Phillies Offseason Talk

[Mad-Lad]

Hunsicker's a hell of a GM.  I think he'd be a huge asset to the Phillies.

[BigEd76]

He probably would be, especially with the way Houston has contended consistently for the last 10+ years, but there's negatives with that move.  Is he desperate enough to get back into MLB that he'll accept what Montgomery/Green/Vukovich tell him to do (especially with Miller saying today that they're going to cave into Wagner's demands for $30M and FNTC without hiring a GM first! )?  Is he committed to several years of rebuilding the farm system?  Is he committed to being here for the next 5 years or more?  With his local ties (St. Joseph's, home in the area, etc.), will the fans see this as once again taking the easy option and hiring a friend/acquaintance (like they did with Manuel) instead of going after one of the bigger names or taking a chance on one of the up-and-coming 30-somethings?

[ice grillin you]

OK, so if Cashman was just a Steinbrenner puppet in NY, then he's simply an unknown commodity anywhere else

thats all im saying...i dont know if hes a good gm or not...and i wouldnt even be opposed to them bringing him in...but lets not put him in the hall of fame

[PhillyPhreak54]

I would like more of a proven commodity here. It'd be nice to stumble upon the next Epstein and all, but what are the chances that'll happen? We could end up with the next DePodesta who farged up the Dodgers pretty bad.

I don't have the patience to wait while a young dude learns the ropes and feels his way.

I'm not sold on Cashman either. I know that Steinbrenner was pulling his strings like a puppet, but he still had a huge budget to operate with. How will he do with a budget that's half of the NYY one?

And I'm cool with them giving in to Billy Wagner. He is a MUST sign. Yeah the contract is a big one and it has a FNTC, but we need him. I do not miss the Jose Mesa days and if they let Wags walk (to New York is where he'd go) then it would be a double farging.

They'll have to get rid of one/two of Thome/Burrell/Abreu though for salary relief.

[BigEd76]

They could have had him for $24M 3 months ago if they didn't F around... 

[PhillyPhreak54]

Yeah...another thing to be pissed at Wade for.

He screwed the negotiations up too, the farg.

What a colossal loser that guy is.

[Rome]

Signing Wagner to a deal like that just goes to show you the mindset of the group of assclowns who are running things at the moment.

[PhillyPhreak54]

And who would be your closer, Romey?

Ryan Madson?
Vicente Padilla?
Sign a free agent who is not good or older than Wags like Trevor Hoffman?

[Wingspan]

i just heard on the radio that Cashman has said that whereever he may go in the offseason, that Joe Kerrigan would have a spot with him. 

[MURP]

ha

[MURP]

Bill Conlin | They never change, do they?

More than 150 full-time employees work for the Phillies in the Money Pit. They work in administration, marketing and ticket sales, baseball administration, public relations and stadium operations, medical personnel, clubhouse personnel and Florida operations.

Yet, only one of those full-time employees was fired by Phils CEO and Grand Pooh-bah Dave Montgomery 8 days ago.

Vice president and general manager Ed Wade was thrown under the team bus, a victim of 580,000 fans disguised as empty seats.

A few days before the ax fell, Wade rehired manager Charlie Manuel's coaching staff for 2006. Manuel is under contract through the 2007 season. Wade also announced that veteran special-assignment scout Jim Stewart would not be retained and several low-level Dominican summer league staffers are history.

Is that all there is?

An organization in disarray addresses a massive fan repudiation of its way of doing business by firing one GM, an anonymous scout and a couple of Dominican Republic fungo hitters and all problems are solved?

What in the Wade, Wade World of Sports is going on here, Monty?

How much comfort are you getting from the dry rot around you? If the Phillies were a building instead of a ballclub, they would be condemned for mold. They would have a tent over them and the men in charge would wear contamination-proof jumpsuits as they moved in with their chemicals.

In the 24 years since Bill Giles induced a group of kindred spirits to buy the Phillies from the Carpenter family, there have been just three titled general managers. Giles replaced GM Paul Owens with a committee chaired by himself and finally relinquished the job, if not the title, to Woody Woodward. Woody, a contrarian, lasted about as long as the average World Series game. An exhaustive search for a man who would fit the Phillies insistence on "comfort" (spelled c-o-m-p-l-i-a-n-c-e) ended with Lee Thomas, whose front-office career had risen only to the level of Cardinals traveling secretary. To help field man Thomas through the computer maze of modern baseball administration, Giles brought in Wade, a toy pit bull from Larry Shenk's '70s PR Department litter who had gone from PR in Pittsburgh and Houston to nuts and bolts for the consulting firm of Tal Smith, his Astros boss.

