The Philadelphia Phillies fired former general manger Ruben Amaro Jr. on Sept. 10, but the 50-year-old front office mind won’t let the dismissal stop him from putting his baseball aptitude to work on the diamond.
Ian Browne of MLB.com announced on Monday morning that Amaro will join the Boston Red Sox as their new first base coach.
The news of Amaro’s unorthodox career move came on the same day the Phillies reportedly hired 35-year-old Matt Klentak to be the team’s new general manager, according to CSN Philly’s Jim Salisbury.
NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra provided a unique spin on Amaro’s bold choice:
The Boston Globe‘s Pete Abraham noted it was a move that could pay off for Amaro:
Amaro took over as Philadelphia’s general manager in 2009 after more than a decade in the team’s front office, and the Phillies prospered for a few years under his guidance. In 2009, they captured their second straight National League pennant but failed to snag back-to-back World Series titles, as they fell to the New York Yankees in the Fall Classic.
Philadelphia followed up by winning an MLB-best 97 games in 2010 before securing a franchise-record 102 victories during the 2011 campaign. However, the Phillies lost in the 2010 National League Championship Series and crumbled in the 2011 National League Division Series. Since then, they’ve missed the playoffs in four straight seasons.
An eight-year MLB veteran who played for the Phillies, Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland Indians, Amaro has the baseball IQ necessary to become a key component of John Farrell’s coaching staff in Boston as the Red Sox seek to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2013.
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