Now let me be clear, I don’t need Ruben Amaro’s approval. I’m not hurt that he thinks the information I put out on this site and my own is trash. But this isn’t just a shot at me, it’s a shot at Keith Law (who used to work for a club and was offered a job at another one last year), Kevin Goldstein (who used to do those lists and now works for a team), and Jason Grey (ditto). It’s a shot at the scouts from which people who cover minor league systems draw information. Lots of information.

So I’m going to defend myself, the aforementioned people and everyone else who does this the right way (Jason Parks, Chris Mellen, Zach Mortimer, Hudson Belinsky, Jim Callis, John Manuel, Ben Badler, Chris King, John Mayo, Dave Murphy, Bob Brookover, on and on) by doing nothing than simply stating facts. No opinions on the job Ruben Amaro has done, no personal jabs, just facts. Let’s decide if anyone should care what Ruben Amaro thinks about his own farm system and the people who put in the work to evaluate it.

Fact #1: I’ve seen Dave Montgomery at more Phillies minor league games this year than I’ve seen Ruben Amaro

I’ve run into Mr. Montgomery (yes, I call him that) five times now. Haven’t seen Ruben at one. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been to any, two people on Twitter yesterday told me they saw him at a game in Reading this year. Last I saw Rube at a game was last year in Reading. He was enjoying a mini-helmet filled with DippinDots, which I’m sure aided his evaluation process, helped him take real quality notes. I heard a conversation between a certain minor league executive and a high-ranking Phillies front office member two weeks ago in which the MiLB executive asked the FO guy why it’s been so long since he’s seen Ruben at the ballpark. The FO man’s answer, “He’s trying to right the ship in Philly.”

It’s a totally understandable thing. The Phillies are somewhat of a disappointment and Ruben Amaro is trying to fix them, maybe to save his job. He doesn’t need to go see Brody Colvin on a Monday night in July. But the fact that he isn’t going to as many games these days leads means the information he’s getting on his own farm system is coming from scouts, which leads me to…

Fact #2: I draw scouting information from a wider, more diverse net of information than Ruben Amaro does.

Barry Jive wrote:i agree. thought you were posting it seriously since the other two were

phdave wrote:

Now let me be clear, I don’t need Ruben Amaro’s approval. I’m not hurt that he thinks the information I put out on this site and my own is trash. But this isn’t just a shot at me, it’s a shot at Keith Law (who used to work for a club and was offered a job at another one last year), Kevin Goldstein (who used to do those lists and now works for a team), and Jason Grey (ditto). It’s a shot at the scouts from which people who cover minor league systems draw information. Lots of information.

So I’m going to defend myself, the aforementioned people and everyone else who does this the right way (Jason Parks, Chris Mellen, Zach Mortimer, Hudson Belinsky, Jim Callis, John Manuel, Ben Badler, Chris King, John Mayo, Dave Murphy, Bob Brookover, on and on) by doing nothing than simply stating facts. No opinions on the job Ruben Amaro has done, no personal jabs, just facts. Let’s decide if anyone should care what Ruben Amaro thinks about his own farm system and the people who put in the work to evaluate it.

Fact #1: I’ve seen Dave Montgomery at more Phillies minor league games this year than I’ve seen Ruben Amaro

I’ve run into Mr. Montgomery (yes, I call him that) five times now. Haven’t seen Ruben at one. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been to any, two people on Twitter yesterday told me they saw him at a game in Reading this year. Last I saw Rube at a game was last year in Reading. He was enjoying a mini-helmet filled with DippinDots, which I’m sure aided his evaluation process, helped him take real quality notes. I heard a conversation between a certain minor league executive and a high-ranking Phillies front office member two weeks ago in which the MiLB executive asked the FO guy why it’s been so long since he’s seen Ruben at the ballpark. The FO man’s answer, “He’s trying to right the ship in Philly.”

It’s a totally understandable thing. The Phillies are somewhat of a disappointment and Ruben Amaro is trying to fix them, maybe to save his job. He doesn’t need to go see Brody Colvin on a Monday night in July. But the fact that he isn’t going to as many games these days leads means the information he’s getting on his own farm system is coming from scouts, which leads me to…

Fact #2: I draw scouting information from a wider, more diverse net of information than Ruben Amaro does.

Fact #2: I draw scouting information from a wider, more diverse net of information than Ruben Amaro does.

Eric Longenhagen wrote:Haven’t seen Ruben at one. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been to any

CrashburnAlley wrote:As Eric Longenhagen pointed out on Twitter, Amaro has yet to attend a game at one of his affiliates

no jabs

jab

UPDATE: Let me be clear and open about this one because I’m taking heat, and deservedly so. I’m not claiming that I have more information than Ruben Amaro does about guys in his own system. That’s insane and I should no doubt be skewered for writing anything that might even suggest that. That was unforgiveably dumb and I’ll own that. Ruben Amaro has infinitely more information at his fingertips than I do. What I should have said was simply this: At least consider the idea that me being in touch with people from several organizations is in some way advantageous. Carry on.

Phan In Phlorida wrote:

CalvinBall wrote:this was his update to his overreaching i am smarter than amarojab:

UPDATE: Let me be clear and open about this one because I’m taking heat, and deservedly so. I’m not claiming that I have more information than Ruben Amaro does about guys in his own system. That’s insane and I should no doubt be skewered for writing anything that might even suggest that. That was unforgiveably dumb and I’ll own that. Ruben Amaro has infinitely more information at his fingertips than I do. What I should have said was simply this: At least consider the idea that me being in touch with people from several organizations is in some way advantageous. Carry on.

smitty wrote:

CalvinBall wrote:this was his update to his overreaching i am smarter than amarojab:

UPDATE: Let me be clear and open about this one because I’m taking heat, and deservedly so. I’m not claiming that I have more information than Ruben Amaro does about guys in his own system. That’s insane and I should no doubt be skewered for writing anything that might even suggest that. That was unforgiveably dumb and I’ll own that. Ruben Amaro has infinitely more information at his fingertips than I do. What I should have said was simply this: At least consider the idea that me being in touch with people from several organizations is in some way advantageous. Carry on.

Apparently Amaro's phone is broke and he never learned how e-mail works. He lives in a cave and faces a wall looking at shadows. GMs never ever talk to each other. Nor do they ever have any contact with anyone outside their own team. Why would they do that? All they really need to do is read Crashburn Alley.

Lol.