The Philadelphia Phillies are moving on from Ruben Amaro. The team announced on Thursday that they wouldn’t be extending their current GM’s contract, and that Scott Proferock would be taking over on an interim basis while the search for a new GM immediately commenced.
#Phillies announced today that the club has elected not to extend the contract of Senior Vice President & General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr.
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 10, 2015
The team has named Assistant General Manager Scott Proefrock as Interim General Manager, effective immediately.
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 10, 2015
The Phillies released a statement about Amaro’s departure, with the team’s ownership backing the decision made by Andy MacPhail.
Full release from #Phillies on Amaro: pic.twitter.com/8PZPRC664T
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) September 10, 2015
Amaro, perhaps undeservedly, was given plenty of scorn for the Phillies’ struggles in recent seasons. Amaro committed a significant amount of the team’s payroll to an aging core of players that won the 2008 World Series, and the team continued moving backwards, finishing below .500 in 2013, 2014, and now, 2015.
Amaro didn’t start breaking up that core of players until last season, but by then, it was too little, too late, even after the team received strong returns for Marlon Byrd, Cole Hamels, Jonathan Papelbon, Ben Revere, Jimmy Rollins, and Chase Utley over the last year.
Whoever ends up as the new Phillies GM will be walking into a great situation, as the team plays in a beautiful new (as in “less than 15 years old” new, not “brand spanking new”) ballpark, doesn’t have much in the way of long-term salary commitments, and has a farm system recently restocked by Amaro and his regime in the last ten months or so.
