“There were some other teams,” Amaro said. “There was some talent that we liked, but we didn’t think we were going to get a similar package. We wanted to get an older package, but as far as ceiling was concerned we really liked the ceiling on these three guys.”
Amaro could have waited to trade Lee to get a bigger and better deal, except he couldn’t.
“Tough message to send,” he said. “We just got Halladay and now we’re going to wait three weeks and have him sit there and have the fans go, ‘What? What are you doing?’ And I knew I had to move him. I knew I had to move him and I knew I had to move him in a fairly efficient way. It’s just kind of a tough message to send to the fans, ‘Oh, we have these two aces right now and, oh, by the way, right around Christmastime you’re going to lose one.’ But we were moving so much talent we had to get some talent back. I mean, we were nude.”
Nude or not, Amaro would never hear the end of it.
The relationship between the Phillies and Cliff Lee had soured, perhaps irrevocably.
“If you want to do business that way that’s your prerogative,” Darek Braunecker told Ruben Amaro Jr. in a heated telephone conversation after the trade. “It’s not the way I do things and Cliff deserves better than that.You guys have made a colossal mistake. And you know what? We’re going to end up doing business together again, but I can promise you this: the way I do business with you from this point forward is going to be a lot different than it’s been to this point.”
Braunecker had let Lee read the emails and text messages and listen to the voice mails from the Phillies. He wanted to let Lee know he had not misinterpreted anything or missed any signals that Lee’s time in Philadelphia had come to an end.
“Cliff knew exactly what was being said and what they were telling us,” Braunecker said. “And then when Ruben called him and informed him, he said why would you guys continue to tell Darek this didn’t affect me and there was no truth to this when clearly there was? Why wouldn’t you have just been honest with us? Ruben said we had to do what we had to do in this situation.”
Braunecker and Lee had reasons to be upset, while the Phillies had reasons to move onto Halladay. Halladay represented a guarantee. They knew they would have him in uniform beyond 2010, if they traded for him. Despite the fact the Phillies felt good about their conversation with Braunecker in Indianapolis, Lee wasn’t a sure thing. Knowing he could only have one, Amaro took the guarantee.
After banishing him to the Northwest, the Phillies tried to make amends with Lee almost immediately. Not because they dreamed they would ever bring him back, but because it seemed like the right thing to do. So when Braunecker asked the Phillies to reimburse the Lees for the deposit they made on their spring-training housing in Clearwater, Florida, for 2010, they obliged. The reparations continued April 30, 2010, when Scott Proefrock, on a whim, emailed Braunecker and asked him to pass along his well wishes to Lee, who was coming off the disabled list to make his first start for Seattle. Braunecker said he would.
Braunecker noted how the Phillies signed Ryan Howard to a five-year, $125 million contract extension a few days earlier.
“I wish we could have applied some of that money to keep Cliff in Philly,” he told Proefrock in a return email.
With no hidden agendas, the lines of communication had reopened between the two sides, and that made Proefrock happy.
Braunecker and Proefrock know each other well. Proefrock’s family lives outside Baltimore, about a mile from New York Yankees right-hander A. J. Burnett, another Braunecker client. Proefrock’s son, John, is the best friend of Burnett’s son, also named A.J. Proefrock and Braunecker attended parties at Burnett’s house long before Lee joined the Phillies.
Their familiarity helped ease any bitterness and hurt feelings.
“It wasn’t personal,” Proefrock said. “It was business. Over the course of time everybody came to understand that.”
Proefrock, the man who rebuilt the Phillies’ relationship with Cliff Lee, was born April 7, 1960, in Dayton, Ohio, but spent the majority of his youth in Massachusetts, where he became a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan. He and his friends often made the drive from Cape Cod to Fenway Park to watch Carl Yastrzemski. Proefrock later graduated from William & Mary and spent his first four years out of college working as an accountant in Richmond,Virginia.
He hated it.
