Yesterday's report from Howard Eskin of Fox 29 indicated that Phillies ownership had used President and CEO David Montgomery's health as an excuse to push him out of the top spot. Former Phillies General Manager and highly respected baseball man Pat Gillick took his place on a pro tem basis back in August and is overseeing baseball operations for now. However, the Phillies denied the report today.
The Phillies issued a statement today, passed on via Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News:
“Contrary to the Fox 29 report last night, David Montgomery's leave of absence from the Phillies is entirely due to his medical condition, as previously announced. There is absolutely no other reason for his leave from active involvement in the Phillies management.
Over the life of the Phillies partnership no one entity or family has owned a majority of the partnership, and we do not foresee this changing in the future."
While the Phillies denied that Montgomery was "forced out", there was no denial about John Middleton's ambitions to become majority owner.
The entire first generation of this Phillies ownership has passed away, except for one Buck brother. Whether someone would sell Middleton a few shares to give him a minority stake remains to be seen. If Middleton partnered with someone else (say, the family of Claire Betz who inherited the Betz shares) to create a majority, they could push out the leadership. That is something worth keeping an eye on.
Also not denied in the report is that the Phillies are gearing up for some major changes this offseason. The presence of Gillick, if the status quo is to be maintained, is somewhat curious. The fact that a long-time executive has been dismissed, while Ruben Amaro Jr. is being retained could shed some light on who was making the decisions. Eskin alleged that some long-term contracts to veterans that are handcuffing the Phillies' progress were Montgomery's decisions, not Amaro's. If that is true, Amaro cannot be blamed for the state of the Phillies.
