The Rockies aren’t expected to hire a new general manager until next winter, but they have begun to sniff around potential candidates. Former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. is the first name on the public list, per the Athletic’s Nick Groke (via Twitter). Said Amaro, “I would have some interest under the right circumstance. I think they’re figuring out who would be a real candidate and who wouldn’t.”Amaro Jr. is currently a color analyst on the Phillies’ broadcast team.
Amaro Jr. took over from Pat Gillick as the Phillies GM in November of 2008 just after the Phillies won the World Series. Amaro Jr. would lead the Phils to another pennan in 2009, but ultimately, a very talented Philadelphia team with Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard would fail to win another title. They would, however, make the playoffs in each of Amaro’s first three seasons.
Amaro Jr. was particularly criticized for handing Howard a five-year, $125MM extension in 2010 that wouldn’t kick in for another two years at the time of the signing. By the time the extension started, Howard was 32 years old and coming off a devastating Achilles injury. Howard would hit .226/.292/.427 over the length of the deal. Amaro Jr., however, wouldn’t be around to see the end of it: he was let go in September of 2015.
As for his fit with the Rockies, Amaro’s perceived shortcomings somewhat mirror those of the previous Colorado regime. Amaro Jr. drew ire in Philadelphia for holding on too long to the World-Series-winning core and failing to get enough back for those players he did deal away, such as Lee. He also wasn’t afraid to spend big money on free agent relievers, though the $50MM Amaro Jr. used to sign Jonathan Papelbon was considerably more productive than any of the Rockies’ recent splurges.
Amaro Jr. didn’t exactly leave the Phillies empty-handed, however, as he was responsible for acquiring Aaron Nola and Zach Eflin, as well as players like Ken Giles, J.P. Crawford, Sixto Sanchez, and Jorge Alfaro. The latter group no longer plays in Philly, but they were the talent pool from which Amaro’s successors were able to replenish the team via trades for J.T. Realmuto and Jean Segura, for example.
Of course, as the first name made public, there’s no indication that Amaro Jr. is anything more than one possible candidate in the first wave of potential applicants to become Jeff Bridich’s long-term replacement.
That franchise must be Rocky Mountain high to consider bringing in Amaro Jr.
Yeah, it’s definitely an interesting inquiry. He seems like Bridich 2.0 imho.
I would take him over Al
Avila in a heartbeat!!
As a tiger fan myself, I would be all in on letting Avila interview for that position. Avila has to go!!!
The Tigers could’ve been on the verge of being a really good team very soon under better management. They still have some young pieces to be excited about, but the resources were there for a big time winner.
The person who interviews candidates needs practice, too!
LOL
I don’t know why Amaro still gets so much hate. He maximized the Phillies chances to win a second World Series. He brought in talent like Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and Hunter Pence. The best player he gave up in any of those trades was Carlos Carasco.
He even did good stuff for the rebuild drafting Nola (a pick at the time a lot of people made fun of the Phillies for saying he was a safe pick destined to be a number 3 starter) and Rhys Hoskins while trading Rollins for Eflin.
It became cool to hate on Amaro. People wanted more analytics and yes, the team was ready to move on. The idea though that you have to be “high” if you are the Rockies and want to get a guy who had a World Series appearance and a 102 win season with one of the best rotations in history is silly.
You know, I play OOTP and I’m almost always able to make the playoffs/World Series within the first few seasons, especially with a team with already existing talent (like the 08 Phillies), and I usually don’t play past like 3 years in a game because it’s hard to maintain a team after your stars leave/retire and your draft picks start to not work out. This is why I’m not a real GM, and it’s why Ruben Amaro became a first base coach/color analyst after his time as an executive. As you pointed out, he did acquire some good players that the Phillies currently have, but think of all those terrible players he drafted that played from 2013-2017. I don’t hate the guy personally, and sports fans take it way too far sometimes, but he wasn’t that great of a GM and he along with ownership and MacPhail/Klentak is the reason why the team is underperforming today. I still have hope for them, especially for Dombrowski, but after the start to this season my hope is fleeting.
Love it! We need somebody that will bring in BIG NAMES, future payroll be damned. Half the players in the starting lineup nobody has even heard of, aside from diehards.
oh gross
Amari would be an awful choice for the Rockies. He did some good things but totally botched the Cliff Lee situation. After he got Halliday he gave Lee away to Seattle. He did get him back but it cost them the pennant in 2010.
Amaro was a much better GM than anyone gives him credit for. First off, he was in the Phillies front office from the beginning, working as Ed Wade’s number two throughout the rebuild process. (Gillick put some nice finishing touches, but the work of building the team from the ground up was Wade & Amaro.)
