Cliff Lee: he never wanted to leave Phillies in the first place

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Cliff Lee came and went in 2009 and came back in 2010

During what all fans of the Philadelphia Phillies have been led to believe will be one of the most significant off-season periods ever for the franchise, I’ve been taking a look back at the team’s ‘Hot Stove’ history.

So far we have recalled the signings of Pete Rose (1978), Jose Mesa(2000), and Jim Thome (2002) in free agency. We have also revisited key off-season trades: the 1981 three-way deal that resulted in Lonnie Smith leaving and Bo Diaz arriving, the 1982 trade of future Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, and the trading away of Thome.

Probably the most recent important Phillies move during a Hot Stove season came in the middle of December back in 2010. It was then that general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. began trying to reverse a huge prior mistake from exactly one year earlier. Both decisions were among the most influential during the 2009-11 period when the club was trying to get back to the World Series.

Those two moves involved a left-handed starting pitcher named Cliff Lee. His pro career had begun after he was drafted three times. Lee finally signed after being selected by the Montreal Expos with their fourth round selection in the 2000 MLB Amateur Draft.

In June 2002, Lee was dealt to the Cleveland Indians as part of a four-prospect package that also included Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips in an overall six-player deal that brought starting pitcher Bartolo Colon to Montreal.

LEE DEVELOPS INTO AN ACE

In Cleveland’s minor league system, Lee showed enough with Buffalo of the Triple-A International League that he was given a two-start cup of coffee with the Indians in September 2002. He went 10.1 innings allowing just six hits over those two outings.

Lee won the 2008 AL Cy Young Award with Cleveland

After beginning the 2003 season back at Triple-A, Lee received a spot start with Cleveland in late June. Then in mid-August he was called to the big-leagues for good. Lee would enter the Tribe’s starting rotation and remain there for the next six years.

Lee would develop into one of the top starting pitchers in the game, culminating in a memorable 2008 season. While the Phillies were driving towards their first World Series crown in nearly three decades, Lee was putting together a Cy Young Award-winning season in Cleveland.

In that 2008 campaign, Lee went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA and 1.110 WHIP. He also had a fabulous 170/34 K:BB ratio over 223.1 innings across 31 starts. In addition to the Cy Young honors, he was an AL All-Star for the first time, and even received AL MVP votes.

Lee was scheduled to become a free agent after the 2010 season, and it became obvious that the Indians would not be able to get him to sign a contract extension. Looking at a rebuilding situation, Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro decided to find a deal for him a year early.

LEE ACQUIRED BY CHAMPS IN-SEASON

As defending World Series champions, the Phillies were struggling to open up a lead in a tight NL East race in July 2009. A big reason was that the team’s starting pitching was looking a bit fragile.

Matt Klentak on the hot seat as the weather gets colder and baseball's Hot Stove warms up

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That chair is getting hotter under Klentak's butt as the weather gets colder

Major League Baseball’s off-season “Hot Stove” began to heat up in front offices all across the game this past weekend. Dozens of players became free agents eligible to negotiate with all 30 clubs at that point.

Over three days beginning today in Carlsbad, California the MLB general managers are meeting. While most of the work they undertake will be of the procedural type not directly involving player movement, the groundwork for future deals can certainly take place here.

The Phillies and their fans need look no further than their last World Series champions for proof that important deals can actually get done at the MLB General Manager meetings.

It was 11 years ago tomorrow, on November 7, 2007 at these very same meetings that Phillies GM Pat Gillick swung a deal with Houston Astros GM Ed Wade. Gillick obtained closer Brad Lidge and infielder Eric Bruntlett in that trade in exchange for pitcher Geoff Geary and a pair of prospects, outfielder Michael Bourn and infielder Mike Costanzo.

Flash-forward just over a decade later, and it’s general manager Matt Klentak who will be attempting to either swing such a deal or lay the groundwork for one that he hopes will prove just as beneficial for today’s version of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Klentak is clearly on the hot seat this off-season. If not with Phillies ownership, then certainly with the club’s fan base. Since being hired to the position in October 2015, his moves have proven to be a mixed bag to this point.

“I’m not going to make decisions because of what they mean to me for my job security” ~ Matt Klentak, September 2018

To be fair, the team that he inherited was a disaster. Three straight losing seasons, each worse than the last, had left the Phillies as the worst team in baseball when he arrived.

However, it is arguable as to how much the situation has actually improved on his watch. While the Phillies reached the 80-wins plateau for the first time in a half-dozen years this past season, it was a sixth consecutive losing campaign, the third in a row under Klentak.

