Amaro faces hurdles in rebuilding effort

PHOENIX - The offseason is still in its infancy, but it's not too soon to draw one conclusion: Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has one of the most difficult jobs in baseball sitting in front of him. It might even be mission impossible.

Start with the mess that is Ryan Howard. The Phillies owe their soon-to-be 35-year-old first baseman at least $60 million over the next two seasons and it's no secret they'd love to move him elsewhere to open up first base for one of their younger players.

It's possible, maybe even probable, that the Phillies will have to eat all $60 million and just release Howard, which would cause an acute case of financial indigestion for the man who signed him to a five-year deal worth $125 million. Several baseball sources said at the general managers meetings Tuesday that the Phillies are doing all they can to trade Howard and rightfielder Marlon Byrd, which makes sense given the team's stated desire to get younger.

"I think that's the goal," Amaro said. "I don't know if we have to do it, but it would help us assess where we want to go in the future, and that's why some of our goals are to try to give those [young] guys opportunities to do that by trading certain guys."

A report surfaced Monday night that the Kansas City Royals were discussing Howard as a possible replacement for Billy Butler as their designated hitter, but a source with knowledge of the situation described that scenario as unlikely. The source also said he cannot see any team paying more than $5 million per year on Howard's contract and he said that only big-market teams in the American League would even be willing to do that. That obviously creates a shallow pool of buyers.

Byrd's contract is not nearly as unfriendly as Howard's in terms of being able to trade him. Unlike Howard, the rightfielder is also coming off a solid season, but money will likely still have to be swallowed in order to move him.

"We've done it before," Amaro said. "It's nothing new that this organization hasn't done. Under the right circumstances, certainly" they would do it.

The right circumstance would be if the Phillies signed Yasmany Tomas, whose agent, Jay Alou, remained in the lobby Tuesday at the Arizona Biltmore extolling the virtues of the power-hitting corner outfielder from Cuba. The 24-year-old Tomas would be a lot more exciting than the 37-year-old Byrd for a team in a rebuilding phase, but the Phillies are one of many teams interested in the outfielder and the price is going to be exorbitant.

One of the interesting aspects of this rebuilding job is that it's inevitable that there is still going to be some older baggage aboard during the journey to wherever this process takes the Phillies. It's unlikely that either second baseman Chase Utley or shortstop Jimmy Rollins will be anywhere other than Philadelphia when the 2015 season begins, although they would be two decent trade chips, especially if the Phillies would eat some of their salaries.

Selling a rebuilding effort to fans who are eager to move past the rotting core that made the city fall in love with baseball again is not that difficult, but getting veterans like Utley and Rollins to buy in might not be as easy for the general manager.

"I've had conversations with them," Amaro said. "They're aware of what we're trying to do. We've made it public. This isn't brand new news. They're pretty neutral overall. I mean, obviously they'd like to be in positions to be winning . . . but you never know what can transpire when you're going through these processes."

The Phillies' best-case scenario at first base would be for Maikel Franco to play the position with Cody Asche remaining at third base, but again Howard stands in the way right now. (Side note: Franco was off to a terrific start in winter ball, hitting .302 with four home runs and 14 games in his first 13 games with Gigantes del Cibao in his native Dominican Republic.)

What's sad about the Phillies' rebuilding process is that when Amaro was asked recently about his team's biggest need, he answered: pitching. Wasn't it just yesterday that Roy Halladay was coming aboard and Cliff Lee was returning to town? Whatever happened to the Four Aces?

Two of them remain, of course, but one of them (Lee) was shut down last season with a strained left elbow and the other one (Cole Hamels) is the Phillies' greatest trade chip of them all. Even moving Hamels, however, would be difficult and risky. There are enough quality starters (Jon Lester, Max Scherzer, and James Shields are the headliners) in this free-agent class that big-market teams will likely be more inclined to part with money rather than top-level prospects.

It's also risky when dealing for prospects (see Lee to Seattle and Lee to Cleveland and Lee to Texas) and Hamels is the kind of ace you'd like as the foundation of any rebuilding project.

Decisions, decisions. Ruben Amaro Jr. does not have any easy ones this offseason and he cannot afford to get any of them wrong.

@brookob