Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, & GM Ruben Amaro Jr joined 610 WIP to talk about the teams’ signing of Cliff Lee. Charlie Manuel said he reminded Amaro before the offseason “Don’t forget about Cliff.”
"When the season was over we talked about it in the office. I remember bringing it up and I think I said something to him, ‘Don’t forget Cliff.’ And he says, ‘Charlie believe me, we will do what we can. I will definitely watch that.’ When the money started getting big with the Yankees and Texas, I didn’t know that we had a shot or not. I think Cliff… evidently he showed today how much he liked us and he proved that he wanted to pitch for us. He let guys know that it was definitely on his mind from the start. He said that today in his conference, which was great. Our city and our team and our players they are the ones that really kind of won Cliff over and I think of course he did such a great job for us and he is a huge addition to our rotation."
Amaro discussed a bit about how tough it is be a big league GM.
"Well you know naturally everybody is human. To a point, sure, but at the same time I have to look at the big picture here and, listen, we are not going to make the right decisions all the time. We are going to be criticized. That is the nature of this job. If you are not tough-skinned enough to handle it you shouldn’t be in this business. Fortunately for me, I was a terrible player, I got booed all the time. So I was already for this, ‘Ruben you stink! Why are you back in Philly?’ Does it bother you? Sure it does, but everybody is human, but at the same time that is occupational hazard. You have got to kind of live with it. Me personally, I just have to know that we are not going to make the right decisions all the time. It is not going to happen. We are human beings just like the players. They are not going to make the pitch all the time, they are not going to get a hit all the time. This is part of the nature of the beast, so hopefully you make more of the right decisions than the wrong ones."
Read the rest of the transcript over on Sports Radio Interviews