The departure of Scott Rolen from the Phillies is the end of the beginning of an era for the enigmatic Philadelphia organization.

Rolen was drafted by the club in 1993, and it signaled new scouting director Mike Arbuckle's fresh way (for the Phillies) of doing business, investing in high-reward prospects to revitalize a sorry player-development system. Rolen quickly became a star and helped break in more than a dozen farmhands season after dreary season. And now that some real talents such as Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell and others have come through the system and given the team a brighter future, Rolen is gone, made expendable by the process he once symbolized.

It's rare to refer to the Phillies' farm system without a punch line attached. (See?) But like a rocket that loses its boosters, it appears as if Rolen can fall away and the Phillies can still travel where they want to go. First-rate afterburners are in reserve.

First there's the homegrown talent at the major-league level. Rollins, just 23, has made the All-Star team at shortstop each of his first two seasons. Burrell has exploded this summer into the purebred power-hitter many foresaw in him, as he's pace for 39-115-.282 numbers. (He's only 25 himself.) Second baseman Marlon Anderson, catcher Mike Lieberthal, starters Randy Wolf and Brandon Duckworth and relievers Dave Coggin and Carlos Silva also all were Phillies signees; amazingly, when Rolen, Rollins and Anderson converged for a mound conference with Wolf some months ago, four Philadelphia second-round picks were within a six-foot radius. And the pipeline continues to flow: Brett Myers, called up just last week, and Gavin Floyd, currently in Class A, could be the two best right-handed pitching prospects in the game.

	Brett Myers made his big-league debut last week.

The difference between all these products and those from the Phillies' past?

"They can play," longtime coach John Vuckovich said.

Most of this is thanks to Arbuckle. Starting with Wayne Gomes and Rolen in his initial draft of 1993, all 11 of his first- and second-round picks for the next five years reached the big leagues, an incredibly rare feat. Arbuckle hasn't gotten much from the lower rounds or from Latin America, but looking at players who signed since 1993, the Phillies still tie for 13th in baseball by developing 14 players on this year's Opening Day rosters.

Those 14 had combined for 265 Win Shares (Bill James' new statistic) entering this season, which ranks 15th. Placing 13th and 15th might not sound too high, but it's downright vertiginous compared to what the Phillies had been used to for the past two decades. The club's 1976-80 glory days were a byproduct of their strong farm system (Mike Schmidt, Bob Boone, Larry Bowa, Greg Luzinski, et al) but after the Carpenter family sold the club in 1981 that operation became as neglected as the nearby Delaware docks. Soon there was no Latin American pipeline (once flowing with the likes of George Bell, Julio Franco and Juan Samuel) to speak of, first-rounders bombed annually and team executives were left touting the ephemeral skills of Ron Lockett and Ron Blazier.

Arbuckle was hired away from the thriving Braves operation in late 1992 and put in charge of scouting. Rolen was his first coup. He targeted other high-ceiling tools guys such as Rollins, his second-rounder in 1996. As regard for Arbuckle's work rose, the former high school history and geography teacher turned to the education aspect of the system: revamping minor-league instruction, a hidden strength for the Braves.

"We really focus on teaching and work ethic among the staff -- making players better has to be the priority," says Arbuckle, promoted to assistant GM last offseason and considered one of the game's better prospects himself -- as a GM. "Instructors are literally putting in double the hours of before, or more. And it's not busywork time.

"You can have a group of nice guys who finish last, and everybody can pat 'em on the back and say they're great guys: 'The Phillies guys are great guys.' But that doesn't mean you're respected. I want people to respect us."

Part of what the Phillies taught their prospects was -- literally -- to be like Scott Rolen. Watch how he plays. Watch how he works. That's how to do it. The club marketed the quiet, workmanlike kid everywhere from pocket schedules to promo shots. He was the sign of what could be if the club stayed the course of developing talent internally.

Weird. As soon as the club evolved into a contender last summer under maniacal manager Larry Bowa, Rolen, suddenly too quiet and workmanlike, became a favorite target, a symbol of the old days. Rollins and Burrell were the future, Rolen merely a reminder of a dowdy past. Within months the backbone was in the backseat, implicitly told that his kind wouldn't fit in anymore.

Nine years after Scott Rolen's signing defibrillated the organization and demonstrated what player development can mean, the Phillies will rely on his successors -- Rollins, Burrell, Myers -- as they take the final steps toward their new ballpark for 2004. Ironically, Rolen will not take those steps with them.

Alan Schwarz is the Senior Writer of Baseball America magazine and a regular contributor to ESPN.com.