You can't fire the players, or so the old saw goes. Consequently, the playing fields, corner offices and film rooms of professional sports franchises are littered with the remains of managers, coaches and general managers.
Philadelphia has seen more than its share of carcasses. One more was added to the rolls with the recent canning of Billy King, surely the most dapper but least competent GM's in our championship-starved city in many years. The future of Andy Reid, King's sartorial opposite, whose position heretofore seemed secure, has also been the subject of speculation as the Eagles appear destined to finish out of the playoffs. And the Phillies' Pat Gillick has indicated on more than a few occasions this coming season will be his last. Only the Flyers' Paul Holmgren seems certain to be around for the foreseeable future, his brief tenure thus far marked by a dramatic turnaround of his charges' fortunes.
These guys clearly make a difference...for better or worse. King turned out to be an extremely poor judge of talent and a lousy poker player at the trading table. When his dismissal was announced many people wondered about the timing, the consensus being it came too late. Andy Reid, stoic, stubborn and plodding, has always been fairly inscrutable to the local citizenry but when his teams were perennially winning and making the playoffs if not Super Bowl, those little foibles could be and were forgiven. But with his current team lurching from crisis to crisis each Sunday, the people grilling sausages in the parking lot want to see some passion to match their own. Forget it, fans. The man is not capable of such displays, which is one of the many reasons he can't manage a clock and make good decisions in the crucible of crunch time. You see, Andy still thinks there's plenty of time and nothing to worry about in those situations as well as his own circumstances.
Then there is Pat Gillick. Unlike his famous shortstop, who went out on a limb last Winter and declared his teammates the ones to beat in the NL East, Gillick, if anything, has been known to let it slip that he doesn't think his guys can win any titles. They always seem to be a year or two away according to him. Well, we are entering Gillick's third year at the helm, conceivably his last, and as things stand the Phillies are further from reaching the playoffs than they were last year when they slipped in thanks to their late charge and the Mets' colossal collapse.
Gillick's major failure has been his inability to see the big picture. Rather than put his club in a position to fill its needs with some sort of master plan, instead Gillick has made what for all appearances seem to be a series of disastrous decisions not only in terms of the value received but in terms of the money and prospects spent. His two worst decisions both involved the pitching staff and both came out of nowhere. The ill-advised acquisition of Freddy Garcia should replace Von Hayes in the annals of bad trades by this organization, and while Adam Eaton was perhaps worth some sort of risk, he wasn't worth the price Gillick agreed to. And while we are talking about pitching, the Abreu/Lidle trade netted the Phillies absolutely nothing as did the many trades with Texas. After more than two years the Phillies have absolutely nothing to show for all of those maneuvers.
Lest we forget, Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Cole Hamels were all products of an earlier administration. So, too, was Pat Burrell, who remains a Phillie despite obvious attempts to move him. Meanwhile, the outfield has been potentially weakened with the trade of Michael Bourn and the departure of Aaron Rowand and third base remains the Black Hole first described by commenter extraordinaire George Southrey.
The Phillies under Gillick do not have a discernible plan. No one can point at them and say, for example, they are taking the approach of a Billy Beane and his Moneyball or Daniel Dowd in Colorado who has slowly built the organization from the ground up. We are forever hearing some variation on the same theme from Gillick, that there isn't anyone out there who can help or who is affordable. The only themes running throughout his administration are that he likes players from his former teams, either ones he drafted or acquired, and he likes to rummage through the rubbish piles in hope of uncovering a hidden gem. It's a wish-and-a-prayer sort of administration and the results speak for themselves. Were it not for the great offensive core at the heart of this team, all players from the largely discredited Ed Wade period, the Phillies under Pat Gillick would resemble the Sixers more than the Flyers.
No comments:
Post a Comment