What Was Ruben Amaro’s Worst Move?

Mine: Trading Cliff Lee FOR NO GODDAMN REASON before the 2010 season because he was married to some misguided principle that they couldn’t, in good conscience, give up middling prospects for Roy Halladay without recouping some middling prospects by trading Lee. Idiot.

Yours in the comments.

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Kyle Scott
Kyle Scott
Kyle Scott is the founder and editor of CrossingBroad.com. He has written for CBS Philly and Philly Voice, and been a panelist or contributor on NBC Sports Philly, FOX 29 and SNY TV, as well as a recurring guest on 97.5 The Fanatic, 94 WIP, 106.7 The Fan and other stations. He has more than 10 years experience running digital media properties and in online advertising and marketing.
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115 Responses

    1. Good fuck him, always hated that guy. At least I got to put it in his wifes butthole a few times heh, that was one stinky winky.

      2. I knew that Amaro was a terrible GM, but as you scroll down and see his never ending list of fuck ups, it’s as if he knowingly and willingly did an implosion of this organization.

  7. The Cliff Lee trade wins over the Papelbon signing for the obvious reason that it might have cost them a World Series in 2010 while the team was still legitimately in the mix at the top of baseball. The ridiculous Papelbon signing to me is more emblematic of Reuben’s denial about the need to rebuild by that point.

  8. NOT trading for Yankee killer Roy Halladay at the 2009 deadline because Kyle Drabek was “untouchable”. Until after you lose to the Yankees I guess.

    1. yea but then they got Lee who smoked the yankees anyway. blame that on hamels being soft and fat ass howard for hurting lidge’s knee in the ’08 celebration causing him to subsequently suck and forget to cover third in game 4.

      1. No but that’s the point he’s making. I totally agree. He obviously could have traded for both of them. And why the hell not? You have Halladay and Lee fronting the rotation they might’ve won that series – in fact I’d think they would have. Hindsight is obviously 20/20 but i remember my Dad talking about it right around the deadline and he hit the nail on the head. They obviously could have had them both since Lee was making like 9 mil, maybe a million and a half more than Blanton (who if money was that big of an issue, had enough value you could’ve flipped for salary relief), and the only guy they wouldn’t give up was Drabek, who like he said they gave up anyway. You are exactly right man. That was absolutely his worst move. Missing out on pairing Halladay with the 2009 Phils, which ended up being the last A+ offensive Phils team, was a killer.

  9. Hiring Jim Adair as a writer. I mean you actually pay him to take a shit on a keyboard and post it on your site.

    For Rube, just about every deal that was so heavily backloaded it made it impossible to offload his senior citizen players. A player depreciates as he ages at a certain point. Ryan Howard 9 years ago was worth way more than Ryan Howard now. But the Phillies are paying Ryan more now at the end of his contract, than at the beginning of his absurd contract, making it practically impossible to offload players like him.

    2. …that Ben Francisco drove in the final runs of the glory days when he hit the home run in game four of the 2011 NLDS? That’s about as obscure as Pedro Feliz hitting the series clinching RBI in the World Series.

  12. Not trading for Roy Halliday in July 2009, becuase they didn’t want to part with Kyle Drabek….basically made the same trade in the off season and cost the Phils a second championship…so they had to trot a 50-year old Pedro Martinez out to face the Yankees in the World Series.

  14. 1. Lee to Mariners for nothing and for no reason
    2. Pence to Giants for nothing
    3. Howard extension 2 years early
    4. MiLB mismanagement (Brandon Moss, Jason Grilli, Ryan Vogelsong, etc, etc)
    5. Trading away Domingo Santana, Jonathan Singleton, and Jared Cosart for 1 year of Pence

    1. I agree with these….but you also forgot the ridiculous Papelbon signing and the extensions for Rollins, Utley, and Ruiz when they should have been turning the page. He also missed the boat on getting value for Lee before he got hurt. Why Rube…why?