Some of his friends had attended the sports management program at the University of Massachusetts, and one got a job with the New York Mets in 1986 when they won the World Series. That sounded pretty good to him, so Proefrock quit his job to enroll at UMass. He volunteered at the Cape Cod League and connected with one of his college professors, Bernie Mullin, who left UMass to become vice president of business operations with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Mullin asked him to work with the Pirates as a marketing intern. Proefrock, who was paid $150 a week, did a good enough job to inspire the Pirates to hire him as their director of marketing information systems three months later in November 1987.
Proefrock’s knowledge of computers from his accounting days served him well. He created databases for everything from potential ticket buyers to player highlights for the scoreboard operator. He got to know Jim Bowden, who was working for Pirates General Manager Syd Thrift. He helped Bowden create databases on the baseball side. Thrift left the organization in 1988 and Bowden soon followed. Larry Doughty replaced Thrift. He brought in Cam Bonifay and Chuck LaMar to work underneath him, which worked out well for Proefrock. He was the only one with intimate knowledge of the databases Bowden had been compiling, so the Pirates hired Proefrock as scouting and player development assistant in December 1989.
Proefrock got his first taste of baseball ops and loved it. He attended the winter meetings in Nashville and still remembers being in a room with Milwaukee Brewers General Manager Harry Dalton, Brewers Manager Tom Trebelhorn, Pirates Manager Jim Leyland, and Doughty. The Brewers were talking about their headaches with Gary Sheffield, while the Pirates were talking about their headaches with Barry Bonds.
“I was just a fly on the wall,” Proefrock said.
He enjoyed his time in Pittsburgh, but realized there were greener pastures in Atlanta. The Pirates were on the brink of losing Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, and Doug Drabek in free agency, while the Braves had an incredible amount of talent coming up through their system. So when LaMar left for the Braves a year later, Proefrock joined him. He still remembers telling Doughty his decision, and Doughty calling Pirates president Carl Barger to tell him the news. Barger walked into Doughty’s office, looked at Proefrock, shook his head, and said, “There’s no loyalty in baseball anymore.” He turned around and left. Proefrock felt awful, but something stuck with him about his departure from Pittsburgh. (And it wasn’t that Barger left a year later for the Florida Marlins.) The Pirates organization gave full-time employees holiday bonuses every December, but Proefrock did not receive one for his apparent lack of loyalty, despite working with the organization the entire year. It was a disheartening end to an otherwise good experience with the Pirates.
Not long after, Proefrock received a Christmas card from Doughty. Inside was a personal check for the amount of his holiday bonus.
That seemed like a pretty good way to treat people. Proefrock always remembered that.
Proefrock worked with the Braves for five years before following LaMar to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He met his wife, K. K., in Atlanta in 1991. He was in charge of setting up the Braves’ postseason organizational meetings that year. He picked the Atlanta Marriott as the venue. K. K. worked at the Marriott and was the liaison between the hotel and the Braves.
“I was taken immediately with her,” Proefrock said. “We talked, but I don’t remember anything.”
When he returned to his office at the ballpark, he ran into Paul Egins, who now works in the Colorado Rockies front office.
“I met the girl I’m going to marry today,” Proefrock told Egins.
They married two years later, and after
their time in Atlanta and Tampa Bay had ended they moved to Baltimore in 2006, when Proefrock got a job with the Orioles. He worked there for three seasons before joining the Phillies as assistant general manager in November 2008.
Proefrock is a genial man who attends Mass every Sunday. He spends as much time as possible with his wife and five children, which isn’t always easy. The family has been unable to sell its Baltimore-area home, which means Proefrock often spends weeknights at his in-laws in Wilmington, Delaware, returning home to Maryland for the weekends.
“It’s hardest on my wife,” Proefrock said. “A lot of times I feel like I create more problems when I’m home. She says, ‘Great, now I have six kids I have to take care of.’ She’s a trooper. But the good thing is she knew what she was getting herself into. She knew I was in baseball.”