It would be difficult to take an objective look at the Phillies anticipated regulars for the 2019 season at this point and find any homegrown position player who looks to have their lineup spot secured for years to come.

Rhys Hoskins, drafted under the regime of previous GM Ruben Amaro, should have such a claim to the first base position. However, Klentak went out and spent $60 million unwise dollars on an aging Carlos Santana last December, presumably relegating Hoskins to an out-of-position role in left field for the foreseeable future.

Klentak made what seemed an astute move back during spring training of 2018, signing the club’s top prospect Scott Kingery to a team-friendly six-year contract with three additional club-option years.

Kingery, another Amaro draftee and a minor league Gold Glove second baseman, was then switched to shortstop at the big-league level. It was a position where he had played just two games over three minor league seasons, and he struggled mightily both at the plate and in the field.

Klentak also handed a $30 million contract guaranteed over five years to Odubel Herrera, a player whose baseball brain betrays him far too regularly, and whose play has steadily deteriorated since signing the deal.

Ruben Amaro Jr considering a run at big league GM and managerial jobs

Ruben Amaro Jr (R) was fired by the Phillies
back in September 2015
(Photo: D. Benjamin Miller)

It has been almost exactly three years since the Philadelphia Phillies parted ways with former general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. For many fans of the team it was a move that took far too long for the organization to make.

Amaro inherited a team that had won the 2008 World Series championship. The club continued to contend over the first three seasons of his tenure largely thanks to a core group of players put together by the previous regimes under Ed Wade and Pat Gillick.

The club would lose the World Series in Amaro’s first season as general manager, then went out in the NLCS in 2010 and the NLDS in 2011. As that group aged, Amaro proved incapable of transitioning the franchise successfully.

The Phillies slipped to the .500 mark in 2012, to a losing record in 2013, and to last place in the NL East in 2014. Finally, the club plummeted to the worst record in baseball during the 2015 season, and Amaro was out.

He was not out of baseball for long. That winter the former player turned in his GM suits for a return to his uniformed roots, taking a job as the Boston Red Sox first base coach and outfield instructor. After two years in Beantown, Amaro moved on to New York where he served this season as the Mets first base coach.

And now the 53-year-old is contemplating a step back up the baseball ladder. According to an interview with Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic, Amaro is considering taking a run at the Mets general manager position. He may also be looking towards an opportunity to actually manage a Major League Baseball team.

“…keeping an open mind that if there are opportunities to be back in the front office, I still feel like I have a lot to offer in that regard as well. I felt like being back on the field would give me a different and interesting perspective as a far as doing a better job as a GM, and trying to improve my information resources. I’m open-minded. If you were to ask me if I would like my next step to be a GM or a manager, I guess it would be a toss-up.”

According to Amaro, he has let the Mets know of his interest in their open GM position. He told Rosenthal that the team was “appreciative of my interest“, which sounds little more than a tacit openness to offer him the chance to interview for the position.

Phillies fans would be skeptical of any such opportunity afforded a man who they largely abhorred by the end. They might, however, be happy to see him making key decisions for those division rivals up north at Citi Field.

“I know toward the end of my tenure as a GM in Philadelphia, I was not received well,” Amaro told Rosenthal. “But I do feel grateful that I got to be a part of the rebuild when (former GM) Ed Wade started it. I feel great about being able to work for a Hall of Famer in Pat Gillick, getting advice from guys like Dallas Green and utilizing it for success. Being part of that Phillies success in 2007 through 2011 was something really, really special for me, and something I’ll never forget.”

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr considers taking an MLB managerial shot"

Director of Player Development Joe Jordan departs Phillies organization

Jordan has seen mixed results over seven years.

The Philadelphia Phillies announced on Tuesday that director of player development Joe Jordan would not continue with the organization. His exit from a position that he has held for the last seven years was swift and sudden.

“…last week I walked into Matt’s (Phillies GM Klentak) office and told him I didn’t think I was the guy to take this thing forward,” said Jordan per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Much of what you need to know about the bottom line reasoning behind Jordan’s exit from what is essentially the traditional “farm director” position can be traced back to his hiring.

Jordan was hired by former general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. Over the last few years since Amaro was replaced by Klentak, the new Phillies GM has done what pretty much every new head of any organization does in all industries – bring in his own people.

Those people have included “new thinkers” like Klentak, well-versed in video and computer analytics. In a comprehensive piece on the changes, Matt Gelb of The Athletic named three of those individuals as assistant GM Bryan Minniti, minor league information coordinator Ben Werthan, and player-development coordinator Dana Parks.

