Meanwhile...Ruin Tomorrow Jr. is stuck w/ his dick in his hand at the deadline...

[Sect 236]

The only subject I addressed was the 4 aces.

Amaro had a team that should have won the WS the year he got Oswalt and they lost to the Giants and even more so the next year when he got Pence and they didn't hit in the post season after winning 102 games.

He was being hailed then.

If they won more titles, he probably wouldn't get the shit he gets now.

In the moment, he deserved to get hailed. As fans, we love the flash of getting all the big names. Hell, look how happy we all were when The Dream Team happened. However, as we learned from the Eagles, and also from the Phillies, the flash isn't always the right move to make. All Ruben knows how to do is go "all in" and not budget his chips. He plays the hand in front of him like it's the last hand that's ever going to be dealt, with no regard for the future.

When his big moves didn't work, and he had nothing left in the system to make more big moves, he had to rely on his free agency acumen. He showed no ability to make smart decisions in regards to who to sign and how long/much to sign them for.

When he did try to replenish the system (trading Lee, Pence, Victorino) he got horrible returns.

Jayson Stark was discussing the other day how the Phillies are VERY behind the rest of the league when it comes to analytics. They don't use them in their game management (using the shift specifically) and they don't use them in selecting players. If you've seen Moneyball, imagine the guys who were against what Beane was doing, multiply them by 2, and that's how the Phillies are.

While the rest of the league is changing, they refuse to. Unless they do make that change, there's little hope in sight. While other teams are going to continue to find "gems" based off of analytics, Ruben and Co. will continue to find duds based off the eye test.

At one time, I loved Ruben as our GM. When Gillick's assembled team was still flying high and RAJ was adding pieces to it, I/we couldn't be happier. Unfortunately, when the shine wore off, we were left with a very subpar GM.

[wynnron123]

The four aces was not a mess ... Amaro did his job there.

You are correct about the Aces. The problem is those Aces are losing games 2 to 1 or 3 to 1. The BP and line-up suck ass

[wynnron123]

Same injury that kept him out for months earlier in the season.

At this point, there's no reason to pitch him again this season even if he could.

That leaves little to no chance anyone will want Cliff in the offseason. They'll wanna wait and see how he bounces back next season. If he pitches well, maybe his stock goes up again, if he doesn't, we're stuck with him until he totally breaks down.

These idiots had Cole over a 100+ pitches in a meanless game on the eve of the trading deadline. Days ago they had Burnett at a 131 pitch count.

[slag]

Dream Team isn't even close to the same thing as making a trade deadline move to get a missing piece for a contender.

Oswalt and Pence should have been those guys.

I'm not defending him for the current situation, but a lot of his problems are because he gutted the minors to do those things.

[slag]

Bullshit ... that lineup should have hit.

EDITED TO ADD: Are you talking when the Phillies had the 4 Aces or now?

[art vandelay]

All signs point to RAJ being Monty's guy. I will be shocked if he is fired after this season. Maybe after 2015.

I suppose I understand that RAJ wanted to be blown away in a Hamels trade because he doesn't really lose any value going into next season. But he HAS to be traded next year. The Phillies will be mediocre at best. I find it absurd that RAJ held onto Byrd with the false hope that he'll have another career season in his late 30s next year. You have to trade that guy for what you can get, just as the Mets did last season. Black has been solid for them and Byrd served no use.

As far as the concern of RAJ getting bad prospects goes, it would be hard to fuck up a Hamels deal. He did really weird shit like trading Lee for nothing after 09, but Hamels would be a typical deadline deal that bets another teams top few prospects. The evaluation of a team's top few prospects doesn't really change from organization to organization or GM to GM, so I don't think Rube would do worse than anyone else in a Hamels trade.