By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
When the Philadelphia Phillies acquired veteran RHP Clay Buchholz from the Boston Red Sox earlier this week, the reaction was fairly positive across the board. While some weren't sure how effective Buccholz would be, the Phillies don't seem to be hurt in any way by taking a chance on the 32-year-old, hoping that he both eats innings and pitches well enough to become a July trade candidate.
On top of that, Josh Tobias, the second base prospect that the team moved in return for Buchholz, didn't seem to be a piece of consequence. The Phillies are organizationally loaded with second base talent and it's not clear what his role on a major league team will eventually be or if he will ever be a consistent major league contributor since he's never played above A ball and is 24.
However, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski reportedly checked in with Ruben Amaro, his team's current first base coach and the former general manager of the Phillies, and got a positive review of Tobias:
Red Sox first base coach Ruben Amaro Jr. really likes Josh Tobias, the second baseman acquired from the Phillies in the Clay Buchholz deal. Amaro was the Phillies’ GM when they drafted Tobias. “He’s not a guy you look at initially and say, ‘What a great prospect,’ ’’ said Amaro. “You watch him over a period of time and he just grows on you. He hits well. He does everything well. Dave [Dombrowski] asked me about him and that’s exactly what I told him.”\
There's a few things to keep in mind here. First of all, Amaro has never closed the door on trying to be an executive again, so he doesn't have much incentive to not praise a player that he drafted. Secondly, the Red Sox were never going to get a massive return for Buchholz when you consider that he posted a 4.78 ERA a season ago and the team needed to dump his $13.5 million salary.
Tobias did slash .304/.375/.444 in 93 games at A ball a season ago, but saw his slash line regress to .254/.324/.357 in 24 games playing for the High-A Clearwater Threshers. And again, he's 24 already and has yet to truly settle into an infield position. The guess here is that Tobias eventually plays at the major league level, though he may struggle to be more than a player that constantly bounces between Triple-A and being the 25th man on a big league roster.
