Hello, everyone. It has been awhile since I posted, but with
rumors and moves seemingly coming every day, it made posting tough. As we know,
at the beginning of the last offseason, the Phillies’ front office finally
admitted that they needed to rebuild the roster: free agents + 2008 core no
longer results in 85+ wins. This announcement, of course, should have happened
at the end of 2013, the first of two 73-89 seasons. They announced that they
would restock the farm system through drafting players (mostly college students
in the first ten rounds) and trading veterans –AND– sign low-price-medium-risk-medium-age-medium-reward
free agents (like Francouer, Williams, & Harang) to help ease the transition.
The task was not going to be easy: The Phillies didn’t seem
to have lots of leverage and prospects have taken on a new meaning – more valuable
now than when the Phillies were getting/ sending away Pence, Lee, Halladay,
Oswalt, etc. However, the Phillies got the trades done: Ryan Howard &
Carlos Ruiz are the only players left from the 2008 World Championship team.
They drafted college players early (Nola), some high school players late, took
a chance in the Rule 5 draft on a AA player (Herrera) and went for broke on the
international market earlier this year (OF-1B Jhailyn Ortiz). Here are the
trades:
1.
LHP Antonio Bastardo to Pirates for LHP Joely
Rodriguez
2.
SS Jimmy Rollins to Dodgers for LHP Tom Windle
& RHP Zach Eflin (from Padres)
3.
RF Marlon Byrd to Reds for P Ben Lively
4.
RHP CL Jon Papelbon to Nats for RHP Nick Pivetta
5.
LHPs Cole Hamels & Jake Diekman to Rangers
for Matt Harrison, C Jorge Alfaro, RHP Jerad Eickhoff, OF Nick Williams, RHP
Alec Asher and RHP Jake Thompson
6.
OF Ben Revere to Blue Jays for RHP Jimmy Cordero
and RHP Alberto Tirado
7.
2B Chase Utley to Dodgers for IF Sweeney & RHP
John Richy
That’s eight (8) players gone and fifteen (15) returned,
which provides us with a lot of depth in addition to probably one or two more
in a trade for Chooch and the draft:
·
2010 1st Round pick – LHP Jesse
Biddle (AAA)
·
2011 2nd Round pick - OF Roman Quinn
(AA Reading DL)
·
2013: SS J.P. Crawford (AA) & C Andrew Knapp
(our first two selections)
·
2015 1st Round pick Randolph (2015 1st Rounder)
o Nola
was our 2014 1st-Round pick
·
Former Intl F.A., now 3B Maikel Franco (DL – to
return soon)
·
RHP CL Ken Giles and the entire bullpen (most
developed by the Phillies org.)
o LHP
Mario Hollands (60-Day DL)
·
LF-3B Cody Asche (2011 4th Round
pick) – probably a utility player at this point but still with .280-AVG
potential.
·
OF Aaron Altherr (2009 9th round
pick)
·
Former Intl FA’s, now Utility IFs Freddy Galvis
& Cesar Hernandez
·
Former 2009 pick, now LF-1B Darin Ruf
The future is looking a lot brighter, especially with
Reading taking the triple crown of honors: best record, best player & best
manager. Congrats!!!
I do want to mention that this is not the way to run a
system. They should have stopped trading after acquiring Halladay (him, Lee,
& Hamels in the rotation) – no Oswalt. Also, we really didn’t need Pence. Signing
Papelbon to $12.5MM AAV over four years was way overpriced, even w/ a 2.5-3-ERA
& 90% SV pctg. And in early 2010, instead of signing Howard for three years
past arbitration, they could have just let him hit free agency. Most
importantly, instead of trading those prospects away, they could have called
them up or promoted them, which the Cardinals do with their prospects – works
very well for them. And the Phillies seem to haver a habit of hindering
prospects’ development.
All of that is in the past. Ruben Amaro, Jr. is probably
on his way out. A new manager (well, maybe MacKanin) and president are coming
in and the latter may choose to have a G.M. more amenable to advanced stats.
Speaking of Amaro, what is his legacy? Right now I boil
it down to three points:
1.
102 wins in 2011 was awesome to see.
2.
Bad Moves
a. Not
noticing steady decline in postseason results was because of declining offense
(also blame Charlie Manuel for not seeing this – see #3)
b. Extending
Howard two years before hitting free-agency
c. Trading
players after Halladay cost the Phillies prospects
d. Free-Agent
signings to keep team afloat cost the Phillies draft picks
e. Bad
draft philosophy & hindering prospect development
3.
And finally, the public humiliations of Manuel, Howard,
Utley and us fans after 2013.
- None
of his flaws (2a) made a mid-year firing ok.
However, a GM’s legacy is not complete until the prospects
he acquires reach the majors, although it may not be enough to combat the above points.. As for Hamels & Utley, their legacy in
Philadelphia is as follows:
Thank you, Cole & Chase for your dedication to the
Phillies from your drafting to your debuts and to your All-Star appearances and
the 2008 Championship. Chase, your baseball brain & hustle was fun to watch,
the latter unfortunately resulting in decartilaged knees. Cole, thank you for the
work you did/ do through your foundation. Your dedication, guys, is an
inspiration to all Phillies fans and even current, former, and future Phillies
coaches and players. You have earned the right to being traded to a contender
in order to acquire more run support, Cole, and for both of you… wins & at
least one more World Series ring. Upon retirement, you have every right to
retire as a Phillie – on a one-day contract or as a coach/ instructor and should
easily get a plaque on the Toyota Wall of Fame and even perhaps in Cooperstown.
One last time, Thank You! Best of Luck in your baseball endeavors!