Secondly, do you really believe in any realm of possibilities that Amaro orchestrated the Halladay/Lee fiasco? That was clearly a transaction above his pay-grade. If they were truly trading Lee to “replenish the farm system” and not save money, then they would have shopped him around more. They didn’t NEED to trade Lee at the exact same time they traded for Halladay (there were no paychecks being given out, and Lee would have had a trade market at any point in the offseason); they did it to save face, and moved quickly. Interesting that the deal came together so quickly with both Toronto and Seattle—both of Gillick’s old stomping grounds. Hmm.
Amaro had his faults as a GM, no question. After Arbuckle left they drafted beyond horribly. Amaro also refused to move into the 21st century for far too long and held on to players way past their prime.
However, the moves that ultimately doomed the Phillies were done by ownership.
1) Not trading for Roy Halladay in July 2009 (after acquiring Lee; they still needed a starter as shown by their signing of Pedro Martinez, and at that point they’d have had Riccardi over a barrel as he was trying to save his job)
2) Trading Lee away
3) Extending Ryan Howard
All three of these moves or non-moves have ownerships hands all over them trying to save money. (In the Howard extension, they saw a market in two years with Pujols and Fielder potentially getting $200M, and tried to jump the market by giving Howard less money. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize how quickly Howard was declining and got burned.)
Amaro spending $50M on Pappelbon was beyond foolish, but a team like the Phillies can and should be able to absorb a $50M mistake, especially when the player is actually decent, and does what you signed him to do.
You know why he botched the Cliff Lee trade? Because ownership demanded it. They forced him to cut money only to change their minds the next year. They gave him very little time as we and he had little leverage. It’s not really that hard to pull up google and look up these things.
I don’t mean to be rude and I love the site, but do you guys review your posts for errors before posting?
If you have to say the words I don’t mean to be rude…….you probably do……..
I don’t want to offend anyone, but…..(gets offensive)
With all due respect…
They do not. I’ve addressed this with them previously. Getting articles up faster to be the “FIRST” one to post something is more important than cleanliness and accuracy.
Observing the Rockies GM hire this summer will be must read entertainment for baseball fans of all teams. I’m a Rockies fan and I’m very afraid.
Ruin Tomorrow, Jr.
“Tis the slow winter of discontent in the city of brotherly love.”
Came here for this
Amaro was very up and down as a GM. The Howard extension was admittedly inexcusable, but all-in-all he was given too much flak during his run as GM. He made some great moves to supplement the core and continously kept us in position to compete for a WS.
I agree. Seems like there is more to the criticism besides on field stuff. Weird how critical fans can be for no reason at all.
I hope he gets the job…I really do.
This is the most Rockies move ever.
Nah, hiring Matt Klentak would be the most Rockies move ever.
This guy shouldn’t be allowed to attend games as a fan much less be a GM of a MLB team….or the Rockies for that matter. Ahahahaha!
I don’t care how much of the future he mortgages, if he is able to bring a World Series championship to Denver bring him on. Everybody is always concerned about what the team will look like in 5 years, but now is always far more important. 5 year plans rarely work out because there are way too many variables involved. And 5 years from now, the Dodgers will still be outspending the Rockies by at least a 2 to 1 factor. It’s not like it’s the Padres you are worried about. In 5 years they will probably be back down in the basement like most small market teams, but the Dodgers are still going to buy whatever they want and will still be the same tough competition.
The Rockies farm is bad, but improving. But the big club is really not THAT far away from being competitive. The biggest problem is the bullpen as always, but the Rockies really need offense. And not some scrap heap former prospects like CJ Cron and Matt Adams. They need a third baseman who is not a “legacy pick” like Arenado’s cousin Josh Fuentes. They need a catcher that can hit over .100 which knocks out Elias Diaz. They need to quit treating every young player as if they are a multi tool and start building an everyday go-to lineup. Utility players are extremely valuable in a BENCH role, but not as a starter. Defense gets better with repetition and you don’t get that when you are a 2B one day, a CF the next, and a 3B the next.
There is my resume for the job. I doubt I’ll get it though.
Except the Dodgers draft well (see the 2016 draft for example) and the Rockies draft the likes of Robert Tyler and Riley Pint.
I never said they didn’t draft well. I only said they can outspend by at least a 2 to 1 factor. Them drafting well is really just the icing, not the cake. Of course the spending is also a big factor in drafting well also. Because they can afford to take gambles. Like drafting Walker Buehler when he was down with TJ surgery. Or signing 500 different Cuban immigrants and hoping 1 or 2 of them stuck. Or taking on a bad contract with a supplemental pick attached. Small and mid market teams can’t afford to miss on stuff like that, but the Dodgers can just sweep it aside and buy someone else.
