Mackanin will not be extended beyond this year as manager

zambonir 2017-10-01 06:07:32 UTC #41

The fact that the coaches are all being cut loose really does suggest it's gonna be a lot of new blood. There is absolutely no reason why Klentak couldn't keep, say, Morandini and Bowa in the organization without actually commiting to a specific role, though he's probably just assuming they won't snap up another job before the managerial search is over. And another team could easily come after Stairs.

nycphils 2017-10-01 12:03:34 UTC #42

The only one I'd be sorry to lose is Stairs. I thought he did a decent job and certainly did no harm as far as I can tell.

zambonir 2017-10-01 18:47:41 UTC #43

Well, that either tells you the hitting coach doesn't matter as much as we think (which I believe is the case) or reminds us that this was still a transitional organization. And if they do already have a systemwide hitting philosophy, which it certainly seems they're trying to implement, whoever they hire will either share it or will be capable of teaching it.

It does seems silly to hire a rookie hitting coach and put him in charge of a lot of young players and then give up on both aspects of that process. Stairs could certainly be back but given his seeming success, relative youth and the fact that he doesn't already have two decades invested in the Phillies it would make sense he wouldn't turn down interviews while waiting on the Phillies. Whereas it sounds like Morandini is likely to do just that.

Let's face it, if the old regime was still in charge Morandini or Wathan would already have been hired.

bkox 2017-10-01 19:21:33 UTC #44

Really sucks for Stairs who gave up the announcing job to be the hitting coach and now could be out of both.. although he could take LAs spot on radio

andyb 2017-10-01 19:39:39 UTC #45

It is completely fair for the new manager to decide who is on their coaching staff. I am sure they will give consideration to the existing coaching staff as part of the transition. It usually happens that way.

As for Stairs, we still have no evidence that he was any good at the job. It is not as if many of their existing players made significant progress. The big improvements to the team have come from new players on the minor leagues. Way too much is made of a coach's supposed philosophy. To some degree most coaches preach 95% of the same stuff and I am guessing Stairs was no exception. The big test is whether the reach players and if they improve.

Looking at the existing players it is hard to argue that Joseph, Franco, Galvis, Hernandez, Rupp, and Herrera improved at all. Some of this is the players themselves, but there is no evidence the coaching made much of a difference. Altherr might be the one holdover that took a step forward. Williams, Hoskins, Alfaro, and Crawford are much more the product of the minor league coaching staff.

zambonir 2017-10-01 19:54:01 UTC #46

Oh, I agree the manager should hire his guys but if the GM and the manager are on the same page it also shouldn't be that hard for the GM to say, "I want to keep this one guy, it makes sense to have some continuity" (whether that is Morandini or Wathan, who have been with these guys forever, or Stairs). This could also be true of the bench coach hire if your manager is a rookie.

You do that after you've made the hire, of course. But if Klentak really valued keeping anyone around (or feared losing them to another team) he could address that. The point is, he doesn't.

zambonir 2017-10-01 22:13:06 UTC #47

It's interesting to note how close Mackanin came to being Collins - keep him one more year and if the team was better than expected, he probably would have seen it through like Collins did.

flyers19rw 2017-10-01 22:34:44 UTC #48

I keep hearing that Brad Ausmus could be the new Phillies manager. It's lost on me as to why. I'll give him the fact that he was handling a flawed team of veterans that were stuck in their ways . The locker room was a mess to the point that there almost were fights in the dugout-V. Martinez and Verlander in the bean ball game with the Yankees. Granted, Avila did him no favors with the roster moves that he made.
Still what bothers me is that only one of the young Tigers (Castellanos) progressed under his leadership. Maybe it was lack of talent since the Tigers' farm system is so putrid but I don't see where he excelled as a manager. Perhaps Ausmus is in a place where Franconia was when he had the Phillies job. IMO, hiring Ausmus would be an iffy proposition.

julio 2017-10-01 22:38:59 UTC #49

You keep hearing this...where? This is a rumor out of Detroit? Have a link? (This kind of unsupported statement reminds me of, "Many people are saying..." )

zambonir 2017-10-01 23:18:49 UTC #50

"Many people are saying" Ausmus could be the next manager.

But it's all just speculation and laundry lists. He's young but also experienced, and went to the same Ivy League school as Klentak, and catchers are often good managers (or just, managers), so that's your criteria so far. Rosenthal did a video (which throws out the possiblity of him going to the Red Sox if they get bounced early, since that's where Dombrowski is now)

I'd have no problem with him really, the Tigers were not a good situation the last few years, from ownership to the front office to the roster. If you do want someone with experience he's certainly a guy I'd want to interview. Part of the interview process is to learn things from the candidates too.

flyers19rw 2017-10-02 02:02:36 UTC #51

Sorry but not "Many people are saying...."
He was put on the list of candidates in articles that were in the papers this week.