Gelb described behind-the-scenes maneuverings involving an increased role for Minniti over the past year which likely helped lead to yesterday’s announcement:

“…Minniti, who was promoted to assistant general manager last offseason, oversees  the club’s player-development process along with amateur talent procurement. He has begun to exert more influence in how both departments are run. Two sources said Jordan was asked to take a reserved approach — more hands off — this season.”

The Phillies did not immediately name a new farm director. There are internal candidates, but the club has shown with many of its recent hiring’s such as manager Gabe Kapler that they are willing to search aggressively outside of the organization for new talent fitting their ever-increasing move towards an analytical approach to talent evaluation.

What all this means for the future is that the new director of player development will either be one of the newcomers, perhaps Parks, or will be a new hire from outside who fits that same mold.

At the big-league level, players such as Aaron Nola, Rhys Hoskins, and Scott Kingery came into and developed up through the organization during the Jordan years. They have brought not only long-term talent but are also providing the fan base with the first group of relatable and marketable players in years.Jordan’s tenure has resulted in a somewhat mixed bag of results.

There have been undeniable steps forward. The Phillies have a handful of minor league affiliates in the playoffs this season, and that minor league system has become respected throughout the industry.

There have also been stutter-steps and frustration from high draft picks and top prospects such as J.P. Crawford, Mickey Moniak, and Cornelius Randolph who also came into and have been developing through the Phillies organization during his tenure.

Though there certainly were behind-the-scenes frustrations, the public parting of the ways between Klentak and Jordan was amicable. The 56-year-old Jordan was quoted by Bob Brookover of Philly.com:

“It would not be accurate to say that I was opposed to analytics. But I think our organization was in some form of transition and it was time for me to move on. I’m not leaving Matt at all. I had a phenomenal experience with the Phillies.“

As the organization moves forward, fans of such an increased emphasis on analytics will be happy. “Old school” fans who long for days where the eyes and minds of grizzled veteran scouts watching players and filing reports led to decisions regarding on-field talent are likely to become more frustrated.

The Phillies appear to properly recognize that there is merit to both approaches in helping push the organization forward. Klentak is now leaning more and more on his own hand-picked lieutenants to do the job of overseeing the evaluation and development of ball players with an ever-increasing emphasis on statistical analytics.

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Exit of Joe Jordan means more Matt Klentak analytics in Phillies player development"

In Hall of Fame acceptance speech, Thome thanks Manuel, recalls time with Phillies

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Thome (R) recognized contributions of his mentor Manuel (L) at the Hall of Fame

When the time came this afternoon for Jim Thome‘s turn to be formally inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, it was no surprise to learn that it would his mentor, friend, and former manager Charlie Manuel who would be doing the introductions.

By way of a pre-recorded video, the now 74-year-old former skipper heaped praise on the man whom he managed with both the Cleveland Indians and the Phillies.

“Every time he walked up to the plate he was dangerous,” began Manuel. The two are both Phillies Wall of Famers. Now the pupil has surpassed the teacher and reached the pinnacle of individual achievement in his profession.

Manuel went on to recall the circumstances when they first met, and the characteristics that attracted him to the young power hitter.

“As far as meeting him the first time, I wanta say it was in spring of ’89. Jimmy was young. He was shy. He was really tentative about what he did, ya know. He wanted to do the right thing. Jimmy was one of the most dedicated guys as far as listenin’. And coachable? I tell people all the time, with Jimmy Thome, he really thinks that you helped him. But Jimmy Thome helped me too. You know, just bein’ who he was, and bein’ dedicated like he was.”

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"He hit so much, I don't think I can explain to you how much he hit."

Manager Charlie Manuel reflects on the career of #MLBNetwork's own Jim Thome, ahead of his #HOFWKND speech.

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There has clearly always been a special bond between the two men. In Cleveland, Manuel was the hitting coach as the Indians won the AL Central Division crown in each of Thome’s first five full seasons from 1995-99.

Manuel would become the manager of the Indians in 2000 but was fired in July of 2002 over a contract dispute. Thome would leave as a free agent that following off-season, signing with the Phillies.

In 2005, the two men would experience an all-too-short reunion when Manuel was hired as the Phillies new skipper. However, Thome would suffer through an injury-marred first half. By June 30, his season was over. Into the breach would stop a new slugger, Ryan Howard, who would win the NL Rookie of the Year Award that season. Thome’s days in Philly were numbered.

