My Insight on Serious and Not So Serious Issues

THE NOT SO GREAT GM

The Phillies record so far this season is 0-0 and I am playing the role of typical Philadelphian by stating that we need to fire Ruben Amaro. I will say that I am not usually fan of the “Fire___” movements. Trust me there is nothing I’d rather do then eat crow but Ruben Amaro has flown under everyone’s radar for far too long.

Amaro is clearly a an affable Ivy league graduate with the ability to crunch numbers and come across as the smart guy in the room. I applaud him for that but it’s easier to catch fish with a pole then it is with your hands. By that I mean Pat Gillick took a team with a 14 year streak of missing the playoffs to winning suddenly winning a division during his first year as The Phillies GM. He followed that successful season by leading the Phillies to their First World Series in 28 years.

Since then the team has regressed under Amaros leadership. Let’s review that regression.

2009 – Lost in the World Series

2010 – Lost in the NL Championship

2011 – Lost in the NL Wild Card

See a trend? The contrarian can say that Gillick had more to work with in terms of players and payroll. Phillies payroll under Gillick was roughly 110 million in each of his two years as GM. Their payroll was ranked 10^th in baseball. Under Amaro, the payroll has escalated to the 172 million range (second in the league). What do we have to show for it? Regression.

Gillick did two things really well that hasn’t translated to Ruben Amaro JR’s repitaore.

A. Gillick didn’t put all his eggs in one basket. Instead of relying on four aces, Gillick diversified his team. He added affordable position players like Greg Dobbs, Geoff Jenkins and Jayson Werth. Gillick had a reliable lefty out of the pen in Scotty Eyre and took a chance on rebuilding the career of Brad Lidge. Adding up all those salaries may not even equal what Halladay makes in a year. That’s not to say Halladay isn’t a fantastic player (Hard to argue with two no-hitters and a Cy Young) but what good is it when your start pitcher gives up 1 run and loses a playoff game because your offense couldn’t score a single run?

B. Gillick never gave out contracts that were more than 3 years in duration. That ended with Halladay in 2010 (100 million contract over six years). Then getting Lee back in 2011 for 6 years - $125 million. That’s not to mention the 30 million dollars owed to Chase Utley on a 7 year deal that will not be realized because injuries will prevent him from playing regularl. Sure, there was no way Amaro would know Utley would be getting hurt after his 5^th year but a more sensible contract term would have put the writing on the wall. Did I also mention the 125 million- 7 year contract that Amaro set up for Ryan Howard. A man who is only two years into his contract. What will a $25 million yearly contract for Howard look like in 2014-2015?

Of course the Amaro supporters will say, Ryan why do you care it’s not your money? True as that may be, the Phillies do have a budget and now they have limitations due to ill-advised long-term contracts. We haven’t even touched on the Papelbon deal. He is here for 6+ years. If these were all guys in the early 20’s and on the verge of multiple titles it may be enough for fans to swallow but this is a team of a lot of aging 30-somethings.

Now what about trades?

Sure Ruben has pulled off a few good ones. Landing Hunter Pence for a bag of baseballs was pretty remarkable. I even loved it when he got Roy Oswalt in mid-season 2010…not only did he hardly give anything up but he managed to get Houstons GM, Ed Wade to pay for Oswalt’s salary that season. I also find it to be interesting that once Ed Wade destroyed the Astros with these boneheaded trades to the Phillies, he found himself out of a job. But not for long as Ruben Amaro hired Ed Wade, who also happens to be the Godfather of one of Amaros daughters, as a Special Consultant to the Phillies. The good news is that Amaro didn’t lock Ed Wade up for 7 years $125 million. Maybe this is finally a good move for the man they call RAJ.

THE PRICE OF BULLYING

On a more serious topic, a man is going to jail for ten years. His crime was bullying. I agree that this is a major issue in today’s society, particularly with the gay teens. However, I can’t help but to think how different the verdict would have been if his victim had not jumped to his death 18-months ago.