  17. Gotta be trading Lee or Howard’s ridiculous contract. I forgive the Papelbon deal because he was, despite being a huge dickhead, probably the best player on the team while he was here.

  18. That Lee trade doesn’t get the place in all-time terrible moves it deserves because Halladay bailed RAJ out by being a stud in the playoffs. But at the time, you traded away your best pitcher who just single-handedly saved you face against the Yankees and all you got back was the money to sign a pitcher who could only be *as good* as what you gave up.

    RAJ owes Doc 2 years salary, or at least a BB&B gift basket and a handjob.

  19. the combo of getting rid of Victorino and Pence and getting absolutely nothing in return, not to mention having no everyday outfielders.

  23. 1. The Cliff Lee trade to the Mariners.
    2. Letting Ed Wade fuck him with no lube.
    3. The Hunter Pence to SF trade.

  24. Wow, reading all this really shows what a bumbling moron RAJ was. It’s hard to argue with a lot of these. I’ll add that he has been so inept, that even if you were trying to destroy this team faster, you couldn’t have. Almost every single move he did was a failure. I can’t believe he and the ownership group so rapidly destroyed baseball in Philly. So disappointing. It could take another 20 years before this team gets good again, if not longer. They are a loser franchise, which is sad, but true. Losers.

  27. I just heard about Amaro’s firing. I put on WIP for this breaking news and these assholes Mike and Ike are still talking fucking football. This is clearly the biggest story of the day and they are still talking football nonsense. Unreal.

    2. The Mike and Ike show is the worst sports show I have ever heard. It’s exclusively Michael Barkann interviewing Ike Reese about football. That’s it. Get them off the air, jesus awful fucking show.

      1. Uhh, look at the 2 shows that bookend it. Mike and Ike may be the best thing on WIP at the moment.

      2. When Michael B interviews Ike all day, does he preface each question with, “Let me *axe* you a question…”? Oh, sorry, that’s Ike “I can’t speak proper English so I host a TALK radio show” Reese. My bad.

    3. Thanks for tuning in. you just brought theirir total listenership up to four. They’ve now doubled their lead over Harry and Rob.

  29. Phils have two distinctions. Most losses with 11,000 plus and worst all time general manager in any sport. Now I know Montgomery is gone.

  33. For player personnel, it was Howard’s contract, and making him untradable.

    But over all, just the simple lack of understanding the importance of metrics and modern baseball thinking and failing to get on board with advance stats and performance of numbers over feel and hype lead to most of the poor player personnel decisions. You don’t have any of the bad trades and signings if you have a system of advanced metrics in place… and actually use them.

    1. ” You don’t have any of the bad trades and signings if you have a system of advanced metrics in place… and actually use them.”

      Statements like this is why this fanbase here is so fucking dumb because of people like you. Look around the whole league and you will find bad signings and trades all over the place by even “sabermetric-friendly” teams. Advanced metrics are just another way of viewing stats, nothing more. With or without them, there will always be bad trades and decisions made by clubs.

      You are a typical fan that hears the term “metrics” and “Amaro” and regurgitates what the media tells you without a clue of what advanced metrics are.

      1. Dude, why dont you STFU. you’re the most pompous ass on this site. you don’t know any more than anybody else on here, so stop it.
        Fake Bob Rules!!!!!!

      2. I happen to work with metrics for a living. And you’re just wrong.

        And yes, there are bad trades and signings (and non signings and non trades and bad releases and bad non releases, etc etc), and if you think I’m saying “Ruben bad, everyone else good” or that the Cubs or A’s or Red Sox never make an error, you’re a moron. It’s not black or white, it’s levels of gray, and Ruben most certainly leans more black and the better, more metrics-solidified teams lean more white. And if you think that the Phillies falling behind in metrics and stats (rather than Reuben’s favorite tools: feel, loyalty, and looks) isn’t a large part to blame for the phast phall of the Phillies, and the impetus to many poor moves and non-moves by the front office, then, you sir, are a troll not interested in anything buy trying to prove you’re the smartest duck in the room, when you can’t even tell that you’re the only duck in the room.

