Manuel will be putting himself out there, knowingly and willingly exposing his flanks to all manner of second-guessing - especially if the Happ thing were to blow up. It is the same thing Amaro did at the trade deadline when he acquired Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco from Cleveland instead of gutting his farm system to get Roy Halladay from Toronto. Amaro put himself way out there, and he knew it and he didn't care.
And, now, his acquisition will be starting Game 1 of the playoffs.
"You're only as good as your last trade," Amaro said, sitting in the dugout during the Phillies' workout yesterday. "I don't know. I tell you what - I trust the people who work with me, I always have, and I hope that they know that and understand that. I believe in the guys who are my eyes and ears, the [Charley] Kerfelds and [Gordon] Lakeys, all three of the assistant GMs, and Pat [Gillick] and Dallas [Green]. They're just good baseball people. Having their support makes life a lot easier."
Many of them were assembled in a hotel in Arizona as the trade deadline approached in July. It was Amaro's first trade deadline as the boss. He had been through it many times as the assistant GM, seen things fall through before. He had seen one of his former bosses, Ed Wade, absolutely tortured by the fan base on the morning after the deadline - more than once. He knew the territory. He looks back on it now with some clarity.
"I was a lot more calm than I thought I would be, under the circumstances, just because I've been on the roller-coaster ride before of trying to make a deal and then having it dashed upon the rocks," Amaro said.
