“Obviously we want his bat, but if he can’t play defense he can’t play in the National League.”

–Ruben Amaro

Seriously, what the hell?  This is the problem that’s been brought up, made fun of, driven into the ground, seen on video, seen in .gifs, and become a natural part of reality to the point that it would be like making a joke about how it rains sometimes.

Shocking news, everyone: DELMON YOUNG CAN’T PLAY DEFENSE.

People this should not be shocking to:

• Baseball people
• General managers in the National League
• General managers who have recently signed Delmon Young to a deal of any kind
• Delmon Young
• Everyone
• Everyone in baseball, everyone in the neighborhood, everyone in the universe
• Everyone

March 28, 2013; Clearwater, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Delmon Young (3) works out prior to the game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Bright House Networks Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Delmon Young signing was the deal that made us all realize Ruben isn’t intelligent, and doesn’t have a master plan that just isn’t fully formed yet.  He’s just swinging wild, seeing names, and giving them papers to sign. Weeeee, GM-ing!

This is the dumbest thing he could have possibly said.  It not only confirms everything that every other person has been saying, but also confirms that there’s a special kind of ignorance behind Ruben Amaro’s face.  Walks?  Who needs ‘um!  Delmon Young? Get ‘im in here!  He can hit baseballs far!  I mean, he doesn’t always do that, and sometimes he mistakes his glove for his hat, and he consumed with hatred, and he can’t run, and he’s hurt, and he’s got very little motivation to get healthy and contribute in whatever sideways, half-ass way he’s going to contribute, but boy, did he ever hit a home run once!

And home runs are production.  You see?  Not like walks, which are basically like outs, but worse.

Apr 19, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley (26) heads to first base after drawing a walk during the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

This goes beyond the cliche “I don’t need numbers to scout these guys, I just use my look-seein’ like my grand daddy did, thank you very much,” argument.  This is about genuine stupidity when it comes to not just the definition of baseball, but the definition of words.

This past January, Phillies GM Ruben Amaro now infamously uttered on the radio, “I don’t care about walks, I care about production.”

Maybe walking isn’t viewed as the “manliest” way to get on base or something – these arguments are so nonsensical or stubborn, this could very well be a reason.  But anything that gets a runner on base is production.  If a guy is for some reason a magnet for getting beaned, he will help you, because he is able to make that critical transformation from a batter to a runner, and runners score you runs.  Who cares how it happens?  That it happens is the important aspect.

The Phillies recently obeyed their insane commander’s request and didn’t walk for four straight games.  Weird coincidence, they also lost all four of those games and only scored seven runs total.

On this development, Amaro also had thoughts; thoughts that contradicted his previous ones.

“I think it’s ridiculous to have no walks in three days. I can not believe it.”

–Ruben Amaro

He also brought up that word again, “production.”

“More importantly, it’s about not just walks, but producing. We haven’t done that.”

–Ruben Amaro

That he’s still separating these two things into different camps is brazenly absurd.  If Ruben thinks this team will thrive using the argument that they should just hit more, we are all screwed.  This team is not an offensive juggernaut.  This team has guys with certain facets of their game that work, and other facets that do not.  Getting creative, using a different strategy; these are necessary for this model of an aging, inexperienced, inconsistent team to succeed.

If the plan is to watch Ryan Howard strike out with two men in scoring position all season long, then look at video from 2008 and say “I don’t understand! It worked before!” this team will definitely fail.

Before last night’s game, Comcast Sportsnet Philly’s Ben Davis submitted his thoughts on the manner, which were cheerfully delivered, but also, wrong.

“I don’t care about the walks, you score runs by getting hits” – Ben Davis

— SWAGADUCI, DYNAMIC ★ (@tonyisdynamic) April 19, 2013

Here is a video of all of the runs the Phillies scored last night after Chase Utley drew a walk with two outs.  Yes, they scored them with hits, too – that’s the other thing.  THERE IS NO GROUP OF PEOPLE ARGUING THAT A TEAM ONLY OPERATE ON WALKS.  Hits are great, but walks are also great.  In either case, your odds of good things are increased.  A combination of both, rather than concentrating on one, balloons the chances of getting on base and becoming a run.

All of this **madness** led to the Phillies’ deep-thinking broadcasters to speculate, on the air, that huh, I guess “There’s something about walking that can help you score runs.”

Is there some mystery here that I’m missing?  This allergy to walks seems both meaningless and bizarre.  Ignoring a stat that does nothing but help score runs, and classifying it as different than “production” is not the mindset of a baseball team in 2013 that is going to win a significant amount of games.

Anyways, in the third inning last night, Kevin Frandsen drew a lead off walk, then – hold onto your hat – CAME AROUND TO SCORE ON A BASE HIT.

Walks = production.

Production = walks.

Seems productive to me.

Aww shucks

So, it was, let’s say, a bit surprising when Schwimer said he was, “very surprised,” about the trade.  Maybe he and Ruben Amaro smoothed things out over a beer or coffee.   Both said the move had nothing to do with the disagreements that transpired in 2012.  It could be possible that they are telling the truth.  Who am I kidding? Amaro tell the truth?

The “some guy” that Schwimer was trade for is Art Charles, a 22 year old first baseman who has yet to play above low A.  It is safe to assume that Charles is a long shot to ever have any impact on the major league club.

In reality, Schwimer is AAAA relief pitcher.  He was never going to get much in return.  However, trading him for some guy less than a week into spring training screams, “we are absolutely done with this guy.” The Phillies could have hung onto him.  They’ve invested time and money into his development.  They could have seen if he could have turned those few flashes from last year into something consistent.

It seems pretty apparent that even those things did not outweigh the headaches involved with having him on the team.   Good luck to him and his.