jeff2sf wrote:Maybe I don't understand the set up (there are Hitler videos?) but I thought it was pretty dumb.

joe table wrote:

steagles wrote:

The Red Tornado wrote:based on what? From what Ive heard Amaro has been good with the contract side of things.

this is based on his comments to media outlets and WIP. i don't think he has any idea of the intricacies involved in pitching at the highest level, nor do i think he has any appreciation of what it takes to get up every 5th day and stand out on an island, where you are essentially alone.

i think this might manifest itself in signing a guy like oliver perez, who is a tremendous talent, but who doesn't seem to have all his mental faculties in order.

i think this might manifest itself in drafting pitchers like colt griffin, who arerespected for their velocity, but show no signs of having decent secondary pitches, and also have no stomach for pitching over the course of an 8 month season.

i think this might manifest itself by dealing with pitchers as if they're football players. rub some dirt on it, walk it off, and get back out there.


basically, to me, ruben amaro comes off as a meathead who is dangerously oblivious to the mental side of pitching.

wait did people think I was a clone account of this dude for a while? wtf

Woody wrote: Hellloooooo Pete Orr!!!!

Shore wrote:Oh, please, with the strawman faux-whining #$!&@.

The Phillies have sucked, historically. We get it. We all lived through it. The last several years, they haven't sucked. They've won a championship, lost another, made the playoffs multiple consecutive years. It's been awesome.

That's enough to satisfy some of you. Awesome. Enjoy it.

It's not enough for me.

We have (or had, in some cases) huge advantages and huge opportunities for a continued run of success. Talent. Money. Perception as a "real" destination. Prospects with perceived value. Momentum. We could have (should have) done a better job leveraging those advantages into a sustained run. Instead, we pissed much of it away, and after a pretty #$!&@ boring .500 season, we're 5 games below .500. We don't appear to be building towards 2014 and beyond, either.

I appreciate that the "era" has been great (time period, not earned run average, though that's been great at times, too). I really do. But it doesn't excuse the fact that it hasn't been what it could have been, and that it's going in the wrong direction.

phdave wrote:Did they? I don't remember that. jeff2sf once accused you of being LAExile.

joe table wrote:also, fwiw, he got extremely fucking lucky that Halladay wanted to play on a team near his summer home in FL and that the BJs ostensibly didn't want to move him within the AL

still, his job, upon his hiring as the GM of a WS winner, was to field a continued WS contender. his team made the WS in 09, and he actually improved upon that roster in each of the next two seasons. could a replacement GM have done the same, maybe. we definitely had a good club in 08 (though probably not the objective best team in the MLB that year). that doesn't mean I feel warm and fuzzy now, but the facts are the facts