Clearwater or...Bust.

We have all heard the nickname given to Ruben Amaro (Ruin Tomorrow) Jr. after another questionable free agency from the Phillies General Manager, entering his 6th season after replacing Pat Gillick, who brought the City of Philadelphia its first major championship in 25 years.

Pat, we miss you.

Gillick built a home-grown team that we all showed Brotherly Love like we had never shown before. The 2008 Phillies once again came back against the Mets in September to clinch another NL East title followed by the fat lady singing. Nobody showed the Phillies any sort of challenge that year as they lost no more than 1 game in each Postseason Series. 2008 acquisitions consisted of Pedro Feliz, Joe Blanton; the only two starters who were in their first year in Philadelphia. Pat made great decisions and simply knew what he was doing.

Nov. 3, 2008: Ruben Amaro officially succeeds Pat Gillick as Phillies GM.

The past five Phillies seasons have gone a little something like this:
2009: Win NLDS vs Rockies, Win NLCS vs Dodgers, Lose World Series vs Yankees
2010: Win NLDS vs Reds, Lose NLCS vs Giants
2011: Lose NLDS vs Cardinals
2012: Miss Postseason (81-81)
2013: Miss Postseason (73-89)

The Phillies have steadily declined in every year since they were crowned World F***ing Champions. Usually that doesn't bold well for any professional sports franchise. Let alone one in Philadelphia. The only defense I give Ruben is that the moves he made in his early tenure as GM were defended by many Phillies fans, including some I defended myself.

The reason Gillick was arguably the best GM the Phillies have ever had was he not only assembled a Championship team but built a farm system with unprecedented depth. As Cole Hamels described the future of the team, the Phillies were going to "Parade down Broad Street, again, and again, and again."

So much for that.

Amaro had decisions to make as to resign either Ryan Howard or Jayson Werth with a max contract. He chose to show Howard the money. Werth would not take a paycut and signed with division rival Washington Nationals. Since his 2011 departure, Werth batted .277. Howard a .231, and let's not even bring up his strikeouts.

Amaro has made plenty of trades in his tenure, diminishing the minor league system Pat Gillick worked to put together. Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt all proved to be great players that were key to the success they had until 2011, but was it really worth it when the Phillies will struggle to win 50% of their games this season and have no legitimate young core to build around.

At least those moves had their positives. The moves Amaro has made the past couple years all consist of old guys who did their part, but their part was contribute to team that is one loss of a player away from collapsing for good. This year we get to analyze how close Marlon Byrd and Bobby Abreu are to the end of their careers.

Even after all this negativity, I would still say there is a chance. The job of a baseball team in the regular season is not to be the best team it can be. It's to be better than the four other teams in their division. The NL East is full of teams who could be great, and could be not great. The Braves were an exceptionally tough team last year, making the playoffs with a starting 8 who had only 2 bat over .263. If their pitching doesn't show up like it did last year, you can count them out. I do not think the Nationals are going to underachieve like they did last year but in baseball, you never know. The Mets were going in no direction whatsoever for years, but Matt Harvey seemed to be a glimmer of hope for New York. The loss of their All-Star starting pitcher hurts them dearly. And then there's the Marlins. Some young promising talent, but still years away from actually competing.

I can't predict the Phillies to win the NL East with a straight face, but I will still love and support this team the whole way. They gave me and so many others our first championship. We owe it to them just like they owe it to us, and we each do our part. Hoping for an exciting Summer, led by the brilliant mind of Ryne Sandberg entering his first full year as manager.

Finally, I would like to offer my condolences to former Phillie Curt Schilling and his family. Schilling was diagnosed with cancer and announced it yesterday. I will keep him in my prayers.