Amaro, Jr. & the Amazing Technicolor Smugcoat

Ruben Amaro, Jr. probably wasn’t terribly surprised when he signed a four-year contract extension with the Phillies, but when he subtly seduced the Lees back to Philadelphia, the hometown hero’s Smug Level™ was at an all-time high.

A feature on Ruben in Philadelphia Magazine highlighted much of what we already knew about the ninja GM. He gets what he wants, he doesn’t really care what you think about him and he’s not going to sugarcoat anything.

On bringing Cliff Lee back to the Phillies:

“That reaction from Jayson was funny,” says Amaro in his office in February, again flashing that smile. “He was pissed off. He had just signed with Washington. He said to me, ‘You dumbass. You could’ve had both of us.’ And I said, ‘You’re the dumbass. You could have taken our arbitration offer.’”

Roy Halladay’s reaction to signing the city’s second favorite staff ace?

“Ruben, I just want to win,” the pitcher told Amaro. “I don’t care what you give the guy.”

And how does the mother of smug justify his constant intense yet indifferent demeanor?

“Ruben’s played baseball in Venezuela, where you get batteries and beer cans thrown at you. Listening to some guy on the radio scream ‘You’re a moron!’ 25 times in a sentence isn’t really a big deal.”

Normally I try err on the side of Halladay and be the gracious type, but Amaro hit the nail on the head with his snarky reply to Werth. I guess hindsight really is 20/20. 

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