunch- They called one up from LV who is a solid fielder, but Charlie is waiting for him to turn 30 to start him. — jtj06
- Lol, Amaro is a moron, our ownership group apparently know nothing about baseball, and unless we break up the core we're going to suck for a while. Howard's contract is an albatross, no team can afford 80 million wrapped up in 4 pitchers...at least one has to go, and did I mention Amaro is a moron? I have no doubt half the posters could run the team better...how hard can it be to sign big name players to max contracts and then fill up the roster with AAA slop? 130 Million tied up in 7 guys, 6 who are old and playing well below what they are getting paid. Give Lee and Howard away, use the money wisely on free agents and this team could contend next year. If not, look for a 500 season as hungry hippo flails away
— lazyboy - Well Rube, did you like what you saw tonight? What a comedy of errors not to mention a horrific performance by your new billion dollar pitcher.— MrLincoln
- a recent mlb executive state that raj does not know what he want to do. I KNOW THATS RIGHT! just way too much confusion! send lee to rangers NOW! get olt and profar and forget about it! if u have to send shaney vic too - thats ok! we need some young guys in here who can get something done! OK?! dominated brown aint workin out! jonny may aint workin out! know what i'm sayin? WOOT! pretty soon we gonna have the oldest and the most expensive and the worst team in baseball!!!!! natties in control now!!!!!!!
- Need to Win 2 out of 3; er 3 out of 3 would be better.
We.ve put ourselves in a hole that's hard to get out of.
correction....I, R.J. Amaro signed, traded for these players and,Our little Ownership Group is in the same position of Thome contract except now we have 4-5 large contract and all Amaro can do is sign backup BENCH players. When was the lase time the Phillies signed a right handed hitter???
— tulsaphil - Valle is not ready. He's batting .256 at AA K'ing a ton. Saw him tonit 2 hop a throw to second but threw a guy out at third. I wish this Hyatt kid could hold a runner he was throwing fastballs at 88 but changeups at 71--74. he needs better control on the fastball but k's a lot of hitters very deceptive. Rose was adequate at 3b but had a gold glove SS, 2b and C with him in the infield. and a hall of fame offense to erase the throws he couldn't make. Chooch , not a 3b why would you weaken yourself at C to have a weak 3b that was above average behind the plate. Makes no sense.— rhcjr2
- It's funny because if you went back, I'm pretty sure it was written that the 9 games against division opponents prior to the All-Star game were do-or-die if they Phillies had a shot. They went 1-8 and fell out of contention at that point, end of story. I don't know what the writers and the Phillies no-brain trust has been smoking since that point.— jtj06
