PHILADELPHIA >> Even as the Phillies were dropping Andy MacPhail onto the president-in-waiting spot on their corporate chart Monday, they were providing greater clarity to a more prominent position.
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The announcement comes just days after Ryan Sandberg submitted his resignation as Phillies manager on Friday after two-plus years. Literally the first thing he said to the media after the Phillies announced him as team president was this: “I’m a small bit surprised you hired me considering I’ve been out of it for three years”.
For long enough it seemed like the only ones who didn’t know the Phillies were due for a top to bottom shakeup ere the Phillies themselves. Manager Ryne Sandberg resigned last week and his job was in question following the MacPhail hire as well. It could be someone else.
On Monday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park, the Philadelphia Phillies unveiled what they hope to be the foundation of their return to prominence. “I’m confident we’re going to be able to get back”.
The worst occurred either at that moment in 2012 when everyone realized that the good times were over, or at the moment 21 months ago when Sandberg, who’d been promoted to interim manager after Charlie Manuel was forced out, had that “interim” tag scrapped without ownership taking so much as a peek outside of the organization to see if a better candidate was available. “It makes it easier for me, and I think that’s the best way to approach it, because if we don’t win today or tomorrow, [my job title] doesn’t matter”. “It will be an interim position, whoever it is”.
“I cannot worry about what decisions Andy and Pat are going to be making as far as my personal status is concerned”, Amaro said. That’s the decision that lies with them. “I would like to think that Cesar has proven that he deserves a chance to be the every-day second baseman”.
The expectations for said undetermined manager are unclear.
He has not worked in a front office since 2011. If he can revive the Orioles after several years of mostly lost seasons, think of what he can do for the Phillies over the next couple of years. It’s Amaro and his staff who rejected statistical analysis to the point where he didn’t know the difference between an at bat and a plate appearance. McGehee, 32, lost his starting job at third base to Matt Duffy and was demoted to the minors earlier this season.
He didn’t create the injury that sent Lee to the disabled list and made him untradable, and he didn’t create the shoulder issues that finished Roy Halladay at 36.
This was a barren period for the team, and the only winning season between 1986 and 2001 was the fondly remembered 1993 team.
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“I do not like the word evaluate,” he said. You’d think a deal of that magnitude wouldn’t be made by the guy likely to be replaced at some point soon. Play smart. And have some laughs while you’re at it. The Cardinals broke the rules. Whether it’s Baltimore or Pittsburgh or Kansas City or Tampa, the teams that develop and stick with it, they ultimately get rewarded. I guess there’s a part of me that wonders what did we do wrong that we couldn’t reach out to somebody. You see them out here [during batting practice].
