Here's one way to alienate loyal followers of your baseball team: completely diss them.
In an interview with CSN Philadelphia on Monday, Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said the faithful have a lot to learn.
“They don’t understand the game,” Amaro said in reference to fans wanting the Phillies to promote their minor-league prospects. "They don’t understand the process. There’s a process. And then they bitch and complain because we don’t have a plan. There’s a plan in place and we’re sticking with the plan. We can’t do what’s best for the fan. We have to do what’s best for the organization so the fan can reap the benefit of it later on. That’s the truth.”
Plan or no plan, fans have plenty to be upset about, Mr. GM. The team was 19-28 and nine games out of first in the National League East on Tuesday afternoon. It's top heavy in salary, led by the $25 million and $23.5 million due to Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels respectively this year.
Despite his latest comments, some fans didn't hold Amaro in high regard to begin with, as this Fire Ruben Amaro Jr. Twitter account illustrates.
Amaro was ranked last May by the Sporting News as the worst GM in baseball. He probably wouldn't rate so high in public relations either.