Ruben Amaro Jr.’s new job; Joe Buck’s awkward final Fox appearance

Over the past two years, former Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has reinvented himself as a Philadelphia media figure.

Amaro’s been surprisingly good as a Phillies analyst on NBC Sports Philadelphia since he joined the network in 2020, and has let his hair down a bit as a recurring co-host on 94.1 WIP’s morning show alongside the retiring Angelo Cataldi.

This season, Amaro is adding a new gig — he’ll join the MLB Network as a studio analyst beginning next month, according to sources at the network. Amaro will appear across the network’s studio programming, and will probably get most of his work leading up to the trade deadline at the end of July.

Amaro will also have the opportunity to team up with former Phillies pitcher Dan Plesac, who threw the last pitch in the history of Veterans Stadium and was part of the team when Amaro was an assistant general manager.

» READ MORE: Eagles announcer Merrill Reese signs new WIP contract

Amaro joined the Phillies front office after retiring as a player in 1998. He was promoted to general manager in 2009, and held the role until he was fired in early 2015.

Over the past few seasons, there have been reports that teams have spoken with Amaro about their vacant GM positions, including the Colorado Rockies in 2021. If his goal is to return to a team someday, the MLB Network would be a good launching pad — the Phillies hired manager Joe Girardi after a two-year stint as an analyst.

MLB Network recently added former catcher Alex Avila and former outfielder Cameron Maybin to its studio lineup, and the network’s morning show MLB Central will start an hour earlier this year, at 9 a.m.

» READ MORE: ‘He’s going to fit right in’: Inside the Phillies’ pursuit of Kyle Schwarber

On Wednesday afternoon, ESPN finally announced the worst-kept secret in sports media — that Joe Buck was leaving his longtime home at Fox Sports to join Troy Aikman in the Monday Night Football booth.

Awkwardly, Buck made what in all likelihood will be his final appearance on Fox Wednesday night, when it was revealed he was Ram on The Masked Singer after singing a poorly received version of “Learn to Fly” by the Foo Fighters.

Not surprisingly, Buck wasn’t available to talk to the press about the episode, and we now know why. After calling six Super Bowls and 24 World Series for Fox, his tenure ended with an encore performance of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me.”

Buck and Aikman will make their debut on Monday Night Football on Sept. 12. We won’t know which teams will face off until the NFL releases the schedule, which usually happens in May.

Fox has yet to announce who will replace Buck and Aikman in the booth on Sundays. It seems likely that Fox will elevate Kevin Burkhardt and former Panthers tight end Greg Olsen, who did a solid job last season in the network’s No. 2 booth. But longtime Sunday Night Football analyst Al Michaels is still available, and Fox will broadcast two of the next three Super Bowls, so anything could happen.

» READ MORE: ESPN officially steals Troy Aikman and Joe Buck. Here’s what’s happening at Fox, NBC, and Amazon.