Jose Amaro signs with Cincinnati - former teammate calls him "a cancer"

Pitcher Jose Amaro inked a 3 yr, 4.4 million per year deal with the Cincinnati RedLegs Revenge. The 32 year old pitcher had opted out of a mutual option with the Iowa City Bison and reportedly rejected their 3 year, $15 million total deal to sign with their division rivals. The fiery Venezuelan had been at the center of controversy in Iowa City, often clashing with his manager and teammates over his role. After announcing the deal, former Bison teammate C/1B Bo Wells compared Amaro to cancer, saying Iowa City made the right decision by not resigning all-star pitcher.

"He was on a different train! And you saw what happened with that. We got rid of him, and we'll move on without him," Wells is quoted as saying in the Daily Iowan newspaper. "For him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man! It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that's exactly what was happening." "Once we saw that, nobody was sad to see him go. It's like cancer. That's what he was. Cancer. He had to go". Wells added: "Ruben just wanted to pad his stats and get the attention- it is all about himself and his stats, and that whole talking about himself in the third person thing just reinforced it."

Amaro had a remarkable career year, making his first All-Star game appearance and finishing the season 14-4 with a 2.88 ERA, but often clashed with Wells and other teammates. Disagreements peaked on June 1st, when television cameras caught a dugout altercation between Wells and Amaro. The fight spilled over into the clubhouse, where Wells received a black eye and a fat lip. "Jose is a good pitcher, but he has neither the patience nor the makeup to be a team player. He is all about himself."

When asked about Wells' comments, Amaro simply said: "Jose Amaro speaks in the baseball field. Jose is a man of action, not words. Bo Wells knows actions are much louder and painful than words, and he can eat Jose's words. Bo Wells is a washed out old fat catcher. Jose Amaro is a superstar." Amaro's agent said: "Cincinnati is a classy organization with more upswing than the other teams who expressed interest in Jose, and we felt like he could be a part of a team that will be winning for years to come." Amaro is expected to be a reliever for the Redlegs Revenge.