The Phillies stink.
56-71 heading into a weekend series with the Cardinals, Philadelphia has long been out of the hunt for a playoff spot. But unlike the Cubs or Astros that are selling their fans on crap seasons with the promise that their young talent will be awesome in a few years… the Phillies are going old school.
Stinking, just to stink.
Today ESPN’s Jayson Stark reported that GM Ruben Amaro Jr. is on the proverbial hot seat.
That’s the word from ESPN baseball writer Jayson Stark, who chatted with Mike Missanelli Wednesday afternoon on the Fanatic (97.5 FM).
“I really would not expect [Montgomery (owner)] to say anything else publicly right now,” Stark said. “David’s all about showing faith in his employees … and he’s going to back Ruben, but I don’t think this tells us anything either way about what they’re likely to decide, about what he’s likely to decide.”
With a dearth of big league talent that is under 30 (average age of the Phillies is 30.5 – 2nd oldest in MLB) and the farm system languishing somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of overall talent… big changes are coming.
And guess what…
GMs these days are getting smarter. Not necessarily with players, but with their own jobs.
If they sell the approach that it’s going to take years before a system can be re-stocked and a team can even compete for a playoff spot? Well that’s smart business by them. After all, there’s no guarantee that they actually know what they’re doing. But practicing patience is never a bad strategy to sell if you’re’ working a job other people would want.
Further, MLB fans seem to be buying it.
Why? I’m not so sure. For every Cub fan that can’t wait for 2017, I wonder why the assumption of dominance also includes the Brewers, Cardinals, Reds and Pirates not trying to improve themselves either.
But we’ve digressed.
The Phillies. They’re not so good and are about to get a new GM with a 5 year plan to get back to relevance. Amaro was late to the new iteration of MLB team building that gives GMs much more leeway to suck at the only level that’s important for the sake of the ‘future’. If you’re a Phillies fan, you’ve not only checked out of ’14, but you’re probably questioning everything about your fandom at the moment.
Those trials and tribulations with Roensthal on the mound in the 9th don’t seem so dire now, right?
The Cardinals have to take advantage of a down team facing the onset of a classic Philly media shitstorm. Anything less than 2 of 3 just isn’t going to cut it when it looks like it’s going to take 93-94 wins to make it to the playoffs in the NL this season.
Let’s see if Matheny’s men can finally break through and push their record over .500 to 15. Meanwhile Ryan Howard just teared up a little reading that.
Photo: Scenic Reflections
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