After months of speculation and years of dedicating too much money and playing time to the core of the 2008 World Fucking Champions (God, was it really seven years ago?), the Phillies agreed to ship ace Cole Hamels to Texas for a gaggle of minor-league prospects.


Hamels was just 18 when Philadelphia made him the 17th pick in the 2002 draft. Through ten years in the majors with the only team he’s ever known, he went 114-90 with a 3.30 ERA, was elected to three All-Star Games, and was named MVP of both the NLCS and World Series in 2008.

On an emotional level, he was the last remaining memory of the best five-year stretch most Philadelphians have ever known. Pat Burrell is retired, while Jimmy Rollins (now a Dodger), Chase Utley and Ryan Howard have all blended injuries and ineffectiveness for the past few years. Roy Halladay is retired, so is Brad Lidge, and Cliff Lee is unlikely to ever pitch again. Hamels was the youngest of the crew, the last man standing, and now he’s gone.


Since the start of 2013, the Phillies have gone 184-241, and sport the worst record in the majors this season. As hard as it is to let go of the recent past, general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr., was reluctant to commit to a full-on rebuild. He gave former MVP Howard a disastrous 5-year, $125 million contract extension two years before his current deal was up — he’s hit .232/.301/.421 with an average of just 16 homers a year since the extension kicked in. Utley’s knees started going four years into a seven-year contract; Amaro re-signed him for two years, $27 million, and despite a minor bounce-back last year, has gotten a .179/.257/.275 line to show for it in 2015.

A few years too late though it may be, it looks like Amaro is finally starting to learn the error of his ways. In December, he shipped Rollins, the longest-tenured Phillie and secretly one of the best players in team history, to the Dodgers for two solid pitching prospects, right-handed Zach Eflin and southpaw Tom Windle. Within the months, veteran outfielder Marlon Byrd was gone too, traded to Cincinnati in exchange for another young hurler, righty Ben Lively. On Tuesday, Amaro added a fourth new starter to their Double-A arsenal, sending closer Jonathan Papelbon down I-95 for Washington Nationals prospect Nick Pivetta.


All of which leads us to tonight’s big trade. Despite his poor win-loss record, Hamels has pitched well this year, even throwing his first career no-hitter in what would be his last start in the red and white. With four years and $90 million left on his contract, the left-hander was not only the best pitcher on the trading block this summer, he’s also someone that the Rangers will be able to build its rotation around moving forward, rather than just a three-month rental (I’m looking at you, Misters Cueto and Price).

Such an impact player deserves a big-time return, and it certainly seems like Philadelphia netted a good haul. Packaging Hamels with reliever Jake Diekman and an undisclosed amount of cash, the Phillies add veteran starter Matt Harrison and five minor-league prospects: pitchers Jake Thompson, Jerad Eickhoff and Alec Asher, catcher Jorge Alfaro, and outfielder Nick Williams.


Alfaro and Thompson were two of the Rangers’ consensus top-5 prospects; the former a 22-year-old with light-tower power and a Howitzer for a throwing arm outweighing his lack of plate discipline, the latter a 20-year-old righty who sits in the mid-90s with his fastball and has a slider that could miss bats in a major league bullpen right now. Williams is a fairly high-risk 21-year-old with a smooth swing and good bat control. As he grows into his body, his line-drive swing could turn into 20 or so home runs, but the defense, plate discipline and mental/mechanical adjustments leave something to be desired. Asher and Eickhoff seem pretty similar, to each other and to the array of new pitching prospects that have been brought into the organization — a pair of big righties with low-90s heat and decent breaking balls. With both, control and a good changeup will determine whether they’re back-end starters or guys who you hope can add a few ticks to the fastball coming out of the bullpen.

Amaro wasn’t going to get Corey Seager or Jose Urias from the Dodgers. He wasn’t going to get Blake Swihart and Henry Owens from the Red Sox. For a Phillies team with so many long-term holes, getting this kind of volume — all with high probability of being at least 25-man roster-worthy — is a coup.


Last month, Philadelphia hired analytically-inclined, World Series-winning general manager Andy MacPhail to take over as president at the end of the season, a move that should be the final nail in the coffin for Amaro’s tenure with the team. It’s both a little bit funny, and a little bit sad, that Ruben is finally starting to do his job well, right as his job itself becomes un-salvageable.

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