Sadly, There's No Way Philadelphia Phillies Owner/CEO David Montgomery Will Fire Ruben Amaro Jr.

All four major Philadelphia TV stations have been asking the question for days in various polls on the websites they run: Who should the Philadelphia Phillies trade?

Inevitably, the top name in the comments is always the tongue-in-cheek addition of  GM Ruben Amaro Jr.

Yesterday, the Phillies — notably Amaro — did not trade anyone and this intensified the calls for Amaro’s head. It’s all really a waste of time, because the sad reality of the situation is despite what the fans say or write this ownership will not trade or fire Ruben Amaro Jr. There is even a firerubenamarojr.com website that’s thriving and another fireruben that’s for sale on eBay.

All of this is a lot of wasted energy, because it fails to take into account the Phillies’ convoluted ownership situation. There are 10 owners of the team now, all wealthy enough to own a piece of the team but none wealthy enough to buy the other nine out.

As long as this current arrangement exists, David Montgomery will continue to be the chief of the 10 owners and the CEO of the team; and as long as Montgomery is in charge, Amaro is going nowhere. The two go way back and have a father/son relationship. Montgomery, a University of Pennsylvania and Penn Charter High School graduate, was a big fan of Ruben Amaro Sr. when the GM’s dad was a player with the Phillies and Montgomery was a boy attending games at Connie Mack Stadium.

Amaro Jr. played for Penn Charter before eventually going to Stanford and playing for the Phillies himself.  Star-struck Montgomery attended many of those high school baseball games, watching son while sitting with father. The Amaros and Montgomery have been friends for years, and nothing is going to come between that, not even a failing franchise.

In reality, the only way Amaro is ever leaving the Phillies is when Montgomery does and that prospect does not seem likely. The sooner Phillies fans understand that relationship the better off they are directing their precious summer energy elsewhere.

Mike Gibson is a Phillies writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @papreps , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.