Tuesday morning, Philadephia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. joined Angelo Cataldi & The Morning Team on SportsRadio 94 WIP.
Amongst the discussed topics were the trade rumors involving second baseman Chase Utley, the recent success of the franchise since the All-Star break, as well as his opinion on some of the prospects in the farm system and who we can see next month upon roster expansion.
The following is a transcription from the interview.
Cataldi: Here's what I got: Utley leading off three of the last four games, you acquired yesterday Tyler Pastornicky, an infielder, and there were scouts last night in the stands watching Utley. You also, according to reports, have placed him on revocable waivers. Does this all indicate that Chase Utley may be moved and soon?
Amaro Jr.:
"Not really. Tyler Pastornicky actually was brought on, frankly, just to fill-in a role at Triple-A. I'm not really sure how people get all excited about that, but I guess they do.
As far as Chase is concerned, again, this is a guy who has a 10-and-5. He, in essence, controls his own fate. Frankly, he's playing very well for us and helping us win baseball games. It's very possible he's going to end up finishing off the season with us. We'll see where it goes from there.
But, a lot of rumors and things people hear, they want to go ahead and speculate what's happening. The fact of the matter is, he's a Philadelphia Phillie and hopefully he ends up finishing off the season with us and we'll see where it goes from there."
Cataldi: This is really the second week in a row where you kind of downplayed all these rumors. Right now, if you had to say, would you say '[Utley] is going to be here for the rest of the year'?
Amaro Jr.:
"I would think so.
Again, a lot of it is controlled by Chase himself. He's a 10-and-5 player. There's no mandate, no one telling us that we need to move him. He's versatile in that he can play first and second base. He can hit anywhere in the lineup.
He's hit in the top of the lineup, frankly, because he's one of the best on-base percentage guys that we have and I think that's one of the reasons why Pete's put him up at the top of the lineup there.
Like I said, he's an on-base guy. He has not hit with the same level of power that he has hit with before, and people are trying to add up one and one to make five. That's really not necessarily the case."
Cataldi: We're under the impression that [Utley] has made it clear to the organization that he's open to a move. Is that also not true?
Amaro Jr.:
"He's open, but that doesn't necessarily mean that anything's going to happen. I've had some brief discussions with him, and a lot of it depends on several factors.
But you can imagine there's some decent teams that might have some interest in him because he's a veteran guy who is clearly much more healthy now. That was one of the biggest goals for him and for us, to get him healthy. Hopefully we'll go from there."
Cataldi: There's certain people in organizations that mean so much. You almost want them to play their whole career there. I mentioned Jeter and David Ortiz, although Ortiz did start in Minnesota. Is Chase in a kind of a place of his own because he means so much to the fan base? Is that a factor in making a decision on his fate this year?
Amaro Jr.:
"I mean, it's somewhat of a factor. He's been a very, very important part of what we've been trying to do.
It's been a little bit of heart and soul in a lot of ways. He and Jimmy [Rollins], Ryan [Howard] and Chooch. Those guys have been the heart and soul of some of the things we have accomplished here. [Utley]'s a special player, and special person. He's well revered by the fans and by the front office. He reports himself on and off the field in an exemplary way.
There's so many pluses to having him here that all of the rumors that people are firing out there, frankly, they're just rumors and you know how we feel about rumors."
Cataldi: A couple of other things: 16-6 since the All-Star break. This surprises a lot of people. What are you seeing, and what impact will this have on decisions made going forward?
Amaro Jr.:
"Our whole goal this whole off-season, and through this process, has been to give the young players an opportunity to play, and to find out whether they can.
Some of them are showing that they can. Many of them are showing us that they can and be pieces of the building blocks that we are trying to establish: another core players who will help lead us forward to become a contending team perennially.
So, the goal was to give these guys the opportunity that many of them are taking the opportunity and rolling with it. We're hopeful that they continue to do that.
We just have to continue to assess it. It's a nice, pleasant surprise that we're winning baseball games. Pete's done a nice job in putting them in positions to have success, and it's nice to see these guys play a little bit better baseball.
I think overall, we have decent starting pitching. Early part of the season, obviously, we were not swinging the bats very well. It was dismal. I think some of the younger guys have started to pick it up, obviously, and gain some confidence offensively. We've played much better defensive baseball, all through the infield and in the outfield. I think what's happen is, our starting pitching stabilized a little bit over these last several weeks. If they can keep us in the games, it helps us give us a chance to put some W's on the board. They're playing with some nice energy. It's fun to watch."
Cataldi: It sounds like the early returns on the Hamels trade are really good. Can you tell us what's happening with some of these kids? I know Nick Williams has been off to a big start. How are they doing so far?
Amaro Jr.:
"We've been really happy actually, with all the trades. So far, the players have stepped up and played rather well.
Alec Asher is throwing the ball very well in Triple-A. [Jerad] Eickhoff just spun-off a couple of outstanding games for us. We can see one or two of those guys by the end of the year here in Philadelphia.
Nick Williams has really swung the bat well for us. He's playing center field in Reading. I got the chance to see him two or three times over the last week or so. He's playing well. Even the other guys. Andrew Knapp is swinging the bat extraordinarily well.
We have some guys who are doing some things in the minor leagues that are pretty exciting. The kid Jorge Alfaro is rehabbing down in Clearwater right now. He probably will not get into games this year. He probably will end up playing in FIL and hopefully in Winter [League Baseball], where he'll get the opportunity to catch and get some at-bats.
Even the guys that we got in the Revere trade, Jimmy Cordero and Alberto Tirado, [are] really big arms, [are] throwing well, [and] have done some nice things.
Jake Thompson. I just saw him pitch a couple of nights ago. He threw the ball well for us after having a little bit of a shaky start.
We're seeing some progress. We've created some depth in our system. We'll see how the rest of the year plays out, but so far pretty decent returns in what the guys have done since they've come over to Philadelphia."
Cataldi: If you're talking about some September call-ups, [are] you looking at a few of these kids, or at least a couple as having a chance to help you next year?
Amaro Jr.:
"We're going to be very prudent about it. Frankly, I want these young guys we're playing right now to continue to develop.
There will be some call-ups. We do want to see a couple of these guys, in particularly the arms. Some of the arms will get a chance to come up.
We do want to protect [Aaron] Nola from his innings a little bit. Same thing with Adam Morgan. So, guys like Eickhoff, Asher and Severino [Gonzalez], and some of the guys who have pitched for us may get an opportunity to come up to help us.
We are going to be very prudent about bringing guys to the big leagues if they are not going to be used. We got young players who need to continue to play and we're still assessing them. So, the Odubel Herreras and obviously Maikel Franco. Freddy Galvis, and Cesar Hernandez, we need to have those guys play. [Cody] Asche's got to play and Brownie's going to continue to play. He's played a little bit better.
We're still assessing these guys. We have to give them every opportunity to find out whether they are going to be pieces for the future or not."
Matt Rappa (@mattrappasports) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.
