Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has been scrutinized throughout his tenure. Whether it be bad contracts or trades that haven't panned out, fans are counting down the days until his final days as the Phils GM. When will that be though? Amaro Jr.'s contract may be up at the end of the year, but long-time WIP host Glen Macnow believes that the Phillies will bring him back next season.
Swear to God, I think they're bringing Ruben Amaro back as GM next year.
— Glen Macnow (@RealGlenMacnow) August 1, 2015
Amaro Jr. has made plenty of questionable decisions over his career as the general manager, including trading Cliff Lee for Phillippe Aumont, J.C. Ramirez and Tyson Gillies, trading top prospects for Hunter Pence and than trading Hunter Pence for Tommy Joseph. The Ryan Howard contract is another big one, but who knows how that would have turned out if he didn't rupture his Achilles in 2011.
Do this season's trade help Amaro's future. Though prospects are never guaranteed, he's gotten some great return for some of the franchise cornerstones from 2008. He got Zach Eflin and Tom Windle for Jimmy Rollins. He traded Marlon Byrd for Ben Lively. Most recently, he dealt Cole Hamels to Texas for three of their top five prospects.
For a guy who was very reluctant to give into a rebuild, Amaro Jr. seems to be going into this transition with no doubts. Philadelphia Inquirer's Mike Sieleski wrote a column following the trade deadline debating whether or not the Hamels deal secured Amaro Jr. his job past 2015.
Amaro sounded like a man who had found religion when it came to what he and the Phillies had done wrong in their recent history. For Hamels and reliever Jake Diekman, Amaro, team president Pat Gillick, and president-in-waiting Andy MacPhail coaxed five prospects from the Texas Rangers. Later Friday, the Philllies sent outfielder Ben Revere to the Toronto Blue Jays for two minor-league pitchers – this, after trading Jonathan Papelbon on July 28 and Jimmy Rollins and Marlon Byrd in the offseason and getting no major-league-ready players back.
"In this day and age, teams are much more willing to dole out money than they are prospects," Amaro said. "The value of the prospects has increased dramatically. I've had to make a personal adjustment on that, to understand that a bit better and make the adjustment there. I think we did that with this deal."
Whether or not Amaro Jr.'s job is safe remains to be seen, but what is known is that no matter how well he did this trade deadline, he took a little too long to buy in to the rebuild. Now, the Phillies have done well in restocking the farm, but there's still plenty of work to be done in making this team a contender.
