Cole Hamels lived up to lofty expectations; Amaro hasn't

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Following a pretty good week, it seems everyone thinks Phillies GM Ruben Amaro might have saved his job by successfully trading problem child Jonathan Papelbon, underwhelming Ben Revere and beloved Cole Hamels.

Columnist Mike Sielski points out it was Amaro alone speaking on the dais at the Citizens Bank Park news conference following Hamels' trade, writing, "It made you wonder just whether Amaro might still have a role among the Phillies' power people once MacPhail takes over and, if so, how important that role would be."

"This was a good week for Amaro and his chances of retaining the general manager's job," writes The Intelligencer's Kevin Cooney, who noted it's no longer far-fetched to expect the embattled GM to return next season.

Amaro deserves credit for these deals, especially Ben Revere, whom he and the Phillies brain trust somehow managed to deal for two prospects. Overall, they traded away three pitchers (Papelbon, Hamels and Jake Diekman) and Revere and got back seven pitchers and two highly-touted position player prospects, a haul nearly everyone agrees was about the best the team could expect.

But this is also the same general manager whose misguided decision-making left the World Series champions full of bloated contracts, a barren farm system and little prospect of a fast turnaround, no matter how many games they've won since the All-Star break.

Does anyone even remember the three prospects the Phillies received for Cliff Lee back in 2009? I didn't think so. Amaro fared just as poorly on the three prospects be brought to town in the Hunter Pence trade, and again with the two pitchers he nabbed for Shane Victorino.

For most of this tenure, Amaro has been dogged by his inability to replenish a Phillies farm system plundered by trades during the team's winning seasons. Let's not forget reports last season how teams avoided trades with the Phillies due to laughable asking prices, delaying the team's rebuilding process by yet another year.

Remember we're judging Amaro's success largely on the prospects he nabbed for one of the best pitchers in Phillies history, who was only traded due to his own failures as GM. Gone is the 2008 World Series MVP with a 3.30 ERA in 10 seasons with the Phillies. The lefty ace was also a workhorse, making at least 28 starts in each of the past eight seasons, including five where he pitched at least 200 innings.

Now, Hamels' exit leaves rookie Aaron Nola atop the pitching rotation for the Phillies, followed by Jerome Williams and his 6.36 ERA. Ouch.

I guess if we're looking on the bright side, we can say Amaro has finally learned how to be a better GM. In addition to this week's trades, the team was able to obtain pitching prospects Ben Lively, Zach Eflin and Tom Windle for Marlon Byrd and Jimmy Rollins. All three are ranked in the top eight of Baseball America's list of top Phillies prospects, while Rollins is batting just .214 for the Dodgers.

But does Amaro's learning curve seven years into the job warrant a new contract following the season?

I doubt it. So do fans, who offer their opinions daily using the #FireRuben hashtag on Twitter. Even during what was arguably Amaro's best week on the job, fans made it clear recent successes won't wash away past failures.