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Bowa vs. Amaro: The world's worst "would you rather?"

Ruben Amaro and Larry Bowa are both looking for managerial jobs. Which one would you rather have?

You have got to love his 'pud.
You have got to love his 'pud.
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

You know that game "would you rather?" Chances are you do, but if not, it's a game that basically forces you to choose between two things that are pretty unpalatable. Sometimes those things are reprehensible. And sometimes they're downright gross or gruesome.

They even made a horror movie based on the concept a few years ago. I won't link it because horror movies are trash and should be eliminated from our society like the plague they are, but when I saw a couple news items hit the "wire" over the last few days, the "would you rather?" game came leaping to mind.

As I wrote about on Tuesday, former Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro is putting his name out there for one of the four open managerial jobs in baseball.

That's right, Ruben wants to be a manager, and he's apparently doing everything he can to try to make that happen. However, he apparently has some legitimate competition from another long-time member of the Phils.

That sensation you're feeling right now are your eyes burning through the back of your head.

That's right, it sure seems as though Larry Bowa, the man who went 81-127 in two seasons with the San Diego Padres (1987-88) and 337-308 in four seasons with the Phillies (2001-04) may be close to landing a job as manager of the Miami Marlins.

Bowa has not managed a Major League team in 11 years. He is 69 years old. His career record is 418-435 (.490). He has never made the playoffs and never won more than 86 games. He also does this a whole lot.

Of course, Ruben Amaro has never managed anything at all, other than a payroll. Still, as I mentioned in my piece, it's not crazy to think that Amaro could do the job if given the opportunity.

Like Bowa, he is a former Major League player, spending eight seasons in uniform. And he is obviously fluent in Spanish, which would help him relate to players from Latin America. However, unlike Bowa, he's never managed anywhere, at any level.

It's a classic "would you rather?" set-up, folks.

So, I took to Twitter and asked, "If you were forced to choose one, would you rather have Ruben Amaro or Larry Bowa as your team's next manager? Here's what I got, first from the fine folks at The Good Phight, the very blog you're reading right now.

That's 4-2 in favor of Amaro by the fine folks here at The Good Phight who were able to participate in this non-scientific study.

And the rest of you wanted to play my sadistic little game too, I guess?

And poor Ms. Mambo.

So, it seems as though Amaro would be the choice of most, although it wasn't exactly a landslide. And to be fair, during Bowa's tenure in Philadelphia, the team was somewhat competitive as they tried to mix in young talent with continued penny-pinching.

Now, what say you? Play along by voting in our online poll. The winner gets to manage the Marlins, which is its own special hell.

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