        Goodnight Springton, there will be no encore.

        1. “I happen to work with metrics for a living.”

          Yeah, I’m sure. You probably work for an insurance company that pro-rates costs based on trends. This is what you idiots fail to understand. It doesn’t apply to baseball. 90% of building a team is based on what you see with your eyes (i.e. scouting dept.). The rest of the 10% is based on a simple baseball stats line that has been around for a century: Avg., HRs and RBIs. Every other spreadsheet is unnecessary and fluff. It tells you nothing.

          1. If you work with metrics then answer me this genius. How many 8 inch c0cks can I fit up my ass at 1 time. Go ahead and punch that into your fancy little computer!

            Answer : FOUR!

          2. “90% of building a team is based on what you see with your eyes”

            Ruben? I didn’t know you read this site. You don’t have to go by your pseudonym ‘Bob’ anymore. The Phillies fired you, you don’t have to hide. If you plan on getting another job in baseball, with a team for which you r dad didn’t play for, you probably should stop saying things like that. It’s what got you fired in the first place. I mean, you used to be a bat boy, you can always go back to doing that again.

  34. Agreed. Trading for Lee after getting Halladay. 2nd place: Trading 4 prospetcs for Hunter Pence then trading Pence for nothing when he still had a year left on his contract.

  35. Getting caught at the airport sitting on the ground like a commoner schmuck when he’s the GM of a freaking baseball club and should be in a premier club of some sort… Baseball wise, way too many to pick from

  41. Trading the entire farm system for Pence and then less than a year later trade him for peanuts. All while having him under team control for another year under arbitration. If they were going to start selling right then and there Jimmy/Chase/Howard/Hamels should have all been traded that year too. Poor timing and no foresight are the ultimate undoing of Ruben Amaro Jr.

  44. Acquiring Phillippe Aumont as part of the package of stiffs in the Cliff Lee trade to Seattle was pure genius.

    1. also refusing to admit — to this day — that Phillippe Aumont is a complete and utter failure.

  48. I agree but I wonder if this wasn’t not completely him. The Phillies were entering big boy land with
    the $$$ and I think they got scared. They recouped later but the damage was done. A very
    likely WS championship was tossed down the toilet.

    1. Of course it wasn’t completely Amaro’s fault. If has been known for a long time that Montgomery was the real GM when it came to long-term contracts for this nucleus and insisted that they be retained. When those players’ health started to fail, Montgomery and the rest of the ownership refused to go over the luxury tax threshold of 180 million to fix some of the mistakes. It was clearly about money.

      But the “fans” that will chime in here and every other social media orifice will tell you that it was all Amaro’s fault because they don’t care to hear the facts. Because of $$$$$, Amaro had no choice but to go on the cheap and bring guys in like Delmon Young, Juan Pierre, etc. Dave Montgomery really strapped the team with the veteran contracts to force Amaro to garbage dive.

      P.S. Anyone that thinks Papelbon was Amaro’s worse signing is a god-damned idiot. Look at his stats. Probably the best closer the Phillies ever had.

      1. PS. PS. Papelbon is a winner. Amaro brought him in to protect leads for the (4) aces. Amaro had no idea that Doc and Lee would break down. Amaro also didn’t know that Hamels was a “fake ace:” since 2008.

  49. I am tempted to say extending Howard and giving him the GDP of Mississippi, but Howard was a great player that just fell off a cliff … Lee, thats gotta be the worst. trading him away for some of the worst “prospects” because having Halladay and Lee in the rotation was too much … Fuck Amaro.

    The best thing to happen this entire season was seeing him go.

    1. #1: Ryan Howard contract extension was Dave Montgomery’s decision, not Amaro.