Following that 2005 campaign, Thome was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Aaron Rowand and two pitchers, one of whom would be Gio Gonzalez.

Manuel would go on to guide the Phillies to five consecutive NL East crowns, back-to-back National League pennants, and the 2008 World Series championship.

Anniversary of a Controversial Phillies Deal

The Philadelphia Phillies had just lost the World Series to the New York Yankees six weeks earlier. That six-game defeat came after the club had won the Fall Classic the previous season.

General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was presented with an interesting and exciting opportunity. Longtime ace pitcher Roy Halladay was being made available in trade by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Adding ‘Doc’ to the two-time NL pennant winners could be just what was needed to keep the championship ball rolling.

Amaro was able to negotiate and finalize the deal: Halladay to the Phillies for a trio of highly regarded prospects in Kyle Drabek, Travis d’Arnaud, and Michael Taylor.

Halladay was 32 years old at the time. The winner of the 2003 AL Cy Young Award was a six-time American League all-star. He had finished fifth in AL Cy Young race that fall, the fourth consecutive season in the top five of the voting.

Just a year earlier, following that 2008 World Series victory by the Phillies, Halladay had been the runner-up for that AL Cy Young Award. The winner? Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians.

Lee was now Phillies property, having been acquired from the Tribe in a trade deadline deal. The lefty was a key addition in helping the Phils nail down a third straight NL East crown, and second consecutive NL pennant.

As word of the Halladay trade broke, there was a brief moment of almost indescribable joy that swept across Phillies Nation. A pitching rotation fronted by Halladay, Lee, and Cole Hamels?

Added to the still dynamic offense that the Phillies had at the time, that trio would certainly elevate the Phillies back to World Series favorites.

And then the other shoe dropped.

Phillies Father's Day Connections

To all of my fellow fathers out there, I would like to wish you a Happy Father's Day. 

In the history of the Phillies franchise, there have been a number of father-son combinations that have played in Major League Baseball.

One that immediately springs to mind for many modern-day Phils fans would be former GM Ruben Amaro Jr, who played for the Phillies in 1992-93, and then again in the 1996-98 seasons. HIs father, Ruben Amaro Sr, played with the club from 1960-65.

Jun 14, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; Cleveland Indians manager Francona (17) watches batting practice before the game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Former Phillies manager Terry Francona, who guided the team from 1997-2000, was raised in the game by his dad, Tito Francona, who appeared briefly for the 1967 Phillies. Tito had a 15-year big league career from 1956-70, and the Phils were one of nine teams for whom he played.

All Phillies fans are well aware that Pete Rose was the catalyst to the franchise' first-ever World Series crown in 1980, and is MLB's all-time Hit King. His son, Pete Rose Jr, made 16 plate appearances over 11 games with the 1997 Cincinnati Reds.

Catcher Bob Boone is on the Phillies Wall of Fame, and called games for nearly every pitcher who donned the red pinstripes from 1973-81. His father, Ray Boone, played with six different organizations over 13 seasons from 1948-60.

As most know, it doesn't end there for the Boone clan

Cliff Lee Wants to Play in 2016

The Philadelphia Phillies will not be reuniting with former rotation stalwart Cliff Lee.

Despite recent pronouncements that he is interested in trying to continue his big league career, the former ace lefty is not going to get that opportunity with a rebuilding Phillies club next spring.

CBS Sports baseball insider Jon Heyman has recently reported that Lee’s agent, Darek Braunecker, is seeking a shot with any team that the pitcher feels would be a good fit for him.

There are any number of road blocks in the way of Lee ever returning to pitch successfully in Major League Baseball, the most obvious being his ability to compete at the highest level of competition. 

He has not thrown a pitch in the big leagues since walking off the mound in the third inning at Nationals Park on July 31st, 2014.

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Cliff Lee has been throwing and he's received medical clearance. If he finds the right fit, he will pitch in 2016.

1:30 PM - 3 Dec 2015

 
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Being given medical clearance by a doctor to make the attempt does not in any way mean that the now 37-year old’s balky elbow will hold up once he actually starts to pitch again. He has already tried this twice, and failed both times.

It’s not as if the Phillies are so loaded with talent that they couldn’t use Lee in the rotation to begin the 2016 season, and then as a trade chip later if he somehow proved healthy. 

The club made the decision that $12.5 million was too much to pay a guy in order to have him show up at spring training for another shot.

The Phillies had Lee under contract at $25 million for the 2016 season, but instead wisely used their option to buy him out at a $12.5 million price tag.