We are familiar with the sad tale of Tyler Clementi. He was a promising young student at Rutgers University. He also happened to be gay teen, who was and bullied and shamed by his roommate, Dharun Ravi. Ravi, who may or may not have been anti-gay, secretly taped Cleminti intimately kissing another man. This act was so devasting to Clementi that he committed suicide.

There is no other way to put this other then it’s simply a horrible story all the way around. Ravi has been villianized by the Rutgers community and by the national media. Let’s call a spade a spade. What Ravi did was reprehensible, douche-baggish and even unlawful but lost in the mix was that he didn’t physically call Clementi.

I can’t help to think about what the penalty may have been if Cleminti were still alive. My guess is Ravi would have been kicked out of school for a childish prank and hit with an invasion of privacy charge. The punishment probably would have been community service and probation. It would have been a harsh lesson that would have been justified for a foolish college-aged act. But Clementi did committ suicide and society needed to make an example of Ravi.

The other point of view would say that Ravi would have had a lighter sentence had he pleaded guilty to the original charges. So, he got bad advice from his lawyer. It still doesn’t equal ten years in jail. People may also remind me that the jury was not allowed to consider Clementi’s death as part of their verdict.

I don’t think there is a jury in America that didn’t know who Tyler Clementi was and certainly everyone in the state of New Jersey knew the case pretty well. To think that his death was not considered in this verdict would be foolish.

I share in everyone’s thoughts when I say that I wish Tyler Clementi were still alive. I also share in everyone’s thought when I say bullying is a very real problem in America. The truth is that bullies around America may see the results of this case and realize the penalty for their actions can be pretty stiff but in the end, I think about how Ravi is serving time simply because he was a jerk who spied on his gay roommate. Ravi deserves to be punished but ten years is not the right call.

Actually, my penalty would be to enforce Ravi to go around the country and speak to young adults about tolerance and bully prevention.

GUNS, GUNS, GUNS

My feelings are much different in the case of George Zimmerman. Of course I don’t know all the details of this story because I obviously wasn’t there. But I know enough to state that the following things are a very dangerous recipe…

1. Neighborhood Watch Groups

2. Racists

3. Right for ordinary citizens to carry open firearms

4. Relaxed self defense rules

Instead of analyzing down the blatant miscarrying of justice going on in Sanford Florida, allow me to pontificate on the bigger issue in my opinion…Gun Laws.

Almost every day there are lunatics bringing guns to schools and public gatherings (See Gabbie Giffords January, 2011). In addition, there are sane people who accidentally leave guns laying around, where their children mishandle them and shoot people. Finally there are convicted felons who are getting their hands on guns via straw purchases.

Let me first state that I believe in the NRA and I am not in favor of revoking peoples 2^nd amendment rights. Although one can interpret that amendment and see that after the words “right to carry arms” is followed by a notion it should be for “militia” purposes. But that’s neither here or there.

In my perfect world, gun ownership should always be preceded by the word “responsible.” To me this means several things.

A. If you are a convicted of a crime, you by virtue are irresponsible and unable to ever own a firearm for any purpose whatsover.

B. If you are a hunter then you do not have a need for a semi-automatic. Thus this type of gun shall never be used by anyone other then law enforcement.

C. If you are a parent that leaves loaded guns lying by your bedside (in case the boogeyman comes to attack you in your home). Then precautions must be made to ensure your gun does not end up in your child’s hands. The answer to me is very simple…fingerprint technology.

Handguns should be made with an innovative technology that will only allow the trigger to be pulled if the fingerprints match the owners. Unless you cut off your finger and give it to a friend then we will not have to worry about straw purchases anymore.

In the case of George Zimmerman, you have a man who was twice convicted of criminal misconduct. By my rules, this would have disqualified him from carrying a gun but then again with renegade laws in Florida, he still may have been given the benefit of a doubt by an even shadier police department

Bottom-line, guns are ok if used and treated by responsible owners not by overzealous night watchmen looking to react to a defenseless and unarmed teen.