Victorino spent another year in the Dodgers minor league system, this time at AA and AAA. In AA, Victorino showed a bit of power (16 home runs in 293 at-bats), but in AAA, he struggled with a .235/.278/.335 line. That wasn't good enough for Mr. Assistant MoneyBall GM, Paul DePodesta, who was running the Dodgers at the time. He left Victorino unprotected in the 2004 Rule 5 draft, and the Phillies, then run by Ed Wade, swooped him up.
For this, the Phillies, and Ed Wade, deserve credit. They saw promise in Victorino and brought him to the organization. That promise is clearly paying off now, as the Phillies have a very cheap and very valuable commodity in right field.
But the Phillies, via Ed Wade, almost lost Victorino. In spring training 2005, Victorino was given a chance to make the team's bench. But, in 54 at-bats, he hit just .167 with a puny .296 slugging percentage. The Phillies didn't think their major league roster had room for Victorino, so they offered him back to the Dodgers on March 31, 2005. According to Rule 5 procedures, the Dodgers could have had him for a mere $25,000 (half the $50,000 the Phillies paid the Dodgers to get Victorino in the first place). Ed Wade saw Victorino had promise, so he gets credit for that, but he quickly gave up on him.
Victorino would be a Dodger today if it weren't for DePodesta's stupidity in not taking Victorino back for a trivial amount of money. The Phillies are now benefiting, but it's not because of Ed Wade's wisdom; it's because of DePodesta's error.
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The Truth About Shane*Victorino - The Good Phight
But at least we kept Jason Repko instead!!
On the bright side, DePo was right about Jayson Werth's hitting ability.
Oh, nevermind.
This certainly puts a dent on DePodesta's track record -
10-05-2008, 05:08 PM