      #2: Ruben Amaro wanted to KEEP Cliff Lee and trade for Roy Halladay, but ownership (Montgomery) gave him a choice: Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee, because Montgomery was afraid of re-signing Lee to long-term deal and Halladay’s contract extension (which later the team changed when they decided to raise payroll). Ruben selects Roy Halladay over Cliff Lee. Halladay win Cy Young award. Good choice by Amaro.

      #3 You are another idiot “fan” that doesn’t know what he is talking about. Stick to football. You don’t know the intricacies of how baseball works.

      1. #1 multiple black c0cks in my ass
        #2 hairy hot monkey spook n1gger balls in my mouth
        #3 wetback ass rubbing gently against my cheeks
        #4 eating my mom’s pu$$y and her squirting on me
        #5 blowing Kyle and Jim as a reward for making this site great

    1. “Developing absolutely nothing from the farm system from 2006 thru 2015.”

      You people are so fucking stupid it’s hilarious. I guess Ken Giles, Maikel Franco and Aaron Nola don’t count for anything in your narrative. More help is on the way during the 06′ to 15′ drafts with stud prospects JP Crawford and Roman Quinn.

      Another idiot “fan” that needs to stick to football. It suits you. 16 games. Listen to sports talk radio for your information. You love it. Your “fantasy NFL team”. Hahahahaha!

      1. Wow stop the presses 3 prospects in 9 years! Whoa. Crawford and Quinn aren’t $hit you dumb fuckkk until they actually come up or as you say cum up and do.something in the major leagues.

        1. Asshole you don’t understand baseball and prospects and how that shit works. Franco, Crawford, and GIles will be really good. Why? Because I’ve seen then in Reading/Philly and they have IT. What is IT? IT is talent, my friend. We have hitters coming soon as well!

          1. Bob, stop acting like you invented the game of baseball. Amaro was a bad GM. just admit it. you bitch and moan that nobody talks baseball on this site, and then when they do you put everybody down. you are one pompous A-hole. why don’t you go hook up with that annoying radio caller Baseball George, another pompous A-hole who thinks he invented the game, and you two can live happily evre after

  51. Giving Pence away for nothing when he was under team control for another season. It basically started the shit storm that is the Phils outfield today…Delmon Young, Dom Brown, Ben Revere, etc.

    Pence went on to win 2 World Championships, and I have to watch this Woody Harrelson look-a-like swing out of hiss fucking shoes and hit bombs everytime the Giants play the Phils…

    1. Pence was an average player. Nothing more. Just because he went to a Giants team that was loaded with great starting pitching, bullpen and hitting doesn’t make an average player who is part of that team great.

      See above for your second point: Delmon Young, Dom Brown, Ben Revere were products of Dave Montgomery and his insistence of signing the core to multi-year contracts and not fixing the situation by not letting Amaro do his job by not spending $ over the luxury tax to fix said problems.

      1. If Pence was so average then why did Ruben give up the 3 top prospects and a 4th by mistake that is in the majord for him you douchebag? Stop talking you’re a know nothing jitstain.

  52. I’ve said it all along. The “baseball fans” of 2015 are not real baseball fans. They are really NFL fans that don’t actually watch or know anything about baseball, but try to equate the sport of baseball to a 16 game schedule. They want immediate results. They refuse to understand that very good/great baseball teams are built in cycles. It’s not the NFL. Everyone has a guaranteed contract in baseball.

    The dumb fucks that are saying that Amaro is the worse GM the Phillies ever have disregard his 2009 season of acquiring Raul Ibanez, Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez. Without them, we would not have been back to the World Series.

    How about the next 2 years? He acquired Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt to add to the pitching and also augmented it with Hunter “Choke” Pence. Guys got hurt and Pence sucked in the overlapping years he was here.

  53. Still trying to figure out what the fuck the artist was thinking when he drew Chase Utley’s face on that t-shirt.

    1. Who the fuck cares about the Chase Utley T-Shirt???? This is about Amaro’s firing. Post your shit on a football thread. Seriously.

