Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe wrote a feature piece on former Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro, who is entering his first season as the Boston Red Sox first-base coach. The piece included tidbits about how Amaro received various job offers — from television to real estate — once the Phillies parted ways with him. Yet, he elected to lower his standards to a degree, and accept a job as field coach.
Abraham also noted in the article that Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski became aware of Amaro's interest in becoming a coach through an article that his colleague Nick Cafardo penned.
The Globe unintentionally helped connect Amaro to the Red Sox.
National baseball writer Nick Cafardo reported in a notes column on Oct. 4 that Amaro was interested in an on-field position. Dombrowski read the item the same day first base coach Arnie Beyeler was fired.
Farrell called Amaro to gauge his interest and he was hired three weeks later.
The article that he was referring to was the October 4th, 2015 edition of Cafardo's weekly "Sunday Baseball Notes" column, which had this then-shocking nugget on Amaro.
Ruben Amaro Jr. a manager? Bob Lamonte, the premier agent for NFL coaches and executives, has taken on a new baseball assignment — remaking the former Phillies GM. Lamonte, who has remade the careers of NFL coaches such as John Fox, Andy Reid, and Jack Del Rio, and transformed Jon Gruden from NFL coach to ESPN star, is now working with the 50-year-old Amaro and trying to sell him as a GM or manager. Amaro, who spent most of his eight seasons with the Phillies as their GM, would like to manage, and with the Marlins breaking that barrier with Dan Jennings stepping down from the front office to the dugout this season, Amaro, a Stanford graduate, appears serious about the challenge. Amaro, a former utility player for four major league teams, could appeal to a team such as Miami, which may be looking for a connection with Latin players. Lamonte is close to Tony La Russa, Walt Jocketty, and Pat Gillick, who all have endorsed Amaro pursuing a managing job.
The article, as mentioned above, wasn't needed for Amaro to get any job offers. Abraham notes that Amaro had offers to join front-offices, work as an analyst or take jobs outside of the sport. For him to get job offers as a coach, he probably did need the help of this article, but more because of how surprising it was that he was interested in following up his tenure as a general manager by wanting to get into coaching.
As Cafardo's note says, being a first-base coach isn't the end-game Amaro hopes for. It seems less than likely that Amaro ever will be a manager, but that's what he's striving for. He deserves credit for passing up numerous other more lucrative jobs and attempting to build himself into what he aspires to be.
Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) is the Managing Editor of Philliedelphia.com, focusing on news and features.
