It seems to me that Ruben Amaro, Jr.'s greatest failing in his non-waiver trade negotiations was not that he failed to make a trade, bu the way he explained his failure. Michael Bauman explains in Let Them Eat Money: MLB Salary Dumping, the Precursor to the Proletarian Revolution that MLB teams, and the Phillies in particular, can get by just fine without "shedding salary." With their new Comcast broadcast income, the Phils can afford to play Ryan Howard in a platoon or pay Marlon Byrd and A.J. Burnett. So when Amaro goes to trade these guys, he really is in a position of no trade is better than a bad trade. Instead of countering the rumors that he asked for 3 top prospects for Cole Hamels, he should have come back and quoted statistics rather than vague comments on the counter-offers. I also wonder what people would be saying if Amaro had traded away Byrd and gotten nothing back.

I was going to say more, but what's the point?