The Rise And Fall Of Ruben Amaro Jr.

From General Manager to First Base Coach, Ruben Amaro, Jr. has started the downward slope of his baseball career.

It was November 1, 2008 when the 10-year assistant GM Ruben Amaro inherited the World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Ruben Amaro, Jr. was ready to start the apex of his front office career. The team was fresh off their first World Series in nearly three decades, and the team bolstered core players still in the prime of their careers.

The start of the 2009 season brought intrigue. The team had signed outfielder Raul Ibañez to replace Pat Burrell and reliever Chan Ho Park in the offseason to make up for the suspension of lefty reliever J.C. Romero. Ruben Amaro’s debut roster struggled in the beginning of the season to score runs, and team morale was low after the death of legendary broadcaster Harry Kalas. Ruben Amaro took initiative and acquired star pitcher Cliff Lee. The team turned their early struggles into consecutive N.L. East titles and eventually found themselves in the World Series once again. One Yankees team and three Hideki Matsui home runs later, Ruben Amaro’s Phillies failed to retain their championship title. Although much of the team was inherited, Ruben Amaro’s first season as general manager was very successful.

The Phillies had the most historic run in franchise history. Of the five playoff appearances the team has had in the 2000s, Ruben Amaro was in control of the team three of those years. It’s easy to say Ruben Amaro’s successful run was just him piggybacking off of the work of Ed Wade and Pat Gillick, but the moves for guys Ibañez, Lee, Roy Oswalt, Hunter Pence, and Roy Halladay were the sole work of Amaro.

Ruben Amaro, Jr. would never accomplish the ultimate goal of a World Series, as he finished his Phillies GM career with a win/loss record of 573-539 after being fired near the end of last season. Amaro’s legacy on the Phillies has been strange and controversial.

The obvious mistake Amaro made in retrospect was the contract given to Ryan Howard. The first basemen was nearing 30-years old and was among the league’s best left-handed power bats when the team offered him a 6-year $125 million in 2010. The contract seemed risky from the start, and sure enough, it flopped. Howard never could consistently play at a high level throughout the majority of the contract. The contract also made it nearly impossible for the team to move him without eating most of the contract anyways.

Ruben Amaro has also been criticized on believing on its core players for too long instead of breaking them up. Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, and Cole Hamels were all intricate parts of the team’s consecutive playoff runs, however it was no secret that the core was aging. Ruben Amaro’s downfall might have been that he trusted that the core players would re-enact the magic of 2008, or even that he trusted his own decisions too much. It were clear the Phillies missed their chance of getting great value for the aging players, finally shipping Utley and Hamels last season and letting Rollins walk in the season prior.

Lastly, Ruben Amaro’s handling of the farm system was questionable. Unloading prospects in deals for Oswalt and Pence gave the Phillies the worst minor league system in the MLB with outfielder Domonic Brown becoming the only promising player in the farm system. Ruben Amaro was then put in a situation where he had to decide whether to trade Brown or keep him to become the future of the Phillies. The team’s already weak farm system pretty much forced the Amaro to keep Brown. Another big decision that turned into a mistake, as Brown struggled to become the teams every day outfielder throughout his tenure with the team.

These compiled bad decisions have attributed to the demise as Ruben Amaro Jr. the GM. He failed to put bring home another championship to Philadelphia, robbed the team of good value trades, and left the team stuck with a 36-year old Howard for another season. Amaro was at the helm of the team throughout its most successful run. His GM tenure was a success, and whether or not it was because of his doings or because he inherited a special team, Amaro can safely say that he held the reigns of one of the most historic runs in baseball history. Ruben Amaro did not leave the Philadelphia Phillies in total disaster as well. He helped retool the teams farm system into one of the most promising in the league. His successor Matt Kleintak will now inherit one of the most promising and young teams in the majors. Amaro, much like Wade and Gillick did for him, will leave Kleintak to create his own legacy with a roster with some sort of structure. The Phillies will move on with Kleintak, and Ruben Amaro, Jr. will start the dwindling days of his baseball life as first-base coach of the Boston Red Sox.

Ruben Amaro Jr. has left his mark on Philadelphia, whether it is viewed as underserved or ugly.