All Amaro's Men
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All Amaro's Men
Todd Zolecki
Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has his men in place for the future.
From the Phillies:
Benny Looper is a new assistant general manager in charge of player personnel. Looper will oversee the scouting and player development areas. Looper, 60, had spent the previous 23 years with the Seattle Mariners in various capacities at the major and minor league levels, including most recently vice president of player personnel (2006-08), VP of player development & scouting (2003-06) and VP of player development (2002-03). Looper spent five seasons as a player in the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league system. He is the uncle of major league pitcher Braden Looper.
Chuck LaMar was promoted to assistant general manager, player development & scouting. While his main duty will be to manage the player development department, he will also cross-check at the amateur and professional levels. LaMar, 52, joined the Phillies in October of 2007 and spent the past year as the director of professional scouting. Prior to joining the Phillies, LaMar spent a year with the Washington Nationals as special assistant to the general manager and national cross-checker (2007) and 10 years as the general manager of the Tampa Bay Rays (1995-2006).
Mike Ondo has been promoted to pro scouting coordinator. Since joining the Phillies in 1998, Ondo, 33, has worked in the Baseball Operations department, primarily in scouting & player development. He spent the last two years as assistant director, minor leagues, while also assisting the major league coaching staff on scouting reports and statistical analysis.
Dallas Green (senior advisor to the GM), Charley Kerfeld (special assistant to the GM), Gordon Lakey (director, major league scouting), Steve Noworyta (director, minor league operations) and Marti Wolever (director, scouting) are all remaining with the organization.
As previously announced, former GM Pat Gillick will also remain with the club as an advisor to Amaro and club president David Montgomery.
This looks good....but does anybody feel displaced byt the Loopper hiring? He came out of the blue, no? Must have been a Gillick suggestion....Anyone know if we're losing any of our top scouts out in the field?....Can Arbuckle, assuming he gets another job in baseball, have the right to stage a raid and steal them away?— Mark1npt- My brain just exploded. Do the Phillies have a flowchart of the hierarchy? After Rube, who reports to whom?— Sully
- Is this a prelude to the Phils signing Braden Looper off the FA pile?— Mark1npt
- That's got to be the first recorded request for a flowchart in the history of philly.com sports blogs.— B in DC
- There certainly never was an asst. to the asst. or special asst.in the old days....Paul Owens must be rolling in his grave with anothe scotch on the rocks.....but then again, if Gillick's way of going things nets us more WS wins, I ain't complainin'....we can have all the little Indian Chiefs Rube wants.— Mark1npt
- Where do I go to apply ?— freyday17
- Looks good to me go Phils. I think Chuck LaMar and crew can keep us in talant for many years.— Taxman
Comment removed.- I wonder if Gillick knows something we don't know about Looper. Are the M's farm teams about to blow up? I don't follow farm systems enough to have a clue about that one.— B in DC
- I wonder if Gillick knows something we don't know about Looper. Are the M's farm teams about to blow up? I don't follow farm systems enough to have a clue about that one.— B in DC
- Looper's hire must have been the price for Gillick to remain an "advisor". Don't hate on LaMar. He drafted all those young, talented Rays -- his track record for player development is at least as good as Arbuckle.— RichNC
- Glad to see Wolever is staying around. That's big.— incredulous
- The TRUTH show can now be found over at "SIXERVILLE" where long time KNOWLEDGEABLE writers/reporters (not cheerleaders) Smallwood and Jasner are located. It has been alot of fun blogging here and adding my version of the TRUTH. It's going to be a long off-season and everyone needs a break from baseball, it was indeed a glorious season. If there are any Sixer fans lets continue the conversation over there, if not I'll be speaking the TRUTH when pitchers and batters report in 3.5 months. GODSPEED to YOU— Truth
- Comment removed.
- I don't want to rain in anybody's parade, but just because Amaro named them to new positions it means they are going to stay. Maybe they will, but remember two years ago when we hired Art Howe to be our 3B coach? After accepting he went to Texas. I don't think he ever got out of the airplane. Anyway, good decision by Ruben to make the first move.— EL Zorro
