Verducci talks Three-Peat
by Boundforbeach on Mar 1, 2010 3:47 PM EST
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PrintInteresting article from Tom Verducci (Sports Illustrated) on the storylines in Clearwater, the brilliance of our front office, and how to piss off Ruben Amaro. Linky Some interesting quotes:
One thing you notice in camp is that Philadelphia has deep talent in its front office, not just on the field. The Phillies have collected one of the biggest, smartest and most experienced front offices in baseball, including Ruben Amaro, Scott Proefrock, Benny Looper, Chuck LaMar, Pat Gillick, Dallas Green, Charley Kerfeld, Steve Noworyta and Gordon Lakey. I've said it many times before and I'll say it again: forget revenues for a moment; front office intellect is the real currency in baseball.
On Cliff Lee:
The quickest way to get under the skin of GM Ruben Amaro is simply to mention the name of Cliff Lee. Amaro has explained time and time again that he could not afford to keep Lee and Roy Halladay...
Well, the GM is tired of explaining. One day Lee said on television that the Phillies traded him on the same day his agent presented the club with a counteroffer toward an extension. Asked about Lee's account of that timing, Amaro snapped, "Incorrect. And I'm done talking about it."
It's understandable that RAJ wants to end the Cliff Lee recriminations, much like Tiger Woods wants to end the parade of bimbos that come forward every few days. But as Verducci points out, that's not likely to happen. Wonder where we're at on the smug advisory system?
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He’s gone beyond red to infrared level.
"When you make your final stand
I'll be right there
I'll never leave
And all I ask of you is
Believe"
Can smug people be good bosses? Will Ruben begin to alienate his subordinates as the seasons pass? Stay tuned.
well, to be fair, there does come a point when you have answered the same question for the 40th time graciously — the 41st and so on will be far more likely to go poorly. Now, I wouldn’t smug off on the SI writer so much as the new replacement for Lauber at the Wilmington News Journal, so I question that bit of discernment. And SI writers are usually with it enough not to put vignettes like that in there unless they are getting back channel stuff from the press pool or within the organization off-the-record that tell them, “yep, that’s Amaro.”
But the point is well-taken. Subordinates will bolt gleefully from this kind of regime unless they feel they are truly learning something that can help them get to the next level.
The curious thing is that Ruben’s subordinates probably all have more substantive baseball knowledge than he does. They’ve all been in the game longer than he has, at least. Ruben’s in charge because he’s (supposedly) gifted at contract negotiations, media relations, and managerial skills (Stanford and all). I would have thought that that type of manager would be the type that would be most reliant on his personality to succeed. Maybe it’s possible to be both smug and likeable at the same time.
I know Kerfeld did. He was the set-up man on the ’86 Astros team that lost to the Mets in the NLCS. Not sure about the others but it should be available on b-r.
Looper played in the minors, never above AA. LaMar played in the Pioneer League for three years (3B/OF). Gillick was a minor league pitcher. Green pitched for eight years in the majors. Noworyta was a minor league pitcher.
As far as I can tell, only Proefrock and Lakey weren’t professional players at some point. Lakey’s been a scout for longer than I’ve been alive. Proefrock’s got a degree in sports management and a CPA, and started working in baseball in 1987 under LaMar.
"When you make your final stand
I'll be right there
I'll never leave
And all I ask of you is
Believe"
As long as the results are there, I’m thinking you could be smug and likeable. But if Hollywood has taught me anything, you are just one zany group of nerds away from your comeuppance.
I’m wondering if his attitude is different with other professionals. Pretty much everything I’ve heard about has been directed at the media, and frankly, quite a few of them deserve it for their inanity. With people working for him, it’s entirely possible that he’s much friendlier.
"When you make your final stand
I'll be right there
I'll never leave
And all I ask of you is
Believe"
Considering the general state of journalism these days what suffices for inanity when you have people who make Ralph Wiggum look like the second coming of Kant.
I had therefore to remove knowledge, in order to make room for belief. Ergo, I’m a unitard!
Bottomline
The Phillies have a great team that will be great for the next 3 or 4 years (hopefully) and these guys had a lot to do with it. Let’s hope they can keep us good without all the top draft spots they had from the horrid late 90s and early 2000s seasons. This team was built from the inside, outside of Brown and Aumont, what kind of talent will we have ready in 4 years. However, with the recent financial success of the franchise, we might not have to rely on our minor leagues to stay competitive, however I think there is something special about these guys because their all homegrown. Theres a special bond. A special team mindset.
Speaking of in 4 years, what if Jamie Moyer is still pitching for us in four years? Wouldn’t be that crazy? Compared to this list he doesn’t seem so overly old. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_Major_League_Baseball_players
Breaking Ball Hell
Looks like Verducci is covering the Phils all week. He put out this little diddy today about the
ridiculous amount of breaking balls served to Ryan Howard. The stats he puts out are sort of frightening. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/tom_verducci/03/01/howard.phillies/index.html?eref=sihp
Maybe the big guy needs to borrow Joboo
Newsflash
This is nothing more than filling a gap for a day. Of course the Phils have a front office that knows what they are doing. They wouldn’t be in the WS two years in a row if they were morons without a clue.
Finally, on Lee, it’s really not that hard of a concept to grasp. First off, Verducci is still talking about it which means that it is an interesting question that could elicit any number of answers. I personally would have loved a better return, but in thinking about it more and more, I really think he made the right move. People still can’t get over the fact that we lost Lee, just imagine if we hung onto him for two weeks before shipping him someplace else. There would have been civic unrest in the city because people would have been punch drunk from the media feeding us stats on the two man anchor of a staff. That would have really been horrid from a team PR perspective when, like all teams, they are searching for a solution for their 5th starter in May.
All in all, as much as I wish the return was better, I think that if they knew they did not want to commit the dollars, it is better to dump him immediately and get something for him. The best way to stop the questioning and what if’s are to simply ignore the questions. Not to mention that you don’t want to get into a pissing contest with a top quality player in the process. It doesn’t look good for a potential free agent or someone with a no trade clause. I know that sounds like it’s threading needles, but better safe than sorry.
Finally, Halladay > Lee anyhow. We watched our World Series MVP regress, albeit in the BABIP department, but Lee certainly is not immune.
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