Ruben Amaro: Report Card for first year as Phillies GM
by Scott Butler 12/30/09
It has been slightly over a year since Ruben Amaro took the reigns as General Manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. That, in addition to the recent blockbuster Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee trade, makes now an appropriate time to evaluate the job Ruben Amaro has done as GM of the Phils.
How about we look at the clearly good moves and bad moves first before examining some of the smaller items that you may not remember. Good news first, Ruben? Sure, why not.
FIRST Cliff Lee Trade (don't worry, we will get to the second one later)
This
was easily the best move of Ruben Amaro's young career as GM. His first smart move was passing on Roy Halladay, because the Blue Jays were asking way too much for him. Secondly, the Phillies could not have asked for anything more out of Cliff Lee. He was terrific in the regular season and may have turned in the most dominant post-season performance ever, or at least since, well, Cole Hamels in 2008. But the beauty of the deal is what he gave up for Cliff Lee: practically nothing. Carlos Carrasco was once the pride of the organization, but dropped significantly and was not much of a loss. Jason Knapp, Jason Donald, and Lou Marson were marginal talents. And to get Ben Francisco in the mix along with Lee makes for an outstanding trade.
Replacing Pat Burrell with Raul Ibanez.
In one of his first moves as GM, Ruben Amaro got rid of a guy who became a beloved figure in this town and brought in a veteran most of us never heard of in Raul Ibanez, actually signing him to a more expensive contract than Burrell got. Ibanez quickly became a fan favorite, had a terrific first half, made the all-star team (which Burrell never did), and after recovering from a mid-season injury helped the club in the playoffs.
Signing Pedro Martinez.
This was a very questionable move at first, but Pedro was better than advertised. In 9 games with the Phillies, he went 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA, pitched 7 shutout innings in the NLDS, and was given the ball in game 6 of the World Series. Not bad.
Signing Rodrigo Lopez.
You might not remember, but Lopez started 5 games for the Phillies and filled in nicely when we had some problems with the rotation. He went 3-1 in his starts with a 3.62 ERA.
Releasing Adam Eaton and Geoff Jenkins.
These were the right moves for obvious reasons. We need to give credit here to the ownership for allowing Ruben to dump two big salaries, and it certainly paid dividends for the team.
Now the not so good moves:
Catchers
First, Ruben Amaro traded catching prospect Jason Jaramillo to the Pirates for Ronny Paulino, who he then traded for Jack Taschner. With Chris Coste as a legitimate backup for Carlos Ruiz, it didn't make much sense to bring in Paulino, who was known for not being much of a team player. We basically ended up giving Jaramillo away for nothing since we kept Coste anyway. We will consider releasing Coste and acquiring Bako as a wash. Jack Taschner was just another lefty arm in the bullpen.
Eric Bruntlett
Pat Gillick brought in Bruntlett, but Ruben Amaro kept him. I realize Bruntlett can play many positions and has some speed, but he CANNOT HIT. He hit .171, let's leave it at that. Also Miguel Cairo. The only reason that he made the post-season roster is that there was nobody better.
THE HALLADAY TRADE
As I have mentioned many times before in previous articles, I do not like this move. I like the first part of the trade where we got Halladay, but I HATE getting rid of Cliff Lee. Just hate it. We cannot necessarily place all of the blame on Ruben for this, because it was very likely motivated by the owners. But it is possible that he just loved Halladay and would do anything to get him. We may never know...
Signing Jamie Moyer to a two year contract.
I will admit that I liked re-signing Moyer at the time, but I am not the GM. Moyer was not effective as a starter and his salary this year might have played a big part in why we could not retain Cliff Lee.
OTHER MOVES
Replacing Pedro Feliz with Placido Polanco
This move makes sense for many reasons. Feliz was a dead weight in the lineup with little power and a poor approach at the plate. Polanco never strikes out and will give the good at-bats we need in a power hitting lineup like we have. We will no doubt miss the glove of Feliz, who was a solid as they get at third. Polanco is not young and has not played third base in a while, but he should fit in nicely.
Chan Ho Park
Bringing in Chan Ho Park ended up being a pretty good move, but this will not go in the good move pile because of how things began. Ruben was true to his word that he would give him a chance to compete for the fifth starter spot. Park did pitch well in spring training, but JA Happ was also good and in hindsight he should have won the job. Park was terrible as a starter and was clearly the wrong move. But Chan Ho was decent as a reliever and was a great addition to the bullpen.
Placing Brad Lidge on the 15-day disabled list.
Brad Lidge's problems this season are very well documented. I think letting Lidge sit out was a good move and maybe part of the reason why he was fairly effective in the playoffs.
Other Moves:
During his tenure, Ruben signed Greg Dobbs to a two-year contract and Hamels and Madson to three-year contracts.
He signed Juan Castro and Ross Gload as bench players this off-season and allowed Brett Myers, Matt Stairs, Clay Condrey, and Eric Bruntlett to become free agents elsewhere.
Overall Grade: A-
We cannot hold the Roy Halladay deal against Ruben Amaro at this point until we see how it plays out. Otherwise, the Phillies appear to be a better team heading into 2010 than they were following the World Championship. He made terrific moves bringing in Cliff Lee and Raul Ibanez, but he was a bit lacking in regards to the bench and the bullpen. Not too bad for a rookie season.
|
