Phillies president Pat Gillick has just a few weeks left on the job. Once the Phillies 2015 season is in the book, Andy MacPhail gets to take the reins of the Phillies team. In a must read, Gillick spoke today to Calkins Media reporter Kevin Cooney about the future of the Phillies organization and gave a good amount of insight into what he thinks of the Phillies club.
Gillick addressed one of the two holdovers from the previous Phillies era in Ryan Howard:
"He’s still a dangerous hitter. At this point, he’s not hitting at the level he would like to be hitting at. But still, he’s a 70-some RBIs and, hopefully, he’ll finish with 80 or 85. He’s still a productive player, but he’s not as feared as he was."
If Howard is a "dangerous hitter", would he have a future with this Phillies team? Howard was not among the "half a dozen" current Phillies that might be with them in the future:
“I would say half a dozen,” Gillick answered during a sit-down interview with Calkins Media on Wednesday night. “(Ken) Giles and (Aaron) Nola, (Maikel) Franco is three, (Odubel) Herrera is four. The jury is kind of out on (Freddy) Galvis and (Cesar) Hernandez. So I’ll say five or six.”
Of course, the Phillies have a pretty well-stocked AA team.
Finally, what is the status of Ruben Amaro, Jr.? Gillick said his fate would be revealed soon:
When asked if there would be a time-frame for a decision on Amaro — who is without a contract for the 2016 season — Gillick said that he assumed it would be “in the next 30 days.”
Gillick also spoke about the minor league system, rebuilding, and the trades at the July deadline. Gillick also addressed what he thought of the National League East as a whole. Check out the full piece here.
