Ruben Amaro could have done that

Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images If you didn’t know better, you might think Ruben Amaro was still running the PhilliesIn October 2015, the Phillies were coming off a 99-loss last place season, and most fans blamed the team’s malaise on former general manager Ruben Amaro. They considered him a smug, incompetent idiot whose reluctance to embrace - or even acknowledge analytics - was the primary reason why the team declined so quickly.

Owner John Middleton and recently-hired president Andy MacPhail were apparently among those who believed that the downfall was at least partly due to the rejection of analytics. They were determined to transform the team into one of the most analytically-driven…