Harold Reynolds brought it up on the MLB channel tonight as well.

LoneStarPhan 2017-10-02 02:48:40 UTC #52

Ausmus will continue to be on all the potential manager lists for every club that needs to hire a manager. Most of these lists are just that, lists of former managers or coaches who have been around for awhile, and even a few former players who are recently retired and really have little coaching experience. Usually, they do not reflect much inside knowledge as to what a specific organization is thinking in terms of a hire.

I don't see any reason that the Phillies would seek out Ausmus.

zambonir 2017-10-02 02:56:53 UTC #53

But that is in fact 'Many people are saying." Those lists have no sources, no reporting, not even gossip. Just total speculation based on facts that are known to all of us.

Are we to believe Ruben Amaro Jr. is a candidate? I don't even believe Juan Samuel is (though he does have the Orioles connection and might get a courtesy interview. Though he'd probably turn it down if he sensed that's what it was).

VoteForKalas 2017-10-02 12:52:41 UTC #54

I heard on 97.5 sports radio here in PHL that Ron Gardenhire may be another potential candidate

Lawman 2017-10-02 13:09:00 UTC #55

Every former ML manager that had a bit of success will have their name mentioned, as well as current managers who had success whose contracts are up and who may want to leave.

I'm ignoring all managerial talk for now and enjoying the Eagles, the MLB Postseason, and keeping an eye on the Sixers.

Philsmania 2017-10-02 14:28:30 UTC #56

allentown:

Pete has been too chatty and friendly with the media for my taste. Reid was blasted by media for being too arrogant and saying next to nothing, but a manager needs to learn that it is his job to say next to nothing, unless like Jordan, he can master the art of only saying positive things about his guy. The media person has yet to be hired who won't stir up a team-damaging ruckus to get prominent placement and lots of attention to his article. The media are happier bashing than applauding the team, unless the team is having a great year, and even then they will find opportunities to bash and cause harmful disruptions. Really, just study an Andy Reid presser. If you are commenting about Herrera or Franco or Rupp, other than to extol them for something or other, then the manager and coaches need to just shut up. The media are not their therapist, not their excuse machine, not the folks to successfully argue for their contract extension, and not their conduit for getting a player's attention. That can only harm the team. And you just don't praise a guy like Galvis for 'leadership' after he excoriates a teammate in front of the media.

I know that many fans like 'truth' from the manager and coaches, as in confirmation of their peeves against a particular player. You can glory in that confirmation or you can have tight lipped staff and a more successful organization. You can't have both.

We've seen what being the media darling will get a manager. He was still fired, but the press bemoaned his fate and wrote nice things about him.

I don't know, you almost sound like Trump ranting against "fake news".

Honestly, would you have benched or suspended Galvis after his confrontation with Herrera? Do you think that would have gone over well in the clubhouse?

Philsmania 2017-10-02 14:40:30 UTC #57

All in all, how many managerial vacancies are there this offseason? Phillies, Mets, Tigers, anyone else? Will today be an active Black Monday?

allentown 2017-10-02 17:57:50 UTC #58

No, I would not have benched or suspended Galvis. What I would have done is talk to him in private and tell him that we don't behave that way; we don't throw our teammates under the proverbial bus. I most certainly would not have taken that moment to publicly praise his leadership. That's what I don't like about Pete. He absolutely loved it when Galvis did this.

zambonir 2017-10-02 21:10:29 UTC #59

I think he loved it because Galvis was being a team leader. YMMV obviously (and does) but I just didn't see any drama there. There was no "confrontation." If it was dirty laundry being aired out in public it was just a speck. Relative to some of the other nonsense we 've seen in the Phillies clubhouse over the years it was nothing. There's just no evidence that Mackanin and Herrera and Herrera and Galvis didn't have a great relationship, and what's more, Herrera and the whole club went on to play better! (correlation not causation etc but you can't say it was a bad thing either).

zambonir 2017-10-02 23:25:24 UTC #60

Jim Salisbury leading with Ausmus does strike me as a little more fire amidst all the smoke, especially since the other two names he mentions have not come up repeatedly (Gary DiSarcina and Tim Bogar). But it's still speculative.

The thing is, I don't think there's anyone left in the front office who'd be leaking to Salisbury and Zolecki, let alone the younger guys at Philly.com and elsewhere, the way there was in past years. Eventually they will hear about actual interviews, of course.