Phillies: Organization of the Year
Baseball America has named the Phillies as their 2009 Organization of the Year. You can read the full article through their website here. But I wanted to share what I felt was the interesting part of Jim Salisbury’s story:
But it is widely believed, by everyone from Amaro to Manuel to Gillick, that the trade that ultimately put the team on a path to success was the one that sent Bobby Abreu, one of the most offensively gifted players in franchise history, to the Yankees in July 2006. The trade was part salary dump (the Phils saved $20 million), part investment in the Rollins-Utley-Howard core.
Gillick believed that Abreu had become complacent, and he feared other players were feeding off that.
“I think Jimmy and Chase were respectful, if that’s the word, of Bobby, and when he got out of here it set a different tone,” Gillick said.
Said Amaro: “That trade changed the mindset in the clubhouse. It gave people the opportunity to move forward. Also, you trade a player like that and the guys in the clubhouse look in the mirror and say, ‘Wow, they’ll trade anybody.’ ”
The Abreu trade opened a spot for Victorino in right field and gave the team some of the athleticism Manuel had wanted. It also opened an outfield spot that Gillick filled the following offseason with one of his best moves, the signing of free agent Jayson Werth. It was a classic take-a-shot Gillick move, as Werth had missed the 2006 season with a career-threatening wrist injury. In 2009, the Phils’ three starting outfielders, Victorino, Werth and Raul Ibanez, Amaro’s first free agent signing, all were all-stars.
This is really a great point, and not something you would immediately think of as a turning point, especially when the Phillies have not gotten any big league games from the players they brought back.
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