He was an assistant general manager when the club developed a collection of homegrown minor league players — culminating with a World Series Championship in 2008.
After that season, Amaro Jr. replaced Pat Gillick as general manager — and constructed a baseball club that was as competitive as a team could be from 2009 through 2011, the latter producing the most regular-season wins in franchise history with 102.
The Phils completed a string of five straight National League East championships, then went to the World Series in 2009 and NLCS in 2010. Along the way, Amaro Jr. made countless blockbuster moves — whether it was trading for Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Hunter Pence, or signing Pedro Martinez and eventually Lee for a second stint in Philadelphia after dealing him to Seattle.
Amaro Jr. said players wanted to come to the Phillies organization, which set a standard to win more titles for a fan base that was selling out the ballpark every night.
“My philosophy on the job of the general manager is to try to win, and win championships,” Amaro Jr. said. “We were clearly in an era when we had three or four core players that were probably right in the middle of … the height of their abilities to perform, in Chase (Utley) and Jimmy (Rollins) and Ryan (Howard). And obviously we had Cole (Hamels) and others. Chooch (Carlos Ruiz) was really coming on as a player full time.
“It was an era when I think that we had to capitalize on,” he continued, “and we had to put a lot of resources into it. Obviously we were in a new ballpark (Citizens Bank Park). We had built for this. When (former general manager) Ed Wade as a GM embarked on his mission, which was to get good and stay good, that was part of it, and it was with a core, and then bring in real quality players to continue that process.”
The Phillies haven’t won a title since 2008. Their last winning season and trip to the playoffs was in 2011, when Howard blew out his Achilles on a groundout to end the NLDS and send the eventual world champion Cardinals to the next round.
In 2012, Howard, Utley and Placido Polanco played less than 100 games each. The Phils finished 81-81 and missed the postseason for the first time since 2006.
In 2013, they finished 73-89, which led Amaro Jr. to make a very emotional decision and fire Manager Charlie Manuel in August that season.
In 2014, the Phillies again only won 73 games, and in 2015 they won 63 — the worst in baseball. Amaro Jr. was relieved of his duties before that season was completed.
The core aged and the Phils were never able to regain their elite status, forcing a rebuild under a different regime of President Andy MacPhail and general manager Matt Klentak.
“Hindsight, I guess, it would’ve been nice to maybe breakdown the team a little earlier than we did,” Amaro Jr. admitted, “but it was difficult because we still had some talent there and we had contracts that we had to deal with and such.”
If the Phillies were healthier in 2012, he believes it would have been a better season for them. Before that season, the Phils signed closer Jonathan Papelbon, who, despite his controversial moments, is the club’s all-time saves leader with 123 between 2012 and 2015. His lack of popularity with the fan base makes it easy to forget he had a 2.31 ERA in parts of four seasons with the Phils.
Something else Amaro Jr. may have done differently: how he handled the Lee trade to Seattle after 2009, as he was dealing for Halladay with Toronto.
The Phils traded Lee to the Mariners for prospects Phillippe Aumont, JC Ramirez and Tyson Gillies — none of whom worked out in the Phillies organization. Amaro Jr. was trying to keep the farm system strong as he was dealing with prospects to the Blue Jays for Halladay.
“We probably would’ve benefited more of either holding onto Cliff Lee at that time or taking our time to be able to replenish our organization — which was the goal with the Cliff Lee trade — with kids who were a little bit closer to the major leagues,” he said.
Even so, for as much as Amaro Jr.’s tenure as general manager is remembered for the struggles after 2011, it’s just as important to recognize the successes.
Amaro Jr. was in the Phillies front officer when Rollins, Utley, Howard and Hamels were being developed. In the second half of 2009, including the postseason, Lee was remarkable. Halladay was historically excellent in 2010 and 2011. The Phillies had a tremendous rotation in 2011 with Halladay, Lee, Hamels and Oswalt. Amaro Jr. was the guy who constructed that team.
“And at the end, we did not win more championships, but I was pretty proud of the fact we had a chance to win championships every one of those years until things started to break down on us.”