Amaro not the only one dragging down Phillies
As the Phillies prepare to embark on a 2½-month farewell tour to 2014 and to the frayed and aged bonds that remain to the Golden Age of Phillies Baseball, it is worth remembering one thing:
None of us really thought there was going to be a revival.
No one on Earth picked the Phillies to reach the postseason. It is why general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. and an enabling ownership deserve scrutiny for the way they are going about their business. The obliviousness about what their $185 million payroll was going to fund is astounding.
The most popular phrase uttered by Phillies fans on social-media venues is “Fire Ruben.” It is fact that the moves and decisions that Amaro must own as GM are part of the unflattering assessment of his work.
There is, however, a problem with thinking the firing of Amaro is a magical cure to what has turned the Phillies from a solidly funded butt-kicking machine into an overpaid, bloated, old, brutal-to-watch Jabba The Hutt in baseball form: There is much more within the organization that needs changing.
Start at the top — the real top, as in an ownership that by all accounts sup-
ported, if not urged, the retention of veterans with long-term contracts. The re-signing of Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz this offseason spoke to lessons not learned. In Utley’s case, it has nothing to do with his being more than adequate offensively, but the fact that he possessed ample trade value last July for a franchise that needs to cash out veteran value when it can. If ownership insisted on the Phillie-for-life tactic employed, then it should allow Amaro to wash his hands of that decision.
Then there are those who sit below Amaro on the food chain. Those in charge of the minor-league system and amateur scouting have disappointed in drafts and development. The scouts — majors, minors and collegiate — have not performed well in the search for talent in trades, free agency and drafts. Some of those poor choices actually fall on the shoulders of Amaro’s predecessor, Pat Gillick, who for all his brilliance has a storied history of leaving the franchises for whom he had been the big cheese with a big mess when he steps down.
What the Phillies need more than anything is for someone of authority and respect to perform an autopsy of what has taken place over the last five years. Yes, it should go back that far. Yes, the 2010 and 2011 seasons came with postseason appearances, 102 wins and Four Aces hype, but that also was when the franchise really started to go off the rails, from the bizarre mishandling of the Roy Halladay/Cliff Lee shuffle, to Jonathan Papelbon and Hunter Pence coming, to Pence and Shane Victorino both going, to draft disasters and even misguided choices when it came to bench players and veteran minor-league depth.
There are enough senior advisors in the front office to create a Seamhead Supreme Court, but the Phillies could use someone who hasn’t had much of a hand in the proceedings to go over the missteps and figure out how to properly reconstruct a franchise that is in need of a major overhaul.
The problem is that this probably should have begun last winter. By then it was clear this was a franchise spinning out of control, spending a halfbillion dollars to see no October baseball for three straight years.
But that’s how these things usually go. Those closest to a situation are the ones who have the hardest time bringing its faults into focus — call it the Flyers Syndrome.
It’s why the Phillies at some point must look to an outsider to clean up the mess. A decade ago they turned to Gillick, and the move proved to be just what they needed. Gillick, however, has become part of the entrenched dysfunction.
If you want a name for a truly fresh start, a good one is that of Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer, a 40-year-old who, despite his age, has a great deal of experience and has worked for years alongside Theo Epstein in Boston and Chicago.
Fortunately for Hoyer, the Phillies offer a far easier mess to clean up than the one that he has been tackling at Wrigley Field. Still, the Phillies have let the corpse of their former glory rot longer than it should have. That will complicate the task.
If Lee is indeed healthy after his elbow issue, perhaps it will be a blessing in disguise that his injury could delay his being dealt until winter. It gives the Phillies a chance to put the responsibility in someone else’s hands.
In the meantime, there will be 2½ months of dreary baseball to endure. Then, the process can begin in earnest — but only if ownership finally allows reality to come into focus.
As difficult as it is to believe, there is no guarantee they finally have the right lenses in place.