The 2018 Phillies managerial search

[flyers19rw]

Calloway may need to be a medicine man more than a manager. That treasure lode of pitchers for the Mets has broken down beyond belief. Harvey, among other issues, has had surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome. Syndergaard had a torn right lat in '17. Matz had elbow surgery after missing two months of the season. Wheeler, who had TJ surgery in '15 suffered a stress reaction in his pitching arm last year. To top it off, two of their best minor league pitching prospects had elbow issues last season. Some of these guys may be salvageable but some may not. After all of these injuries and surgeries, you never know what they will be when they get healthy if ever.

[jimbomill]

Boston and even the Muts had a plan (succession plan) in place, apparently, and have removed "hire new manager" from the "To Do" list.
I respect that.
I suspect that our Phils are over-analyzing this and need to get better at it.
Slow-playing your hand to see "how things pan out" on their manager search is causing me to lose faith, if not interest. If it takes over 4-weeks to find a successor, you either had a bad 9succession) plan, or no plan.

[tom81]

Well if your plan revolves around potentially hiring someone who is going to the World Series there is no way to have completed this already. Of course there is no way to know if this is a factor.

[DougLindsay]

The two hires in MLB last year were on 11/4 and 11/6.

[California_Dreamin]

Could mean nothing at all but I found it interesting that the Phils said they will announce their new manager "around" Nov 1, almost precisely when the World Series is finished..and Gabe Kapler won't have to worry about any distractions.

As someone who hears about Kapler all the time, I am all on board with this one. I know the Dodgers, who have probably the best organizational leadership in baseball, are very high on him and almost gave him the manager job when they eventually hired Roberts.

Admittedly I thought Ausmus was the odds on choice but given that the Phils are acknowledging publicly that they are looking for fresh faces, I think Kapler would be an excellent choice.

I also believe that they haven't announced publicly all the people who they have interviewed as some candidates would prefer to not have their names out there in print if they are not hired. This could be the case with Kapler...Dodgers OKed an interview but requested it remain quiet as they want no distractions.

If Kapler is being considered you can bet Utley has been asked about the Phillies and would undoubtedly give a thumbs up.

[jimbomill]

Didn't slow Boston down from naming Cora ......

[andyb]

Baseball frowns upon announcements during a post-season series. Which explains the rush of announcements after the ALCS and then likely a pause till after the World Series.

While it is annoying the Phillies are taking their time, I don't think it matters that much. Managers are important, but they also probably have less of an impact than managers of other sports (football = systems, etc.). There is no evidence that Alex Cora is a better manager than anyone else the Phillies are considering. Same with Callaway (and Kapler). Frankly the rush towards coaches on the best teams seems a bit ill advised to me because the best teams tend to be the teams with the best players, not the best coaches.

Klentak should pick someone he is comfortable with that should manage the team according to his organizational priorities. That person needs to be able to manage 25 human beings effectively and frankly we have no clue that any of the first time managers can really do that.

[California_Dreamin]

andyb...I agree and there is little evidence that the Phils lost out on anyone they really were hyped to hire [Calloway is the only one I could even imagine]. Ike it that the Phils are being deliberate and don't see it as a negative at all. And if its Kapler that they are eyeing it makes sense that the Dodgers, Kapler and the Phils might want to wait till after the WS to make an announcement.

[zambonir]

Kapler is pretty much a confirmed candidate, if they are really planning on follow-up interviews it would slow things down considerably if he hadn't already had his first before the World Series.

I have no problem with this process. You learn things about your own organization and yourself when you cast a wide net. Talking to 8 or 9 people and then talking to 2 or 3 finalists seems perfectly normal, especially given the three internal interviews. If I were a Mets or Red Sox fan I would just as soon worry that they rushed the hire or didn't talk to enough people, a la the Phillies in 2004.

Also, I assume the first-round interviews were only conducted by Klentak but Macphail might be part of the follow-ups? It's still Klentak's call though (as Macphail made perfectly clear when Mackanin got let go).

[David_Criss]

There is no need to rush this decision. Yes there are a couple other openings, and unless there was a have to have this guy, I repeat there is no need to rush a decision. It isn't like the Phillies are going headfirst into the free agent season when arguably a player is going to want to know who he is playing for. The free agent signings, if any, the Phillies make are not going to be huge and it isn't like they are going to miss out on the missing puzzle piece if they don't have a manager in place the minute the World Series ends.

I like the wide net - some lifers (Eric Wedge), some in house (Wathan), some outside the box (Kapler), etc. Terry Pendleton was just let go in Atlanta, he might be someone to talk to, too. I hope they talk to 20-candidates.

[zambonir]

I suspect they are largely done at this point unless some of the names that have never been confirmed (McEwing, DiSarcina, Ausmus) actually do get an interview. Where have you seen Wedge listed as a candidate?