Proefrock’s easygoing demeanor and good nature makes him a good fit as Phillies assistant general manager. He deals regularly with agents and general managers and assistant general managers from other teams. A good part of his job is building and maintaining relationships with people. Arrogance and short fuses can kill a deal. Holding grudges helps nobody. That temperament served him well as he tried to rebuild the relationship with Braunecker.
“It’s a lesson for everybody,” Proefrock said. “There were no bridges burned. And there could have been. It was not a pleasant situation, discussion, the whole aspect of it.”
It eventually became a distant memory.
Roy Halladay was living up to the hype in the summer of 2010, but Philadelphians still had Cliff Lee on their minds.
Seriously, Ruben, why did you trade Cliff?
The questions picked up during the summer. Jamie Moyer blew out his elbow on July 20, ending his season and possibly his career. Joe Blanton had a 6.03 ERA after losing a game in St. Louis on July 21, putting the Phillies seven games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. Charlie Manuel fired Hitting Coach Milt Thompson on July 22, which looked like an act of desperation on a sinking team with a little more than two months to play.
The Phillies needed help, and a stud left-hander like Lee certainly could help. Ruben Amaro Jr. started fantasizing about reuniting with Lee. He called Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik to see what it would take to get Lee back. Zduriencik started with outfielder Domonic Brown, whom Baseball America considered the top prospect in baseball.
“Can’t do it, Jack,” Amaro replied.
After kicking around a few other possibilities, the talks ended.
“I completely understood,” Amaro said. “That’s exactly who I would be asking for if I were them. But for our purposes and for our future there are pieces we have to hold and he was one of them. Our biggest issue is the longevity of the guys that are on the field playing every day. We have to protect the position players. In this day and age position players are tough to come by. So tough.”
The Phillies would not reacquire Lee, but once again they would get a hell of a Plan B. They turned their attention to Houston. Amaro sent J. A. Happ and prospects Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar to the Houston Astros for Roy Oswalt.
The Phillies figured Lee was gone forever. Amaro believed whatever team got Lee at the trade deadline would lock him up to a multiyear contract. The Yankees had been close, but in a move that would turn out to be a break for the Phillies, the Mariners sent Lee to Texas when the Rangers sweetened their pot at the last second and included first baseman Justin Smoak.
“The perfect storm,” Amaro said. “My feeling was that if he had gone to New York, had that deal gone though, Cliff would have been a New Yorker for several years.”
Lee went on to pitch for Texas in the World Series before becoming a free agent. Meanwhile, Proefrock, the relationship builder, kept in touch with Braunecker.
“Let us know if you’re interested in coming our way,” he emailed him after the World Series.
Ruben Amaro Jr. knew the Phillies could have only one, but even one seemed impossible and he knew it. Still, he asked.
Jayson Werth or Cliff Lee?
Amaro and his top lieutenants had gathered in a conference room at Citizens Bank Park shortly after the Phillies lost to the San Francisco Giants in the 2010 National League Championship Series. The Phillies had hoped to become the first team to win three consecutive National League pennants since the 1942–44 St. Louis Cardinals, but those dreams ended when Ryan Howard took a called third strike from Giants closer Brian Wilson to end the series. While the Giants met Lee and the Texas Rangers in the World Series, Amaro met with his advisors to talk about the future.
If they could sign Werth or Lee, which one would they want?
Nobody hesitated. Everybody chose Lee.
“One hundred percent across the board,” Amaro said.
The consensus hardly seemed to matter. Werth and Lee were long shots. Werth had established himself as one of the best right-handed-hitting outfielders in baseball since he joined the Phillies in 2007, and he was in line for a major payday as a first-time free agent. Werth knew it, too. He fired longtime agent Jeff Borris during the season and hired Scott Boras in September to replace him. Players hire Boras because he finds monster deals nobody else can, and with Werth and Carl Crawford the two biggest bats on the market it was a near certainty Boras would find somebody somewhere to pony up big money for his new client.
