Acting team president of the Philadelphia Phillies, 2011 National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Pat Gillick, joined Sportsnet 590 The Fan's Baseball Central with Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker Tuesday afternoon.
Gillick, who served as the Toronto Blue Jays' general manager from 1978-1994, spoke with the Toronto-based radio station to discuss the current state of the Philadelphia Phillies as both teams begin a two-game series tonight at Citizens Bank Park.
SN590: Tell us a little bit about the two kids the Jays are going to see this series in Aaron Nola and Adam Morgan.
Gillick:
"… Adam [Morgan] is basically a command guy. He's got to hit his spots. If he hits his spots and changes speeds he's fine. If he misses his spots and gets the ball too center, then he's got a problem.
… The other guy, [Aaron Nola], has a low-arm slot. He's not side-armed, but he's low 3/4. He's a guy that comes right at you, [and] pitches on both sides of the plate.
[Nola] has three pitches: fastball, curveball, and a change. He's very composed a very good competitor.So I expect this should be a good ball game tonight. Our younger guys usually have a problem with a guy like [R.A.] Dickey, so they might have some problems scoring runs but it should be a good game. [Nola] has a chance to be a very good pitcher. … He was at LSU last year. He pitched a little bit last season with us in the minor leagues. He started in Double-A and pitched [there] and Triple-A in 2015. He's been up here and had about six or seven starts with us at the moment."
SN590: Where are the Phillies right now? How would you describe where this team is. You've got some young pitching. We're going to see Aaron Nola tonight.
It's a team in transition. We know Cole Hamels' deal was done. You got some good, young players out of that. We don't know what's going to happen with Chase Utley, but where is this team right now in your mind?
Gillick:
"We're about where we thought we would be. Certainly, right now we have the worst record in baseball. But, we anticipated that we were going to be sub-.500, that probably are win total, if we were fortunate, would be in the 60s.
We're very happy with the progress of our younger players. [Maikel] Franco, [Freddy] Galvis, [Cesar] Hernandez, Nola, [Odubel] Herrera, the center fielder. We've got some good kids in the minor leagues.
So, I would think probably at this point we are two years away. Give us '16, '17, and maybe '18, and we're going to be more competitive. But I think right now we're probably going to be down for the next two seasons.
Again, when we won five straight division titles between 2007 and 2011, sub-consequently there's a transitioning to the change over here. So, we're in the midst of it right now until our young people get their feet on the ground. It's going to be a little bit of rough sledding, but I think two years from now, [around maybe] 2018, we should have a pretty competitive club."
SN590: Is there one, older veteran guy on your club that you can hold your hat on, or throw your coat on so-to-speak to say to the young guys, 'this is the way the Phillies do it on an everyday basis?' Is there one guy in the organization, or maybe one guy you're looking towards to maybe picking up?
Gillick:
"The guy that's the best example is probably Chase Utley.
There's been a lot of conversation about Chase leaving Philadelphia. At this point, he's still a Phillie and it appears that he's going to be a Phillie until the end of the season at least.
He's one of those guys that's a very quite individual, but he's one of those "lead-by-example" type of people. He gives you everything on the field both offensively and defensively. He's certainly a player that our younger players can look up to.
Even though Chase has been out on for a long period of time this season with injuries, he's kind of the face of our club at the moment from a veteran's standpoint."
SN590: This was such a good team. Did it just get old? How did this happen because I remember covering them during the World Series years when you were there, and I remember even the follow-up years. No team is built to last forever, but it seemed like it there was going to be a sustained run there.
Gillick:
"Part of it, you can't hide behind it [because] it's a fact, it was injuries. If you remember, the last game of the 2011 season is when Ryan Howard tore his Achilles. Since then, Ryan hasn't been the same player he was after going through 2011. Chase has had some different difficulties.
When you lose two bats, there was two guys who probably between them conservatively hit 70 home runs a year. You'd have Howard in the 40-50 range and you had Chase's 25-30. You lose 70 home runs out of your lineup, that's a lot of offense to pick up.
I don't think, following those injuries, they came back as well as they were prior to the injuries. It was a combination of injuries and a combination of some of our other players [having a] skill decline.
It is what it is. It's behind us and we're looking ahead. I think two-three years from now, down the line, we're going to be fine."
SN590: When Alex Anthopoulos went out and made the deals he made at the trade deadline, immediately people starting drawing comparisons to some of the trades you made. …
When you sit back and see what Alex did, and hear people making comparisons to you, does that give you a tremendous amount of satisfaction to know that people still think so much of you here, that you're kind of the measuring stick for any other general manager?
Gillick:
"Well, I appreciate that. I think the trade that he made is better than any trades that we made at the deadline. We got David Cone at one point, and we got Rickey Henderson another time. We had Bud Black.
To get two quality players like he did, [David] Price and [Troy] Tulowitzki, and then he got [LaTroy] Hawkins kind of thrown in the deal …. I think it was probably a better deal than while I was in Toronto that we made at the deadline. I think he really excited everybody, the players and the fans.
… It was a great move. He got two quality individuals, and two guys that are excellent baseball players."
SN590: Every time I think of Philadelphia, I think of the fans and the fans' support. Obviously, they are used to winning and expect to win. With that being said, is there anything in your mind that goes into the make of the players that you are acquiring to get it ready for 2018?
I know that when you go into that place and play against the Phillies, it's tough because you know that fan support is off the charts and they really support their team. But, they are also hard on their team when they're not winning.
So, is there anything on your end that goes into maybe thinking a little bit outside the box to get younger guys ready to play, say in 2018?
Gillick:
"Absolutely. We do a lot of media training, both in the offseason and Spring Training, just to get our players ready for the media here in Philadelphia.
This is a very intense feeling here on the east coast here. It's a much different feeling. I was out on the west coast in Seattle, and its a little softer out there. … We have a situation here where the Mets are north of us and Washington is south of us. There's some intensity that flows both north and south in this market.
The one thing about our fans, is they're very knowledgeable. I think they've been excellent this year from the standpoint of putting up with our team, because I think they know we're headed in the right direction. They bought into our plan. They think that our plan is the correct way to go, and that we've finally turned the corner and decided to go young and to develop new talent.
They've been very supportive, but at the same time, if you go on the field here and give 100%, and you run balls out and show that you're making an effort, you'll never have trouble with the Philly fan. On the other hand, if that isn't the case, you'll be gone out of town within a week."
Matt Rappa (@mattrappasports) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.
