THE EUPHORIA over the firing of general manager Ruben Amaro seems to suggest that he is the lone culprit for the Phillies downfall. Not so fast!

While no one will ever mistake Ruben Amaro for Branch Rickey, and he certainly deserves some of the blame, he might be taking too much heat for the Phillies downfall. It was management that forced him to sign Utley, Howard and Rollins to long-term deals. By the way, no one complained at the time because these players were all performing well. He did bring back Cliff Lee and signed Roy Halladay. Had fan favorite Lee not blown a 6-1 lead against the Cardinals, the Phillies would have had another pennant and possible World Series championship and Ryan Howard would not have injured himself, causing him to miss much of the 2012 season.

For the 2013 season he added Delmon Young and Ben Revere to the outfield. Young hit 18 home runs the year before, didn't do much for us, then hit .302 the following year for the Orioles - go figure. Revere hit .300 during his time with the Phils. The other outfielder was Dominic Brown who hit 27 home runs and made the All Star team but has been unproductive ever since.

Ruben signed Papelbon who leaves as the Phillies all-time leader in saves. He has been lauded for the latest round of trades and brought in talented young players such as Maikel Franco, Odubel Herrera and Aaron Nola.