The Phillies strongly believed Werth would not re-sign with them, but never said it publicly. But even with that knowledge it wasn’t like Lee would be any easier to sign. They remembered their brief negotiations with Darek Braunecker the previous off-season, although they had the knowledge this time that Lee loved Philadelphia.
“You fantasize, but there’s nothing realistic about it,” Amaro said. “Oh, how amazing would it be to add this guy? We look through budgets all the time and our projected payroll and stuff like that. There was nothing that indicated we would be able to add the salary. And there also was no indication we’re going to go more than three or four years on a pitcher anyway. A lot of obstacles. I absolutely didn’t even think it would fly.”
Lee was the top starting pitcher on the market and the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers were his top suitors. Scott Proefrock laid the groundwork anyway. He sent Braunecker an email on November 2, the Tuesday after the World Series. He complimented Lee on his season and told him that Amaro wanted to meet with Lee in person as early as Thursday to gauge his interest in returning to Philadelphia. Teams could talk to Lee at that time to gauge his interest, but they could not talk money or make an offer. The Rangers held exclusive negotiating rights with Lee until midnight Saturday, although Lee had no intentions to sign before then.
“Thank you,” Braunecker replied. “It was a disappointing end. I’ll talk to Cliff.”
Proefrock later told Braunecker that Amaro wanted Kristen Lee at the meeting, too. Kristen seemed more crushed to leave Philadelphia than her husband.
“I’m not sure you want that!!” Braunecker said in a reply email. “She might let him have it!! Cliff might be in a deer stand. I’ll let you know.”
“I’ll tell Ruben to wear his Kevlar suit,” Proefrock replied.
“Good idea.”
Amaro and Braunecker spoke over the phone a short time later. Amaro expressed his interest, but made two things clear. First, he didn’t think the Phillies could match the Yankees and Rangers in money or years. If Lee truly wanted to return to Philadelphia he would have to bend a little. Second, any talks with the Phillies had to be kept quiet. If word leaked the Phillies were involved, they would pull the plug. The Phillies knew if the Yankees and Rangers discovered they were in the hunt, one or both of them could jack up the price to stratospheric levels. But the Phillies had a more important reason for keeping the talks quiet: public relations.
“We didn’t want to gussy the public up to thinking they’re in for Lee and then you don’t sign Lee,” David Montgomery said. “We thought we had a pretty good season coming up and didn’t want to tarnish the off-season
by saying, ‘Not only didn’t they keep Jayson, they made an effort at Cliff and weren’t successful.’ ”
To keep things quiet, the Phillies closed their inner circle. Initially, the only three people who knew they were talking to Braunecker and Lee were Amaro, Proefrock, and Montgomery. Pat Gillick, who carries heavy influence in the organization, entered later.
“My wife didn’t know,” Proefrock said.
Amaro didn’t tell his father, Ruben Amaro Sr.
“Hell, no,” he said.
Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman flew to Little Rock, Arkansas, to meet the Lees and Braunecker on November 10. Cashman called it a “meet and greet.” Rangers President Nolan Ryan, Managing General Partner Chuck Greenberg, and General Manager Jon Daniels flew to Little Rock on November 15, to meet with the Lees and Braunecker. The Rangers touted Texas for its proximity to Lee’s home and stressed, while they could not match the Yankees in dollars, Texas has no state income tax, which would make up the difference.
Lee mentioned to Cashman and the Rangers how much he enjoyed his time in Philadelphia. Cashman said later he did not consider that a bad sign. He just thought the Lees were being honest.
“We were in such a fight with Texas trying to get him,” Cashman said. “We figured he’s going to make his call and be rich either way.”
Amaro never met the Lees in Arkansas because Braunecker said it wasn’t necessary. Then things got quiet. Every time the Phillies thought they had a good conversation with Braunecker they read how the Yankees or Rangers increased their offer. The Phillies doubted they could make a serious run at Lee, but Amaro took one thing as a good sign: nobody knew the Phillies had been talking with Braunecker, even if they were only casual observers at this point.
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