Ruben Amaro Jr.’s ascension to GM of the Philadelphia Phillies is a great story.Ruben Amaro Jr.’s ascension to GM of the Philadelphia Phillies is a great story. Amaro was basically born a Phillie: his father, Ruben Amaro, was a shortstop for the Phillies when Jr. was born in 1965. Amaro was a batboy for the 1980 World Champion Phillies, and he ended up playing for the team after taking a detour to play college ball at Stanford. While he didn’t make quite the impact with the Phillies as he assumed he would, Amaro did learn enough about the game to transition smoothly to the front office, working as assistant GM under Ed Wade and Pat Gillick. Now he’s GM; can’t ask for a more Hollywood ending except the Phillies repeating as World Champions. Gillick will remain with the Phillies as a consultant. More from PhillyBurbs.com, In other GM news, new Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik is hitting the ground running and trying to make a deal or two to improve his team’s fortunes. The GM meetings are taking place in California, and there has already been one minor deal. However, free agents aren’t available until Nov. 14.