Amaro

FOR THE first time in 10 years, the Phillies of 2012 failed to finish a season with a winning record. In the days following the season finale, manager Charlie Manuel was placed squarely into the crosshairs of outsiders seeking a fall guy. Manuel, whose contract expires after the 2013 season, watched his bosses promote Triple A manager and rumored major league manager heir apparent Ryne Sandberg to the Phillies' coaching staff. In a news conference days after the season ended with a series of coaching changes, Manuel answered all of the questions correctly, and with confidence, too. He isn't worried about his job security.

ALTHOUGH TEAMS are allowed to sign free agents from other teams beginning 6 days after the World Series - which means midnight on Friday this year - baseball's hot-stove season generally doesn't get any hotter than in early December at the Winter Meetings. But Ruben Amaro Jr. worked quicker than most last year. He had a future Hall of Famer and a four-time All-Star closer outfitted for red pinstripes a week and a half before sitting down for his Thanksgiving dinner. So Amaro should have a new centerfielder signed before most people wake up Saturday morning, right?

As Ruben Amaro's mother keeps reminding him, it's always taken him longer than most of the other kids. "My teeth came in late. I didn't reach puberty until I was 14," he said, smiling as he leaned against the bat rack before the Phillies' game last night at Dodger Stadium. And maybe that's it. Maybe that's why Amaro, who seemed less likely than, say, Julio Peguero to resurface in a Phillies uniform after he was traded to the Cleveland Indians after the 1993 season, has not only made it back but carved out a niche for himself.

When Ruben Amaro was called up from Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on June 17, word was he would get some starts against lefthanded pitching while Wes Chamberlain was on the disabled list. For more than a week, it didn't work out that way. Jim Eisenreich was swinging a hot bat. Manager Jim Fregosi kept him in the lineup. Last night, though, Fregosi decided Eisenreich needed a rest. Amaro, hitless in three at-bats as a pinch-hitter since his arrival, got the start he had been waiting for. And he didn't whiff it. He had the first four-hit game of his major league career, including a two- run homer in the eighth that lifted the Phillies to an 8-6 win over the Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium.

MILWAUKEE - The caveat was necessary for a man who has dealt away aces and top prospects, players thought untouchable - a label that, truthfully, does not exist in baseball and certainly not in Ruben Amaro Jr.'s mind. "I can't say we'd never, ever trade anybody," Amaro said. In an empty ballroom at the Pfister Hotel, the Phillies general manager flashed a trademark smirk as his meetings with the rest of baseball's deal-makers neared completion. Amaro still has about $60 million to spend this winter, and that is his priority.

When Ruben Amaro Jr. recently engaged a few of his rival general managers in discussions, the topic of third base arose, and they all reached one conclusion: It is a difficult position to fill. "Somebody's going to play there," Amaro said. "We'll have to try to figure it out. " The Phillies, theoretically, have three lineup holes to fill for 2013. Amaro has effectively guaranteed Domonic Brown one of the outfield jobs, leaving two others, plus third base. The rest of the infield is locked up, assuming the team exercises catcher Carlos Ruiz's $5 million option.

THE BULK of the work is finished, with a third baseman (Michael Young), a centerfielder (Ben Revere), a setup man (Mike Adams) and a fifth starter (John Lannan) all outfitted in Phillies red before Christmas. But Ruben Amaro Jr. isn't finished with his offseason shopping, even if he did allow the possibility of going to spring training in 2 months with the current roster. "It's very possible that we have the answers internally," Amaro said of what would appear to be a glaring need for a reliable, productive, veteran bat for the outfield.

DALLAS - The GPS in Ruben Amaro Jr.'s head seems to always tell him to take the unexpected turn. Now, that unpredictable directional voice may be talking to Amaro again - if you believe that the Phillies general manager is about to do all the things necessary to make Aramis Ramirez his new third baseman. It's possible, of course, that this is all just a negotiating ploy to get shortstop Jimmy Rollins to back down on his free-agent asking price, which apparently remains well above the plateau the Phillies are willing to pay. Amaro said for the umpteenth time this offseason that his priority is to re-sign Rollins, but he also admitted that if his veteran shortstop with the surest glove in the National League goes elsewhere, the Phillies need a Plan B. "I think we'd probably have to consider improving our offense somewhere else," the general manager said.

MILWAUKEE - As Ruben Amaro Jr. unveiled his latest prize 900 miles to the east, baseball's general managers trickled into this city for their first face-to-face contact of the winter. Amaro soon joined them in this charming Midwest city, but only after awarding the largest-ever deal for a relief pitcher. At its core, the Jonathan Papelbon deal epitomizes the debate of a closer's importance. The Phillies will be accused of overpaying, but that label is usually applied to most reliever contracts.

An MRI might show what is going on inside Chase Utley's knees. It can't tell us what's going on inside his head. That's just as important, as the Phillies second baseman embarks on his second annual quest for a short-term solution to his chronic knee problems. Utley has chosen to keep his medical issues and options to himself, which is his absolute right. It is also the right of the fans who contribute to his millions in salary to wish he'd be a little bit more forthcoming. Forced to honor Utley's wish for privacy, the Phillies have come off looking less than honest with those same fans.