The only downside to slow is the pitching coaches are going to get snapped up, but unlike last time, there are a lot more good ones in need of jobs than there are positions.

Here's an article on the Mets. They had a list of more than 30, did six interviews, cancelled the second round because they decided they wanted Callaway.

Mets' Callaway 'the most excited guy in the world'

[flyers19rw]

The only downside to slow is the pitching coaches are going to get snapped up, but unlike last time, there are a lot more good ones in need of jobs than there are positions.

It could be that some of the PC prospects might want to wait to see who gets the rest of the managerial jobs and then make the decision based upon who they are most comfortable working with.

[Philsmania]

I remember when Pendleton was considered one of the hot managerial prospects and that, if I recall correctly, some people on this forum hoped he would be the man in 2004 instead of Manuel or Leyland, though I don't believe that the Phillies interviewed him. Many assumed that he was being groomed as Cox's ultimate successor. That didn't happen and he stayed with Atlanta until now. I can't help but wonder if his ship sailed and he's now a career coach.

My sentimental favorite is Wathan simply because he came up with a lot of these guys at Reading and LHV and I like the idea of him continuing to grow with them in Philadelphia. However, the tea leaves all seem to point toward Kapler being the favorite. While I have my favorite, I also have an open mind and, hopefully, Wathan will have a significant role on the staff if he doesn't get the job.

[zambonir]

Pendleton is on the old (and presumably old-school) side at this point.

Regarding Wathan, it has just never seemed likely to me that Klentak's first hire, his moment to really put a stamp on the organization, would mean simply promoting someone Gillick and Amaro hired. Being intimately involved in a Phillies organization that no longer exists (philosophically and literally) is not necessarily a plus, even if he's good at the people/instructional side of the job. But I agree, he should be on the staff, and that will keep him on the path to managing, whether it is the Phillies or someone else. Clearly his work in the minors to date was still not enough to get an interview with another team (that we know of). A lot of these minor league managers and major league coaches interview with mulitple teams over multiple years before getting their first gig.

[andyb]

Regarding Wathan, it has just never seemed likely to me that Klentak's first hire, his moment to really put a stamp on the organization, would mean simply promoting someone Gillick and Amaro hired.

That makes sense. I think Samuel of the internal candidates is the one that has previous ties to Klentak and MacPhail from Baltimore. Both Wathan and Velandia FWIW would have been brought in under Amaro. And Samuel seems more of a courtesy interview than the other two.

[zambonir]

Wathan goes all the way back to Gillick's first stint as GM, even (but Amaro was there). True that Velandia was inherited as well but Klentak has already promoted him and given him a more important role on his own. Obviously they have clicked. It's not clear that's exactly the case with Wathan. Keeping him and promoting him to AAA made practical sense, especially at a time when the team valued continuity (as they also did with Mackanin, even if the W-L records were very different).

My gut feeling is that Kapler and Velandia are the frontrunners but we don't really have any information to assess how Klentak might feel about Acta, Hale and Nevin.

That article says the Phillies have told candidates they hope to have a hire by 11/1, so they should be onto second interviews shortly, if they need them. Kapler could probably still get squeezed in on the off day, Cora obviously managed to get all his interviews in.

[Philsmania]

That article says the Phillies have told candidates they hope to have a hire by 11/1, so they should be onto second interviews shortly, if they need them. Kapler could probably still get squeezed in on the off day, Cora obviously managed to get all his interviews in.

It's not like the have to interview Kapler in Philadelphia either. I am not sure if I am recalling correctly but when the Phillies interviewed GM candidates before hiring Klentak, didn't they do some of the interviews outside of Philadelphia?

[bigegypt0417]

That article says the Phillies have told candidates they hope to have a hire by 11/1, so they should be onto second interviews shortly, if they need them. Kapler could probably still get squeezed in on the off day, Cora obviously managed to get all his interviews in.

It's not like the have to interview Kapler in Philadelphia either. I am not sure if I am recalling correctly but when the Phillies interviewed GM candidates before hiring Klentak, didn't they do some of the interviews outside of Philadelphia?

They can also be done virtually...

[zambonir]

Oh, absolutely, people fly to the candidates, they meet at airport hotels in the middle (I feel like MacPhail maybe did one in Chicago), could be anywhere. It's also possible Klentak was going to the World Series anyway. If Middleton has a private plane and they really needed to get it done, they could give Kapler a ride from LA to Houston.

I feel like they wouldn't settle for Skype for something this important, at least not for the second round of interviews. But it's possible.

[Philsmania]

One thing I like about Kapler is that on politics, he was Schilling's frequent combatant in the Red Sox clubhouse.