Ruben Amaro Decides Reveals Darin Ruf is not a Right Fielder

“Ruben Amaro Jr. settled into one of the blue seats a few rows from the field Saturday afternoon at Turner Field. He munched on sunflower seeds as Scott Proefrock, one of his assistant general managers, sat in the row behind him.”—Todd Zolecki

Sep 1, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Darin Ruf (18) misses a fly ball from Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo (not pictured) during the third inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Reid Compton-USA TODAY Sports

According to this story by Todd Zolecki, Ruben Amaro sounds like he has decided Scott Proefrock’s offseason job will be following him around, watching him eat snacks.

“It doesn’t count as a snack unless someone knows I ate it,” Ruben explains.

“Ruben, I just want to go home. My kid thinks I’m just a kindly neighbor who stops by occasionally.”

“Hand me that trail mix, will ya, Scott? I skipped brunch.”

In between sadistic, relentless hazings of his staff, Amaro will be making some moves this summer. One of those moves came recently, when he moved his mouth full of sunflower seeds to say that Darin Ruf did not prove himself to be a starting right fielder in 2013.

“I think he can fill in for us. But I can’t sit here and tell you that he’s an everyday player for us. He’s going to have to fight for a job in some way, shape or form. Can he add some depth to our bench, to our club overall? Can he play a little left, can he play a little right, can he play a little first and give Howard a blow? He can become valuable in that regard. But I don’t know he’s an everyday player yet.”—Ruben Amaro, via Todd Zolecki

“Give Howard a blow?” What is that? Like, hit him? With a bat? So he gets more playing time? Jesus, Ruben. That’s not what ‘advanced metrics’ is.

Well, barring Amaro

using a completely trusting Darin Ruf as a hit man, he’s right. Darin Ruf as the starting right fielder would be a fine name to see on a list of John Mayberry, Ben Francisco, and Delmon Young, because those are the caliber of right fielders with whom he is comparable. His bat is charged, though, so you want him in there somewhere, but his defensive positioning may wind up a little scrambled.

I keep telling people Howard at 100% probably only means 90-100 games anyway.