  54. Just an observation, but what is the % of Crossing Broad commenters that are probably under 18?

    50, 60, 70%? I would guess it’s a big number along with philly.com because no one on these boards use their heads when they comment. They just put out nonsense without any facts. You know when you read something that is ill-informed they are probably a kid. Why? Because they are lazy and are twittidiots on social media. Stay away from my sport, baseball!

  55. Last comment of the night because I’m going to watch a Phillies game, like every night. Cubs vs. Phils, Arieta vs. Morgan. How many of you NFL assholes on this blog that complain about Amaro will watch? My guess is none because you don’t like ANY baseball. Suck a football.

  56. How many of you watched the Phillies win a World Series in 1980? My guess is < 3%. I did. I also during the 80's, 90's and 2000's didn't blame the GM. I blamed the ownership for their lack of spending.

    1. FYI I’m a dumb kunt for having my Bobby. Still don’t know who his daddy is just that he is 1 of 5 n1ggers that gangbanged me back in the 60s. Don’t judge times were tough and those spooks paid and laid well.

    2. I was at the Vet for Game 6 when they won the series against KC. I have been watching them since I went to my first game in ’67 against the Cards, but you don’t hear me on here spouting off like I invented the game or like I’m the world’s greatest Phillies fan. so you’re not special, dude, but you’re a pompous A-hole.

  57. Two full seasons before it was even necessary, he signed Ryan Howard to the following new contract:
    5 years/$125M (2012-16), plus 2017 option
    12:$20M, 13:$20M, 14:$25M, 15:$25M, 16:$25M, 17:$23M club option ($10M buyout)

  58. Another reason women have no part in baseball. Leslie Guedle asks John Middleton about a nonsense question. Stay out of my only fucking sport, women. No more. Men’s sports should be covered by men. Women’s sports by women. Keep it at that,

  59. Mr. Scott is a force to be reckoned with! His analytics are brillant and his writing is some of the finest since Mr. Hawthorne. This article is an absolute masterpiece! Brilliant insights!

  60. His obsession with Roy Halladay.

    The team started it’s implosion just as Amaro felt he needed to sell the farm for a guy reaching the end of his prime only a few years later. The team went backwards following that trade. Remember when we were so good that we probably didn’t even NEED him at the time? Plus getting rid of Lee because of it just to watch him go to the World Series in 2010 instead.

    “Oh but the no-hitter the perfect game…that’s Phillies history” Let’s remember Ilya Bryzgalov, of all people, owns the Flyers consecutive shut out streak and still none of us give a shit about him.

  61. Couple of under the radars moves no one mentioned, but the Cliff Lee trade is definitely numero uno:

    – Trying to give Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez $48 Million Dollars just to get in the international game (after passing on Abreu) then having to decrease it to $12 Million due to poor medicals, and he’s pitched ZERO innings for the big league club
    – Not re-upping Davey Lopes at first base and essentially giving him the boot (was a very underrated coach for that ’08 team, Werth and Utley are top 5 all time in SB%)
    – Giving Dannys Baez actually American currency
    – Keeping Kyle Kendrick around about 7 years too long
    – John Bowker over Brandon Moss
    – The Carlos Ruiz extension seems to be forgotten recently also, I guess with Howard’s sitting out there to hide it, but there was no need for an old veteran catcher on a lousy team

    There is probably more this was just spitballin.

  62. Trading Cliff Lee was the worst move by far.
    Could have had Halladay, Lee and Hamels in 2010. Instead we had to give up prospects and pay a lot of money for Roy Oswalt.

    No one has mentioned not resigning Jayson Werth before he hit free agency. Never replaced him, and at the time I remember hearing 4 years for 60 million. Maybe Werth passed, but I thought the Phils were afraid to give home more than 3 years. Instead we had the Dom Brown Era, and 2-3 years of the worst outfield in MLB History with Revere, Asche( a 3rd basmen) Ruf ( a 1st basemen) and the rest of the collection of slop they have put out there. Vomit.

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