Amaro Says Papelbon Has No Idea How the Front Office Works, Implying Amaro Does

Photo Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

In yet another thing Jonathan Papelbon said in his All-Star media availability yesterday – it’s Pap day apparently – the closer said that he’s not sure Ruben Amaro actually has the decision making power to get a deal done. “I’m not sure, just sitting down speaking with Ruben is gonna get something done,” he said, implying there’s too many cooks in the kitchen between Amaro, Gillick, MacPhail, and Middleton. But Ruben, speaking on Angelo Cataldi’s morning show, said that Papelbon has no idea how the front office works, and then Ruben proved that he did:

“Pap is a very good pitcher. He doesn’t know anything about the front-office. It’s as simple as that. I’m the GM and Pat [Gillick] is my boss. And in all of these deals, particularly in ones that are as complicated and can be involved—have so much money involved, these are all discussions that we’ve had. When I was with David Montgomery, same thing. These are all decisions that are made unilaterally. I don’t walk into a discussion and make a deal. It’s something that’s discussed, not just with me, but with my boss and that’s the same structure that we have right now. Right now, Andy [MacPhail] is part of the decision making process, but only in so much that he’s an observer and someone who’s gonna give us his opinion. Really, Pat is the one that ultimately will make the ultimate decisions.”

It’s a good strategy. Show that Papelbon doesn’t know how the front office works by explaining exactly how the front office works, while not exactly proving that Pap is wrong. Pap said there are too many voices in the room and Amaro doesn’t make the decision. Ruben said there are only two (and a half) voices in the room, and he doesn’t make the final decision. So I’m not sure if Papelbon or Amaro wins this round, but I do know that we all lose.