And when you narrow to 2003 to 2012, 5 of those 10 years did not have a number one pick and the highest pick in that time was Drabek at 18 for whom we got value in a trade even after he got hurt the first time.
The Phillies were not good at drafting in this period, but Hewitt was the only number one that was a complete failure. Drafting in the back half of the first round is already kind of a 50-50 thing. Mediocre drafting is part of it, though one can certainly add in the lack of draft picks and the rare willingness to spend extra even when there were no draft slots or pools. The first draft to have a formal pool was 2012, so before that it was only informal slots. The Phillies would try to sign an international free agent to compensate for the loss of top picks, but they should have been doing both and busting draft slots when there was no penalty.
The draft problem from 2003 to 2012 was less drafting and more being cheap and playing by unwritten rules.