The Phillies' season is only 18 days and 16 games old, which is a point most likely to be made by people who have some incentive to remind us it's early. People like Ruben Amaro Jr. "We've played 15 games," the general manager said before Thursday's 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park, when they left the potential tying and winning runs in scoring position to end the game. "It's 15 games," Amaro repeated. "Somebody said we still have 90 percent of the season left.

Charlie Manuel offered a history lesson Tuesday afternoon. He was talking about Roy Halladay, once a Phillies ace but now unrecognizable, and brought up Brad Lidge's name. The former Phillies closer is the quintessential example of Manuel's loyalty. Lidge blew 11 saves in 2009, pitched to a 7.21 ERA, but remained the closer as the Phillies won the pennant. "I looked down there and, to me, Brad Lidge was probably still the best I had," Manuel said. "If I was going to lose the game, it was going to be with Brad Lidge.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - A question-and-answer session with Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. Q: Let's start with Roy Halladay: Do you believe a bad 2013 will sink this team's chances? A: Obviously not having him be the Doc that he was in '10 and '11 . . . We'd rather have that one than the one in 2012. But in a lot of ways I think we're better armed this year that if he's not that guy we still have an opportunity to make our mark. Even though the division is every bit more tough and difficult as it has been in the past, I still think we have a good club.

LAKELAND, Fla. - The spring games have begun, but Delmon Young has yet to take a real batting practice swing. Young has started to hit side tosses, or flips, in the batting cage, Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Sunday. Young's hitting has mostly been limited to tee work while he recovers from November microfracture surgery on his right ankle. He has played long toss. He has not run. The 27-year-old outfielder is scheduled to visit a doctor in a week, Amaro said, with hopes of being cleared for more activity.

This is a post by David Murphy on the Daily News' baseball blog, High Cheese. A BASEBALL player, a lawyer and a rabbi walked into Ruben Amaro Jr.'s explanation for signing Delmon Young on Tuesday, and now a once-proud baseball team enters 2013 as a potential off-Broadway farce. In contemplating the general manager's justification for acquiring the 27-year-old outfielder, who in April of last season was suspended after a drunken confrontation that included his allegedly hurling an anti-Semitic slur, you can't help but wonder if the whole thing was an exercise in gallows humor.

BACK IN 1984, the Three Kings paid a visit to the children of Cramp Elementary School in Kensington to help celebrate the Little Christmas, or the Feast of the Three Kings. Of course, they bore gifts, although not gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Three Kings were portrayed by cops from the Spanish-American Law Enforcement Officers Association, and among them was Juan C. Amaro Sr., doing his part to make the Jan. 6 observance of the celebration a happy one for the kids. It was typical of Juan Amaro, whose joy it was to bring happiness to one and all, especially children, and especially around the Christmas holiday.

Ruben Amaro Jr. looks at the Phillies and, like you, he doesn't know what to expect in 2013. If this is unsettling just one month before players report for spring training, it is the nature of how things are going to be for a while. The biggest obstacle for Amaro as he pieced together the plan for the coming season is that there is no way to know whether the core around which the Phillies are constructed still has one more run as a legitimate contender. That uncertainty manifested itself in many ways over the offseason, but none so obvious as the situation at the corner outfield positions, where Amaro apparently is doing nothing more than hoping at least one major-league regular emerges from a mixed bag containing Domonic Brown, John Mayberry Jr., Darin Ruf, and Laynce Nix. "We're likely going with what we've got," Amaro said last week, indicating he's not all that thrilled with the idea, either.

HANG AROUND Charlie Manuel for 8 months a year and you'll hear some of his favorite, unique expressions on a regular basis. Charlie-isms. Some of them wouldn't make sense if they came from anyone else's mouth. Others make a lot of sense and speak to the baseball acumen of the longtime manager. At least a few times a month, Manuel will repeat the same refrain regarding major league players who are on the fringe of becoming staples in his lineup. It goes something like his: "It takes a special player to be an everyday, major league player . . . " The Phillies have their share of such players, including two MVPs (Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard)

FOR THE first time in 10 years, the Phillies of 2012 failed to finish a season with a winning record. In the days following the season finale, manager Charlie Manuel was placed squarely into the crosshairs of outsiders seeking a fall guy. Manuel, whose contract expires after the 2013 season, watched his bosses promote Triple A manager and rumored major league manager heir apparent Ryne Sandberg to the Phillies' coaching staff. In a news conference days after the season ended with a series of coaching changes, Manuel answered all of the questions correctly, and with confidence, too. He isn't worried about his job security.

THE BULK of the work is finished, with a third baseman (Michael Young), a centerfielder (Ben Revere), a setup man (Mike Adams) and a fifth starter (John Lannan) all outfitted in Phillies red before Christmas. But Ruben Amaro Jr. isn't finished with his offseason shopping, even if he did allow the possibility of going to spring training in 2 months with the current roster. "It's very possible that we have the answers internally," Amaro said of what would appear to be a glaring need for a reliable, productive, veteran bat for the outfield.