Amaro In Love: Wants Chooch and Halladay Back Next Year

File this away in the "things GMs say at the end of the season" folder.  According to Todd Zolecki, Ruben Amaro said yesterday that he wants Carlos Ruiz and Roy Halladay back next season.

On Chooch:

"We'd like to bring him back," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "He knows we'd like to bring him back. We'll see what happens. It wouldn't be the first free agent [we've had]. … I'd like to have as much balance [in the lineup] as we can, we haven't been very good against left-handers. It's well documented."

On Halladay:

If the Phillies bring back Halladay a "shared risk" deal would be a requisite. "I would think so," Amaro said. "You guys are a little ahead of me."

At this point, any comments from Amaro about the roster next year have to be taken with the proverbial grain of salt.  But bringing Chooch back makes some sense.  He has been a valuable part of the lineup since the start of August (.301 average, .823 OPS), and he bats right-handed in a lineup filled with lefties.  But, he's a catcher who is going into his age 35 season.  Plus, if Chooch returns, the lineup next year becomes that much more a copy of this year's lineup.  And, at this point, we know how that turned out.

Everyone loves Chooch.  Given my affinity for ice cream, I'm chief among them.  I hope to see him in Phillies pinstripes for the rest of his career, but there may be reasons to explore other options.

As for Halladay, well, we've covered this repeatedly for the past few days and will continue to do so going forward.  It's still just a sad story, and I'm not sure there's much more to say than that.