It amazes me to say that Ruben Amaro Jr. ACTUALLY made a deal as a seller that impressed me. Not that it’s franchise altering or anything, but Amaro showed that it was possible for him to buy low and sell high. Last December, Amaro signed Roberto Hernandez to a one-year, $4.5M deal with another $1.5M in performance bonuses. Hernandez, who hadn’t been anything special since he stopped being Fausto Carmona, actually put up solid numbers as a Phillie and Amaro moved him to the Dodgers for two players to be named later.

Hernandez left for Hollywood on August 7th and it took roughly three weeks to finalize the deal. Jesmuel Valentin was the first player the Phillies chose. Valentin is a 20-year-old second baseman who was drafted 51st overall in 2012. He struggled at Clearwater offensively after hitting .280/.349/.430 for the Dodgers’ equivalent to Lakewood. The second player was Victor Arano, a 19-year-old right-handed pitcher. Don’t let that 4+ ERA fool you, there’s definitely potential there. In 20.1 innings as a reliever, Arano has a 1.31 ERA with an 18:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Like I said, these two guys are probably not going to hear fans complain about anyone blocking them and Hernandez has continued pitching well for the Dodgers. The fact of the matter is that the Phillies acquired two players that ranked between 11 and 20 in an organization that was a borderline top ten system. If anything, the Phillies have acquired bullpen depth and infield depth at the minimum.

Tags: Jesmuel Valentin, Michael Haftman, philadelphia sports, Phillies Deal, Philly Sports Media, roberto hernandez, TalkSportsPhilly.com, Victor Arano