Bad news, Phillies fans: Ruben Amaro Jr is likely going to be staying on as the team's general manager, according to an interview that Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer did with Phillies team president David Montgomery.
INQ: Given that chain of command, Ruben is under contract next year, but will he be back?
DM: Oh, Ruben is our general manager.
Sorry, Philadelphia. But Montgomery wasn't done, and proceeded to laud Amaro in response to Gelb's next question.
INQ: What is your confidence level in him being the guy to turn it around?
DM: I guess I have a broader perspective than other people do. I've seen Ruben at work since 1999. I've seen the diligence he's put in as an assistant GM. I think he benefited greatly from the opportunity to work under two very good, but very different general managers in style with Ed [Wade] and Pat [Gillick]. It's good we have both of their services still involved.
One of the things Ruben has done well is, we make decisions. That's a good thing. Where you get in trouble in life is if you start to think you should make decisions and the people working for you should support your decision. We listen to the opinions of others and then we make decisions together, that's a good thing. It's probably one of the best lessons Ruben learned from Pat. One of Pat's strongest attributes as a general manager was he was a good listener. He wanted to make sure everybody expressed their opinion on a potential deal or talent evaluation or projection. Ruben has done well with that.
Have we had some bumps in the road the last few years? No question. Sometimes people look back and ask, 'Why did they pick up so-and-so?' Well they are probably missing the predicate as to why we did it. I had a couple people say to me, 'It's a shame you didn't give Ruf at-bats all year.' Well, yeah, it is as it turned out. But we didn't go into spring training thinking both Domonic [Brown] and Darin Ruf could be our corner outfielders. So we wanted to bring a veteran. Domonic won the job in spring training. Then Delmon [Young] came. Darin probably benefited from his time [in the minors] — he certainly needed time in the outfield. Now you look at it and say, 'Why would you have bothered with that other guy?' If you knew in January what you know today, why bother? But you don't know those things.
It's the same thing with Michael Young. To know Michael Young was almost a blessing for me. He's another high-caliber player. I did not see him at the peak of his career, but he is also a quality individual. You need good people to set the example, particularly when you are bringing young people into the clubhouse. You need the Michael Youngs to set the example. You need the Kevin Frandsens to have enthusiasm for the game. That, to me, makes the team experience a positive one and gives you a better chance of getting the most out of your group.
Ed Wade and Pat Gillick in the same sentence along with "very good"…that does not compute. That's like saying "Miguel Cabrera and Laynce Nix are both very good baseball players". The entire interview with Montgomery is pretty enlightening, but the man's insistence on absolving Amaro for all of his errors over the past few seasons is mind-numbing. Good job, good effort, Mr Montgomery.
