Amaro_finger

Yesterday, Ruben Amaro swung his wang harder than it’s ever been swang.

The Phillies do not have a strong minor league system, this is a widely held belief, in part stemming from the fact that the Phillies have only one player – Jesse Biddle, at number 43 – on Baseball America’s most recent Top 50 Prospects list. And also from the fact that, with the exception of Dom Brown, the Phillies farm system hasn’t reared a star-caliber player in at least half a decade. That after producing Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels in nearly successive seasons.

But Ruben Amaro has prospects, he says. Oh yes he does. Just ignore those silly lists cultivated by the nerds who follow such things, and listen to The Great Amaro, the man who has sewn a $160 million, sub-.500 quilt comprised of old white guys, overpaid yesterstars and a fat outfielder: [CSN Philly]

Amaro will be protective of his minor-league prospects when considering trades. The Phils’ system is thin on blue-chippers, but it does have some coveted players. Amaro used the subject of the minor-league system as a springboard to rip those who rate minor-league systems.

“We have some guys that may be available,” Amaro said. “Clubs have asked about some guys that you don’t see on the top 25, top 50 lists of everyone who knows everything about baseball. I said that sarcastically, by the way, because I don’t think people know (crap) about it. You can print that if you’d like.

“There’s just a lot of those lists that come out that make me laugh. I don’t see anyone working for any major-league clubs that do that with those lists. It’s interesting.”

Strange.

Perhaps Amaro doesn’t appreciate a subjective list, and that’s understandable. But there is one list on which MLB relies quite heavily. They call it the standings, and the Phillies ain’t doin’ so good on that one either:

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Now that’s a list we can count on, unfortunately.