An interesting off-season lies ahead…..

After one of the worst seasons in Phillies history, there has been a major overhaul in the front office. Andy McPhail has taken over as team president, Ruben Amaro is out as General Manager, and Matt Klentak is in. It’s a new era in Phillies baseball and there is a sudden buzz of excitement swarming over the Philadelphia baseball community.

Arguably the biggest buzz is surrounding the roster overhaul. This season saw the departures of two of the biggest stars that the Phillies have ever had, in Chase Utley and Cole Hamels. Both deals brought back a fair amount of talent, but that’s only part of the battle. There’s also the development of that talent, in addition to other youngsters, and any possible free agent additions that are brought in.

As demonstrated in other sports, not all free agent “splashes” turn out to be good ones. Hell, that’s even been prominent in baseball as of late (Hello, Pablo Sandoval!). So, while many fans are eager for the team to win sooner rather than later….they also need to understand that the Phils have to spend their money wisely. One wrong investment can set an organization back upwards of five years.

This off-season is arguably one of the more pivotal ones in this team’s history. Cole Hamels, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins are gone and off of the payroll. Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz are the two lone Phillies originals from the ’08 World Series team left. The key to this off-season, is for the team to spend their money wisely, while focusing on the development of their prospects.

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Tags: Alfredo Simon, Andy McPhail, Bartolo Colon, Chase Utley, David Price, Doug Fister, Free Agency, Hisashi Iwakuma, Jeff Samrdzija, Jeremy Guthrie, Jimmy Rollins, John Lackey, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmerman, Kyle Lohse, Mark Buehrle, Mat Latos, Matt Klentak, Mike Leake, MLB Free Agency, Offseason Preview, Phillies, Philly Sports News, ruben amaro jr, Ryan Howard, Ryan Voeglsong, Ryan Waterman, Scott Kazmir, Yovani Gallardo, Zack Grienke