Crazy thy name is Amaro

[AussieDodger]

So you're saying you don't want to win then.....

Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro told reporters that they plan to use (Delmon) Young as their starting right fielder, tweets Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Young, who may not be available to start the season as he recovers from ankle surgery, has not played the position in six years.

So you have a once top prospect who has been playing hurt for two years (Dom Brown), and instead of getting him healthy and giving him every chance, you replace him with one of the worst players in the league. Who also has negative value off the field.

I see.

Phillies Fail thread anyone?

[Ender]

Could be worse, they could be playing the Royals RFer.

[GiantsFan14]

Could be worse, they could be playing the Royals RFer.

Francoeur > Delmon

[Ender]

Could be worse, they could be playing the Royals RFer.

Francoeur > Delmon

Sadly that is not factual. As bad as Delmon is Francoeur is even worse. Now that Betancourt isn't starting he is probably the worst regular player in baseball. If Michael Young repeats last year he could take that throne though.

[MashinSpuds]

If Young was, say, an Adam Dunn or a pre-injury Jose Bautista and was picked up to be an offensive masher, then the defense could go out the window I suppose. But he's not one of those guys, so the idea of possible defensive sacrifice is certainly folly. I guess the Phillies don't think the offense can manufacture enough runs without Young, which is a pity since Brown or Ruf might have surprised at a cheaper rate.

[Skin Blues]

I don't know, it's a tight battle for most futile between Delmon and Frenchy. At least Francouer was good in 2011. Delmon has a career 0.8 WAR (not per season, total) and his career high of 1.7 came back in 2010. 750K is perfectly appropriate for him as a platoon/bench bat but to use him as a regular is pretty crazy.

[Montana168]

I think this may be more of a Darin-Ruf-is-not-ready-yet move, than a Dom-Brown-is-a-bust move. My guess is that Delmon will get the RF job out of spring training based on veteran status and will subsequently benched for poor performance (both offensively and defensively) by the end of the May. While Ruf is old for a prospect, he spent all of 2012 in AA. If I had to guess today what the Phils OF will look like on opening day, it will be: LF Brown CF Revere RF Young OF4 Mayberry OF5 L Nix; Ruf in AAA.

Also, keep in mind that with the league re-alignment (Astros to AL), the inter-league games will be spread out through the year. So NL teams will need to have that extra bat that they can put at the DH for one or two series per month. I'm guessing they added Young with that in mind as well. He'll probably DFA'd by the end of the year though. Just a cheap stop gap until Ruf proves whether his power is for real at AAA.

[Element]

Amaro isn't done ...

Phillies signed INF Yuniesky Betancourt to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.
Betancourt posted a .228 batting average and .256 on-base percentage in 228 plate appearances last season for the Royals. He's not a good defender and seems doubtful to contribute in a significant way for Philly. The 30-year-old owns a .266/.290/.392 career batting line.

[Ender]

Betancourt, Michael Young and Delmon Young all in the same off season. That is a Ruf off season for the Phillies.

[AussieDodger]

Amaro isn't done ...

Phillies signed INF Yuniesky Betancourt to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.
Betancourt posted a .228 batting average and .256 on-base percentage in 228 plate appearances last season for the Royals. He's not a good defender and seems doubtful to contribute in a significant way for Philly. The 30-year-old owns a .266/.290/.392 career batting line.