18 Philadelphia Phillies (Nola) @ Atlanta Braves (Sánchez, A)

LoneStarPhan 2018-09-25 15:47:32 UTC #81

If you wait until a contending team is totally melted down, the rebuild will take years. A good GM is always rebuilding the team even as they win championships.

VoteForKalas 2018-09-25 18:10:58 UTC #82

Philsmania:

I was thinking about this yesterday. Both the Phillies and Braves embarked on rebuilds after 2014 but the Braves are well ahead of us. The Braves did start their rebuild at a different point in their history though. Only one season removed from a division title, the Braves faced the music and conceded that the Frank Wren built team was not a title contender and bit the bullet and started a rebuild. Unlike the Phillies after 2013 (or even 2012), the Braves didn't spin their wheels in a quixotic effort to wring another chance at a title out of that team. As a result, they had valuable veteran assets--guys like Kimbrel, Heyward, J.Upton and Simmonds--whom they were able to convert into good young assets (and, in the case of Heyward, he was converted into Miller who, in turn, became Inciarte and Swanson, their current starters at CF & SS). By contrast, the Phillies just had Hamels. But, having said that, the Braves have clearly scouted and developed better during that same stretch. It's all the more impressive when you consider the Braves had to deal with that scandal that cost Coppolella and others their jobs.

Exactly why when people wax poetic about Gillick and Amaro, I throw up a bit in my mouth. They, along with ownership, failed the organization and its fans by implementing and sticking to their nostalgia tour to continue selling tickets as the team went into the ditch and reality hit hard. It was a complete abdication of leadership and accountability.

mdougherty12 2018-09-25 18:23:40 UTC #83

The Phillies never had the opportunity to do the same sort of rebuild that the Braves did in 2014-2015. Atlanta traded a bunch of guys who were 24-27. The Phillies' core position players were in their late 20s at the beginning of the 2007-2011 run and all into their 30s and declining by the end.

allentown 2018-09-25 22:13:47 UTC #84

I think it was the owners' direction.

Mdougherty is right about the age difference of rebuilding Braves and Phillies, but the Phillies stuck with adding vets, sidelining kids, and not giving promising AAAA guys a chance.