Mike Arbuckle, Lee Thomas winning in AL

Mike Arbuckle, the man who did not get the job as Phillies general manager, is only four wins away from the World Series. So, too, is Lee Thomas, the former Phillies general manager who brought Arbuckle to Philadelphia in October 1992. One of them is going to get to the Fall Classic because their teams are playing each other in the American League Championship Series that begins Friday in Baltimore.

After 16 years as the central figure in the scouting and player development departments, Arbuckle left the Phillies just days after the team won the 2008 World Series and it has never been a secret why. Pat Gillick, the outgoing GM of the World Series champs, had two assistant general managers in Arbuckle and Ruben Amaro Jr. Only one could replace him and the Phillies chose Amaro. Arbuckle chose to walk away.

"It was very difficult," Arbuckle recalled Monday, the day after his current team, the Kansas City Royals, finished off a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels in an AL division series. "I felt like we had accomplished a lot of good things. We had finally achieved what we had worked for during my 16 years, and then to have to walk out the door, it was professionally the hardest thing I ever had to do.

"But I had been passed over for the GM job twice and I felt like it was going to be an uncomfortable situation for Ruben if I stayed. I felt like it was best for the organization and best for me to get a new start and go on down the road."

Arbuckle, 63, landed at home. Royals general manager Dayton Moore and others called Arbuckle soon after his decision to leave the Phillies. Arbuckle, a native of Trenton, Mo., decided that Kansas City was his best option. He became senior adviser to the general manager with a focus on scouting and player development.

"I'm basically a sounding board for Dayton on any number of things," Arbuckle said. "I help out on some of the stuff with the major-league club and I still do a lot on the amateur scouting ranks. I oversee the scouting director and the amateur program."

The Kansas City draft pick since Arbuckle's arrival who could have the most impact for the Royals is the one they chose in June. With the 17th overall selection, they took Brandon Finnegan, a lefthanded pitcher from Texas Christian whom some teams shied away from because of shoulder tightness.

In September, Finnegan became the first player from this year's draft to reach the big leagues, and he has already pitched three times in four postseason games. Arbuckle strongly encouraged the selection and the Royals then used two later first-round picks on high-ceiling high school players.

Arbuckle watched the Phillies reach the postseason for three straight years after he left while the Royals' string of seasons without reaching the playoffs reached 28. Arbuckle said he never had time to worry about what the Phillies were doing after his departure and he doesn't spend time now wondering if he'd be in line for the job as general manager if he had remained with the struggling organization.

"Once I left, I walked into circumstances six years ago that were kind of similar to what we were in with the Phillies when I first got there," Arbuckle said. "We weren't winning and we didn't have a quality minor-league system. There were so many things we needed that I had to focus on that I didn't really have time to focus on anything else."

The Royals finally started to turn things around last season when they contended into September and won 86 games. It was their most wins since 1989 and just their second winning season since 1993. Now, they have won four straight playoff games and will go against a Baltimore team that is equally as hot, coming off a three-game sweep of Detroit.

Thomas is enjoying the Orioles' resurrection. He had been out of baseball for three seasons when Dan Duquette resurfaced as executive vice president of baseball operations in Baltimore following a 10-year absence after being unceremoniously fired by the Boston Red Sox in 2002. The vitriol directed at Amaro by Phillies fans would be considered mild compared with how much Duquette was despised in Boston, but it should be noted that the Red Sox won 93 games in his final season as general manager and the team that won the World Series a couple of years later still had quite a few of his players on it.

Thomas, 78, also worked for Duquette in Boston. In both places, he had the title of special assistant to the general manager. The two had become friends as rival GMs over the years and Duquette offered Thomas a job the day after he was fired by the Phillies in 1997.

"I can't tell you how happy I am for [Duquette]," Thomas said. "It was a long 10 years for him. There were problems when he left Boston, but other guys had just as many problems and they didn't have to wait 10 years."

If there's a model for not using injuries as an excuse, the Orioles are it. They lost all-star catcher Matt Wieters for the season in May and all-star third baseman Manny Machado in mid-August. They also are still dealing with slugger Chris Davis' 25-game drug suspension that came down in mid-September.

The Orioles, with the game's best bullpen, kept right on winning. And now either Lee Thomas or Mike Arbuckle is going to return to the World Series. The two men have tremendous respect for each other.

"When he didn't get the [Phillies GM] job, I figured he would leave," Thomas said. "I really thought he was going to get it, but he didn't. Things worked out pretty good."

Arbuckle said Thomas taught him how to be an administrator and he's hoping his old boss gets another shot at the World Series someday. He just doesn't want it to be this one.

@brookob