Ruben Amaro takes it a step further, apparently, and uses a sort of “general disgust with human emotion” technique that leaves people feeling like “a piece of meat.”

Months after Vance Worley was packaged up with prospect DJ Hey Beef and traded to Minnesota for Ben Revere, we are learning all the sultry details of the exchange.  For instance, Minnesota is cold.  Gross.  But also, Vance Worley did not want to be traded, and wanted it even less after a frank discussion with his suddenly former GM.

“What am I going to do? I just shipped everything out here from California. I have to ship that back. I have to ship my cars out of here because I want nothing to do with Philadelphia right now.”

“That’s his job and I’m just a piece of meat getting passed around right now. It is what is, and hopefully one day I do make it back out.”

–Vance Worley, per David Murphy

Ruben gave Vance, who had planned to propose to his fiancee that day, the standard severance package of compliments – “Best of luck, you’re great, maybe we’ll see you again one day, there should be several armed Phanatics there now to escort you off the premises.”

And Ben Revere is a terrific addition; perhaps the only celebrated offseason move Ruben made, but it didn’t come without a price.  Knowing Ruben handled Vance’s trade with all the warmth of an industrial wheat thresher just makes it all the more sour.  On the other hand, we all know what a cold, impersonal guy Vance was.

@vanimal_49 Mr.Worley thank you today for letting me have a catch with you and showing me you curveball. Your awesome. twitter.com/YoungHarper17/…

— D.George (@YoungHarper17) December 15, 2012

But if Ruben hadn’t cared at all, he would have just sent security into the weight room to drag Vance out to the curb, where his things were already packed up and in the trunk of a taxi.  It’s pretty standard practice.  When Brett Myers was traded, he actually woke up to several hooded Phanatics standing over his bed going “Shhhhhhhhhhh.”

Vance Worley, the man who spawned a thousand trade rumors. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The most common name mentioned in any trade talks regarding the Phillies is that of the be-goggled one, Vance Worley.

CSNPhilly.com reported on Tuesday that the Phillies are actively shopping both Worley and Trevor May for outfield help. Worley has been linked to players like Jacoby Ellsbury, Curtis Granderson, Shin Soo Choo, Josh Willingham, Justin Upton, and any other potential outfielder who can hit a baseball with any regularity and force.

But what is Worley worth? What makes him such a commodity? And if he’s really this valuable, is it smart for the Phils to consider letting him go?

First, the negatives. Worley does not throw overly hard, averaging anywhere from 89-91, topping out at 93 mph. His breaking stuff isn’t anything dynamic, and he was hurt for much of last season with bone chips in his elbow.

Worley, at his best, is a low-end #3 pitcher, and a very solid #4.

But to discount the value of a good #4 pitcher is to make a serious mistake. Pitchers at #4 in the rotation pitch playoff games. Their turn in the rotation does not get skipped. A good number four starter can sometimes be worth an addition two to four wins a season.

In 2011, when Worley was fully healthy, his WAR was 3.2. That’s not insignificant.

Not only that, Worley knows how to use the stuff he has, especially against left-handers. His two-seam fastball that starts in on a lefties’ hip then darts over the plate is what is responsible for these remarkable splits.

Check out those strikeout numbers. As a right-handed pitcher, Worley has faced the exact same number of right-handed and left-handed batters throughout his career. And in his career, he has struck out 134 lefties compared to 104 righties. His walk rate against lefties is a bit higher, but not much. And he has actually held left-handed hitters to a lower batting average and lower OPS during his career.

It is insane that a right-handed pitcher can have that kind of success against left-handed hitters.

Those numbers include last year’s injury-marred half-season, in which he pitched through much of the summer with bone chips in his throwing elbow.

