Phillies

Ruben Amaro Ain’t Do Five-Year Plans

By Kyle Scott

Published: Jun 18th, 2013 · 12:15 PM EDT

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fuck you, the future

David Murphy is probably the only writer on Earth who could non-ironically lead a story about a baseball GM with a quote from God… but, he did: [Philly.com]

Any professional who talks to the media about his area of expertise is succeptible to a certain level of contrarianism. Legend has it that even God the Creator once answered a question with the words, “I don’t know if ‘rest’ is the word I’d use to describe that seventh day, but. . .” So when the man responsible for the short and long-term success of the Phillies organization said on Monday afternoon that he doesn’t “do five-year plans,” it may have offered more of an insight into his psychology than his business philosophy (like, perhaps,  previous assertions that he cares about production, not walks, and that a player like Ryan Howard can “set his own market).

No doubt, a distaste for five-year plans on the part of the Phillies’ chief personnel executive would offer a tidy explanation for the franchise’s current predicament (after all, a five-year $125 million contract extension looks a lot more palatable when you ignore its ramifications for all five years that it covers). But after Amaro answered a question about how his five-year plan would affect the decisions he makes prior to this year’s nonwaiver trade deadline by saying, “I don’t do five year plans — other organizations do, I guess,” he continued by describing something that sounded awfully similar to one.

Murph then went on to write 2,500 additional words – yes, after the God lede – based on that one comment. I have no idea if it’s good or not, or if we hear from the Apostles – I lost interest after graf 3 – but you can judge for yourself.

Meanwhile, Ruben saying he doesn’t do five-year plans is like Paul Holmgren saying he doesn’t mind overpaying 35-year-old defenseman. We already knew that.