Two weeks ago, Phillies General Manager Matt Klentak resigned after the team had its fifth straight losing season. Then just a couple of days ago, pitching coach Bryan Price announced his retirement. He just wrapped up his first year as the Phillies pitching coach. The Phillies have not contended in a decade, and the rebuild has not gone according to plan. The rebuild is going to take a lot longer than expected. For fans, it’s taken too long.
The rebuild began in 2014 with then-GM Rubin Amaro Jr. trading away key players from the 2008 championship team, including Jimmy Rollins to the Dodgers for Zack Eflin, Chase Utley to the Dodgers, and Cole Hamels went to the Texas Rangers. Then Amaro was let go by the Phillies after the 2015 season.
The Phillies then hired Andy McPhail from the Baltimore Orioles as the President of Baseball Operations, Matt Klentak as the GM from the Los Angeles Angels and named Pete Mackanin the manager of the team. It was a new beginning in Philadelphia, or so we thought.
Under Klentak, he traded Carlos Ruiz to the Dodgers, let Ryan Howard’s contract expire, and sent then closer Ken Giles to the Astros for Vince Velasquez, and four others. Klentak and McPhail have said the rebuild would take some time and hoped to compete again by the 2020 season. Well, 2020 has come and gone, and the Phillies are nowhere near contention.
In the last two years, Phillies owner John Middleton was quoted saying, “We’re going into this expecting to spend money. And maybe even be a little bit stupid about it.” The Phillies have spent money on Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen, and Jake Arrieta. Then they traded prospects for Jean Segura and JT Realmuto. However, the team has failed to make the playoffs despite spending money.
Over the weekend, the Tampa Bay Rays won the American League Pennant over the Houston Astros to advance to their second World Series appearance in franchise history. The Rays have the 27th lowest payroll at $28.3 million. The Phillies, on the other hand, are seventh in payroll at $74.6 million. If you are in the top ten in payroll, you need to be a playoff contender every year, and the Phillies are not.
The Phillies are now in the hunt for a new General Manager. Over the weekend, MLB Network writer Jon Morosi tweeted that the Phillies were looking at Royals Assistant GM J.J. Picollo, a native of New Jersey as a GM candidate.
The #Phillies are again considering #Royals assistant GM J.J. Picollo for their GM opening, as I reported yesterday on @MLBNetwork. Picollo grew up in New Jersey and was a candidate during Philly's previous GM search, prior to the hiring of Matt Klentak. — Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) October 18, 2020
The Royals won the World Series back in 2015 and are on a similar road with the Phillies. They too are going through tough times. Since winning the World Series, the Royals have finished third or worse. Picollo would not be a great candidate for this team. The Phillies need to look at the Tampa Bay Rays organization for their next GM. Many teams have gone after the Rays personnel, and for a good reason, they know how to build winners. The Dodgers are the other team that will play the Rays in this year’s World Series. Their President is Andrew Friedman, a former GM of the Rays.
The Rays are so good at building a winner that it is a shame they don’t sell out every night. The Rays have had to trade some of the best players because they could not afford them. They were David Price, Evan Longoria, James Shields, and Chris Archer. They have been able to get prospects back for these players that are at the levels of the guys they let go or will be better when they are ready to get called up. The Rays know how to scout players and bring them in not just for the present team but for the future. Imagine if they had fan support, among other things, then this team could resign their best players instead of trading them. Like the Dodgers, the Phillies have shown that they will spend money, but they need to sign the right players.
The Phillies should first get rid of McPhail, then pry away Erik Neander, the current GM of the Rays, and replace McPhail as the President of Baseball Operations. Then go after Bobby Heck from the Rays and name him GM. Together, I think they can turn the team around, not just the present but the future. They would know who stays and who goes. While the rebuild will take a little longer, the Phillies could go from last to first and be a contender once again with those two at the helm.
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