Ruben Amaro Jr.
The Philadelphia Phiilies are in the midst of an organizational shakeup. Ryne Sandberg surprised the Phillies last week when he resigned as the team’s manager which left Philadelphia scrambling to name Pete Mackanin as their interim manager. This week it was announced that Andy MacPhail would succeed Pat Gillick as the Phillies president of baseball operations next year. Gillick is the Phillies former general manager who oversaw the team’s World Series Championship in 2008. Gillick would step down in 2008 to become a senior advisor in the Phillies front office until he became the team’s president of baseball operations last year. Gillick would be replaced as the Phillies general manager in 2008 by his protege Ruben Amaro Jr.
At first the Phillies remained competitive under Amaro as they went back to the World Series in 2009 where they lost to the New York Yankees. Amaro made several moves to keep the Phillies as a contender by acquiring starting pitchers such as Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt. But Amaro’s moves were “win-now” deals as he emptied out the Phillies farm system to acquire proven veterans. And once the Phillies were eliminated from the 2011 National League Divisional Series, this team got old an in a hurry.
The Phillies have not recorded a winning season 2011 and they’ve become the worst team in the National League East. Like I’ve stated before, Amaro has missed opportunities to trade veteran players and waive the white flag. But his stubborness as far as holding on to aging veteran players has put the Phillies behind the eight-ball as they are well on their way to losing 100 games this season for the first time since 1961. And with that Amaro could be running out of lives in Philadelphia.
Andy Macphail
Gillick was just keeping the seat warm as the Phillies president of baseball operations until the team found a successor to lead the team going forward and they feel that they’ve found their man in Macphail. Macphail has previously worked as the general manager of the Minnesota Twins, the president and CEO of the Chicago Cubs, and the president of baseball operations of the Baltimore Orioles. And at each stop along Macphail’s baseball journey he has had success which was highlighted by guiding the Twins to a pair of World Series Championships. Macphail also comes from a family that is rich in baseball history as his father Lee was the former American League president and his grandfather Larry was a former Major League Baseball general manager: most notably for the Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers.
Amaro wasn’t hired by Macphail who will want to bring in his own crew and do things his way. And it will be extremely difficult for Amaro to convince Macphail or anyone else within the Phillies organization why he should maintain his position if this team goes on to lose at least 100 games this season. The trades that Amaro has been reluctant to make wouldn’t be a bother for Macphail to execute because he will more than likely be looking to start over from scratch and rebuild the Phillies in his own image which is a process that should have been started already. The Phillies are at the point that their organzation should be gutted and completely rebuilt. The Phillies will more than likely have one of the first picks in next spring’s Major League Baseball Draft and they must put an emphasis on drafting players and developing them. It’s not like it wasn’t done before in Philadelphia before as current Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, second baseman Chase Utley, and starting pitcher Cole Hamels, along with current Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Jimmy Rollins were apart of Philadelphia’s core that led them to the World Series Title in 2008 and they were all developed through their system.
It might not happen right away, but with Macphail on board, there will be some big time shuffling coming down the pike for the Phillies.
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