It\u2019s time for Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro to exit stage left. While this former Philly and baseball legend has had his moments, die-hard Phillies fans like Hussain al Nowais are ready to watch the Phillies re-emerge as a top contender in the National League this year, and Amaro simply isn\u2019t the guy who can make it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Hussain al Nowais:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Amaro is clinging to the past.<\/strong>\u2014Amaro may consider the Phillies to be in a \u201crebuilding phase,\u201d but in order to rebuild, you actually have to do some building. Amaro famously didn\u2019t make a single trade last year, in spite of the fact that an abundance of young, talented players were available to be acquired from trades. Instead, Amaro held tight to his roster of aging veteran players that, by many accounts, are well past their prime. In short, a general manager that doesn\u2019t know when to shake up his roster is of little use to a Major League franchise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hamels hasn\u2019t left<\/strong>.\u2014The highly-sought pitcher Cole Hamels isn\u2019t donning a Phillies jersey this year because he wants to; in fact, he\u2019s made it clear he believes Amaro and the Phillies won\u2019t be able to afford him the winning season he\u2019s looking for. Yet in spite of Hamels\u2019s public disdain for the Phillies and the many trade opportunities that were on the table, Amaro hasn\u2019t been able to relieve Hamels from his roster; Amaro\u2019s unrealistic negotiation terms made trade deals with other interested managers essentially impossible. But even though Amaro\u2019s terms weren\u2019t as well-received as he\u2019d hoped they\u2019d be, he should have realized that any player that\u2019s not wholly invested in his team is outright toxic and an impediment to success. A good general manager would have been more flexible and found a way\u2014any way\u2014 to trade Hamels before the 2015 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spending is out of control<\/strong>.\u2014Amaro has spent a total of $107.7 million dollars<\/em> on just seven Phillies players this year. What\u2019s more, only one of them is under the age of 30. While there are some players that are worth the expense\u2014take the Detroit Tigers\u2019 Justin Verlander (who will earn a comfortable $25 million this season)\u2014forking out millions to keep a small segment of players that aren\u2019t exceptional is just a display of poor management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though Amaro may be in the final year of his contract, and though spring training is already underway, neither are reasons for Phillies President Pat Gillick to let Amaro lead the Phillies franchise into a fourth year of disappointment and exclusion from the playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s time for Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro to exit stage left. While this former Philly and baseball legend has had his moments, die-hard Phillies fans like Hussain al Nowais are ready to watch the Phillies re-emerge as a top contender in the National League this year, and Amaro simply isn\u2019t the guy who can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n