Despite perceptions, Phils' Brown still an untouchable, Amaro says

Domonic Brown is once again the Phillies' top minor-league prospect, but you can rest assured he's in no mood to celebrate that distinction.

Nine weeks after the Phillies promoted Brown to be their starting rightfielder, he is starting over again as a leftfielder at triple-A Lehigh Valley following Friday night's blockbuster trade that brought two-time all-star Hunter Pence to the Phillies.

Had the Phillies not traded pitcher Jarred Cosart and first baseman Jonathan Singleton to the Astros for Pence, it could be argued that Brown would be the third best minor-league prospect in the organization.

A baseball source said Saturday that the Astros thought they could have had Brown, but they were more interested in the 19-year-old Singleton because they project him as a guy who could one day hit 30-plus home runs with a very high on-base percentage.

The perception during this trade-deadline period has been that Brown's stock as a future star has been downgraded by what he did in 54 games at the big-league level this season.

When general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. negotiated trades for Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, and Roy Oswalt, Brown was the one player deemed untouchable. Amaro surrendered top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek for Halladay and a successful big-league pitcher in J.A. Happ for Oswalt, but whenever he was asked about Brown, the answer was always no.

The general manager insisted Saturday that the answer did not change this summer.

"Let me just say this about all the rumors that were out there," Amaro said. "I got 400,000 calls asking me about Domonic Brown and he was not available. Other people can think whatever they want, but he was not available."

If the perception was otherwise, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was partly to blame. Manuel's campaign for a righthanded bat and fifth hitter in the order started more than a month ago when Brown's batting average tumbled toward the Mendoza Line.

The manager did not attempt to hide that he felt the Phillies needed an upgrade from Brown if they wanted to significantly improve their chances of winning the World Series.

Asked about Brown's development before Friday night's game against Pittsburgh, Manuel responded with brutal honesty.