Sure, why not Amaro. They’re not going to get anyone good as long as Monfort’s calling the shots.
Amaro would probably not take the job because Monfort won’t let him spend. Anyone who takes the GMJ job in Denver is a lame duck and set up for failure.
He’d have better luck with some like Boy Blunder himself, Matt Klentak.
RAJ is a perfect fit for the Rockies!! Maybe he’ll re-sign Charlie Blackmon to another long-term extension!!
Rocky Mountain High!!!?
What are the Rockies Smoking?
SMH
RAJr aside from Ryan Howard contract did a decent job. I’m reading the same things I read about Ed Wade who history shows did very well.
Ed Wade never gets the credit he deserves for starting that core that won the WS. Nor does he get crtedit for farming Houston’s top players for the continued run!
Ed Wade wanted to hand a young Ryan Howard for Ted Lilly while Jim Thome was blocking Ryan. Apparently the Blue Jays turned it down. That would’ve hurt Philly a little.
Actually, it probably would have helped the Phillies in the long term. Had the Phillies made that deal and moved Howard, they likely keep Thome, who from 2006-2008 (the remaining years on his contract, which the Phillies were paying a significant portion of) was actually a better overall player than Howard. If they wanted to extend him after that (which they probably wouldn’t have) it would have cost them far less that the $179M it cost to extend Howard, and for far fewer years.
Doubtful Tom, only because Pat Gillick was tasked to shedding payroll with regard to Thome and Abreu. Howard’s under $600,000 was quite beneficial. Had they kept Thome they would have had to shed salary elsewhere, potentially costing the Phils at a World Championship.
They didn’t really shed salary to trade Thome; they absorbed quite a bit of salary ($22M) to deal him and took on Aaron Rowand to offset the deal. They traded Jim Thome because they believed Howard was the better player (maybe due to age) going forward, and they had nowhere to play both of them. And they guessed wrong.
They may have traded Abreu to save money, but that wasn’t the reason for the Thome deal. And if it was, they’re worse than I thought with decisions because the deal, over the three remaining years of Thome’s contract, netted them about $2M when all was said and done. Not really the financial return you want when you deal a HOF player.
This headline is weird. It makes me think that Ruben is off orbiting the solar system somewhere and the Rockies just made contact with him. Idk, maybe I’m just stoned.
Some of you should be ashamed with your comments here. Lot of weird hate for a GM who doesn’t have a lot to do with your situation. I don’t get that.
Please take him…. I’d rather have Ben Davis all year.
No way. RAJ in the booth with J-Roll was outstanding. I wish they’d throw Kruk back in there and get rid of Q-Ball.
RAJ had help. He didn’t draft any player associated with the 08 team and I don’t think he drafted anyone other than Dom Brown that made it to the majors as a Philly. Would need to check if he drafted NOLA. But he wasn’t good at managing players through the farm system. Good at fleecing former Philly brass in trades tho. Is Ed Wade or Pat Gillick a GM anywhere?
Lol I love the title. It’s like “US makes contact with Aliens” or something like that
I’m a fan of Ruben Amaro Jr’s work on “The Goldbergs”.
Such an underrated show. RIP “Pops”
You can’t analyze a GM’s tenure without taking into account the ownership he works for. Amaro made some blunders; you want a list of the great Theo’s blunders? You don’t have enough time. But overall his collection of work is not bad. And he’s extremely bright And he grew up around the game. And yes, a minority hire is not a bad idea at this point. Frankly, I’d hire him in a heartbeat. There are others, but he’s a solid candidate.
Very true, Dr. bob!
Rockies “make contact” with Ruben Amaro Jr…. almostmakes it sound like Ruben’s been living in the Amazon rain forest but the Rockies’ expedition finally found him.
Ruin Tomorrow Jr. is just about the worst guy possible to hire as a GM, especially for a rebuilding team
Oh brother, once again same ol, same ol…..NEW BLOOD IS BETTER! STOP REHASHING THESE MULTI-TIME FAILURES!!!
Neal Huntingdon knows how to work with a bad owner and make salary dump trades. Total yes man.
I’m sorry but Ruin Tomorrow Jr. is one of the funniest GM nicknames ever lmao
I just hope he takes it as he is an awful commentary guy. More Rollins less Ruben
The guy I saw called “Ruin Tomorrow Jr” can still get a job in baseball. They must be high..
That Howard deal was so dumb that this guy should never work again. And it was a dumb deal the day it was announced.
Hello TC,
I believe there’s a missing letter of the word ‘pennan’ in the sentence, Can you fix the spelling error? Please & thank you.
“Amaro Jr. would lead the Phils to another ‘pennan’ in 2009, but ultimately, a very talented Philadelphia team with Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard would fail to win another title”.