In his first 12 starts last year, from April through the end of June, Worley had an ERA of 2.92, with 66 Ks and 25 BBs in 74 innings. It wasn’t until he started dealing with his elbow problems that his season cratered, posting a 5.80 ERA in his last 11 starts. And even much of that was due to bad luck, with opponents’ BAbip a robust .404, leading to a .350 batting average and .905 OPS against. His strikeouts were down (41 in 59 innings) and his walks were up (22 in 59 innings).

Clearly, he was not the same pitcher after he got hurt.

Phillies officials say Worley is completely healthy now, and a return to his 2011 and first-half 2012 numbers seems like an reasonable expectation.

Simply put, the guy is a good pitcher.

Not only that, he’s cheap, due for a slight race this year to about $800,000, most likely. He’s also under team control for a long time. His first year of arbitration isn’t until after next year, and the earliest he can become a free agent is 2018.

In Vance Worley, the Phillies have a cheap and effective pitcher who is under their control for another five years.

You don’t just give those away.

So when discussing Worley in any of these package deals, understand that this isn’t J.A. Happ the Phils are giving away. This is a real life starting pitcher, someone who will be difficult to replace.

That doesn’t mean the Phillies shouldn’t be shopping him right now. Trading Vance Worley for Ellsbury, Granderson, Choo, Willingham, and Upton would make perfect sense, and the Phils should absolutely pull the trigger if they can acquire any decent bat with pop (notice I did not include Dexter Fowler in that list).

But remember that Worley is a valuable commodity and should be looked upon as such. This is not a scrub.

Worley has a lot of value.

Probably more than you realized.

Worley's elbow ouchies have cancelled his September. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-US PRESSWIRE

Here’s the deal, folks.

If a pitcher is pitching with a known injury and his performance is obviously suffering, you can assume he’s in pain.

If that same pitcher is then shut down for the season a few weeks later, after struggling tremendously for weeks, you can be really, really, really sure that he’s in a lot of pain.

Both Worley and Phillies officials have said for weeks that the loose bodies, or calcium deposits, floating around the lining of Worley’s right elbow weren’t causing him any pain when he threw.

Today, the Phillies announced they were shutting the begoggled one down and assigning Wednesday night’s starter Tyler Cloyd Worley’s spot in the rotation for the rest of the year.

I know what you’re all worried about. What are the Phillies going to do now when the playoffs get here? Who’s going to be there fourth starter come October? Will Cloyd be ready?

Tee hee hee. Just wanted to harken back to old blog habits. Ah, that was fun.

Now, I don’t consider myself a naive person, but I am a trusting person. So, I kinda figured that if both Worley and the Phils were saying that his elbow problems weren’t affecting his pitching, they weren’t feeding me a lot of bull.

I know, I’m cute, aren’t I?

You don’t shut a pitcher down for the season, even a meaningless final month like this, if there isn’t a problem. Clearly there was a problem, although Worley continues to swear that he wasn’t in any pain.

“It’s something I thought I could make it through,” Worley said. “We all kind of talked it over. We feel like this is the best thing to do right now, have the surgery now and prepare for next season. [I'll] get a couple extra weeks to work on making sure my arm’s good and conditioning myself.”

And if there is a problem, then it’s the right move. I just hope there aren’t any other phantom injuries on the Phillies that we need to be worried about.

I hope Ryan Howard isn’t actually playing on a broken leg. Let’s all pray that Roy Halladay’s isn’t secretly hiding a torn rotator cuff, or that Cole Hamels’ stomach bug isn’t really the Hanta virus.

Pitching coach Rich Dubee indicated that while Worley’s elbow issues weren’t causing him pain, it was affecting him on the field mentally.

“His demeanor was different,” Dubee said. “His personality was different. His mound presence was extremely changed. And those aren’t good things. Those aren’t things we want engrained in him for the rest of his career for sure. It was a good time to stop him and get him straightened up.”

So, Worley’s goggles will go on a shelf until spring training, where he is expected to be right on schedule with the rest of his rotation mates.

And Cloyd will gear up for October.

Crap, I did it again.