ruben ice

Will Leitch, writing for Deadspin [minor edits]:

Which brings me to [Ruben Amaro]. [Ruben Amaro] is the [Phillies] general manager, and he is current Public Enemy No. 1 in sabermetric schools. The reasons are obvious. The [Phillies] minor league system is a mess, the team is old and overpaid and there seems to be no resolution in sight. [Amaro] is one of those old baseball men that sabermetrics folks have had in their crosshairs for years, and he’s one of the last ones left. That he has hung on this long might be related to how he started his career, [on the field]. Whereas most teams now realize that building the farm system, keeping young players around and cost controlled, understanding your window of opportunity and punting when it’s closed. [Amaro] and the [Phillies] do none of that. This is a team that employed [Laynce Nix] last season. [Amaro] is spending cash to tread water, to sneak through a door that slammed shut years ago. He is putting off a rebuilding plan, Isiah-style, that will just make it that much more difficult when the piper finally must be paid a few years from now. The [Phillies] aren’t good now, and they’re just going to get worse. Just when you think [Amaro] had figured this out, he wildly overpays for a mediocre reliever, hamstringing the team even worse. I can’t figure out what he’s trying to do. Is this team starting over? Does he really think it’s good enough now? Who’s he trying to kid?

Leitch is no longer with Deadspin. He wrote that in 2010, about Ed Wade and the Astros.

H/T to reader Robert