In Case You Missed It...

Earlier this week, Phils assistant General Manager Chuck Lamar resigned. For a little bit of background for everyone, Chuck was head of player development and scouting for the team. This usually meant that he was in charge of packing our farm system full of the young talent that Big Rube has been using to acquire proven talent such as Roy Halladay, Hunter Pence, etc. He had been with the Phillies for four years, and based off of the acquisitions they have made with just minor league players - we'd tend to say that he's done a pretty good job.

"You're a nice looking young man. I'd like to get my hands on you for my team..."

Not really much was made about the story. Sure, it was odd. You had an Asst. GM leave more than 3/4 of the way through the season in a season in which he probably had a pretty decent shot to get a World Series ring from a team he had a big hand in putting together. Other than the oddity of the situation, everyone pretty much said, 'Oh well, he had his reasons'.

Now, there are a lot of reports coming out about those reasons...

At the beginning of the week, Lamar reportedly asked for and got a meeting with the big guy - Rube. The topic? Well, Lamar has been running this entire scouting and minor league system with (approximately) $5 million to use yearly for salary for the kids in the farm system. Now, $5 million sounds ok, but that's A LOT of players in a farm system to satisfy with that kind of money. Anyway, Chuck (understandably) wanted Rube to part with some more money to be able to make the job of recruiting and signing quality players a bit more manageable. Rube apparently wasn't very keen on that idea...

The reports are saying that after some time in the meeting, Lamar's voice volume rose a bit... followed by Rube's voice elevating...

The end result being that Rube didn't part with more money, but he did part with a pretty successful, tested scout and assistant General Manager. Lamar walked out after the meeting. Resigned.

What can we make out of this?

Well, it isn't good. Again, Lamar has done a great job in scouting over the past four years. The Phils have had a fantastic farm system in place it has helped them do a lot. The minor league teams are important - we're talking about the future. Especially with an aging team like the Phils have... Regardless of whether or not you want to notice it, it's there. The Phils are getting old and their window for success with this team is closing. We will need to, at some point sooner rather than later, start to part with the guys on this time (which will be awful) and say 'hello' to new fresh talent. Right now, we've been stripped bare in our minor league and now don't have the head honcho to help put it back together. It's not as simple as just drafting talent in the farm systems in baseball. Most of these kids are coming right out of high school, and if a team drafts you that doesn't have a whole lot of money to offer... why wouldn't they just say, 'thanks, but no thanks' and go to college instead of coming to the Phillies?

Our take is that Rube made a bad decision. We know that the Phillies have a giant payroll at this point and parting with the extra money may not have been the easiest thing for Rube to do... but it was probably a necessity. Chuck Lamar has done a great job with not a lot of money - wonder how the next guy will do?

We'll find out sooner rather than later...