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| I Long for Ed Wade |
There was something fundamentally wrong with the announcement of Charlie Manuel's firing as Manager of the Phillies. I'm not just talking about how unfair it was. I'm talking about the basic premise of the decision making here. What the move says about the Phillies front office speaks volumes about why they seem to get every move wrong.
From a purely fairness standpoint, Charlie Manuel deserved to finish out his last season in his contract, and go out with the fans cheering and chanting for him. To remove him during the year denies him that "farewell" moment with the city that he brought a title to. Charlie isn't the greatest manager in baseball history, but despite his in-game issues, managed to be the winningest manager in club history. Even the current issues with this team weren't a product of his work. Sure, he should have been done after this season anyway, but he deserved at least as much dignity as Andy Reid got to keep across the street.
It's also really unfair to Ryne Sandberg for that matter. His first MLB Managerial gig is the final 42 games or a ruined season, with a crappy roster full of broken players, physically and mentally. That should be a great way to judge him, win or lose, right? Wrong. He deserved to take over a team next spring that he had a say in helping to craft. That did not happen. Instead, he's being thrown to the wolves.
I think the biggest issue I have though is in what this suggests. This move suggests that Ruben Amaro thinks that this team is underachieving, and could be improved by changing who fills out the line-up card. It suggests that Amaro thinks that the problem with this team wasn't his own awful talent evaluation in putting it together, or his terrible contracts, or their collective age. He honestly just fired his manager with 42 meaningless games left, as though even a changed result would matter. The reality is that the roster sucks. It's bad. The manager is almost irrelevant until that changes.
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| At least he doesn't have to suffer through anymore of this season. |
The thing is, Ruben doesn't get that, even now. In the entirety of his press conference today, it still felt like he thinks this team is just a little better health away from being good, and that will somehow miraculously happen in 2014. The roster, even with the recent call-ups and DFA's, has little hope of even reaching 85 wins next year as is, let alone making the post-season. There is still talk from him about "bounce back" seasons for guys next year who have now declined for several seasons. A month ago he was ready to buy, and just about 15 days ago he refused to trade away anyone. I don't rule out that he re-signs Carlos Ruiz, and it appears that Michael Young will finish the season here. Why he's rushing Doc back I will not understand either. Everything in Ruben's actions suggests that he doesn't get where this group is at- in need of a major alteration of the roster. He seems totally oblivious to that point though at this point, which is alarming.
Charlie is gone, and he would have been gone after the season. That's sad, but not necessarily the end of the world. The end of the world is that the guy who built this turd-sandwich of a roster is still here, and still seems intent on business-as-usual. That should scare you all, a lot.