Through the entire Giles/Montgomery quarter century the Phillies management approach has changed little. Arrogant and smug are two adjectives that come to mind. There are lifers like Shenk whose tenure with the ballclub began in Connie Mack Stadium. Many date to the early days of Veterans Stadium. Two happy youngsters who reveled in the Phillies' 1980 championship, Joe Giles, son of Bill, and David Buck, son of a limited partner, are now high on the front-office masthead.

The young Buck's presence as vice president of advertising sales and Giles' title of director, business development, tell me this ownership is in for the long haul. Joe Giles is a limited partner, as well, part of Bill Giles' family partnership.

Be very afraid...

When the Soviet Union purged Josef Stalin, more than his statues were toppled and more was done than to remove his name from cities, schools and factories. The dictator's secret police and the state apparatus he ruled with a bloody fist went down as well.

But the Phillies not only don't sweep clean with a new broom, they apparently have no interest in sweeping at all.

In addition to all the Money Pit workers who will survive the boss they obviously helped put at risk, the organization employs more than 65 full-time minor league managers, coaches, instructors, administrators and scouts. They also served under Wade, and if you go by Baseball America's latest evaluation of the Phillies minor league system, they didn't serve him or assistant GM Mike Arbuckle particularly well. A No. 30 ranking out of 30 major league teams is not particularly flattering - even if you factor in the number of minor leaguers Wade traded away to acquire help for his little engine that couldn't.

Dave Montgomery and a blue-ribbon panel of aides will soon start interviewing GM candidates. Let the candidates beware, however...

It is common knowledge that if a high-profile candidate is serious, he will eliminate himself with the following statements:

• "Of course, I would want to hire the manager and coaching staff of my choosing."

• "I would like the courtesy of hiring my own scouting and minor league directors and evaluate the entire baseball operation."

Status quo is the Phillies' language, and loyalty counts. While the Phillies have made amazingly few front-office personnel changes over the years, those choosing to leave are required to sign a lengthy affidavit prohibiting them from disclosing anything remotely "out of school."

Oh, now you understand why a loose cannon like Larry Bowa has never gone off on the organization - even though he has a media forum to do so?

Just a few questions a GM candidate might ask:

• Somewhere during Jimmy Rollins' 577 minor league games, did anybody ever suggest that he take a pitch? Did any manager or coach tell him he might be asked to work counts and lay down a bunt?

• When Jim Thome was signed before the 2003 season, first baseman Ryan Howard had just led all Phillies minor leaguers in homers. Why wasn't he handed an outfield glove then and there?

• Is the guy who gave $2 million to those two South Korean stiffs still employed?

• Any reasons why your ballyhooed Latin-American renaissance has failed to produce a single projectable position player?

• Did your scouts not realize that every team must have a third baseman and a catcher?

Oh, by the way... Jim Leyland just called and said to pass this on: If you asked any of those questions, you didn't get the job.

[Rome]

And who would be your closer, Romey?

Ryan Madson?
Vicente Padilla?
Sign a free agent who is not good or older than Wags like Trevor Hoffman?

IMO, the starting rotation is more important than the closer, Jay.  I would use the money being slated for Wagner on a front line starter (A.J. Burnett?) or use an asset already on the team to acquire an ace.

If the money was still there to sign Wagner after all was said and done, I'd do what I could to sign him.

I think philosophically, they're approaching personnel decisions in an ass backwards way.

You build from the rotation outward rather than the other way around.  That's all I'm saying.

BTW: As much as it pains me to say it, there really isn't a viable closer out there other than a Mantei, Ugie or Looper.  None of those dudes are worth spit in comparison to Wagner but sometimes you have to sacrifice one position to improve an even more important one.  In this case, I think that cliche applies.

[PhillyPhreak54]

The problem is that the FA market is weak as hell this year. I want no part of AJ Burnett because he's a fraud who will be asking for $12M a year. There are no other SP's out there worth a shtein, bro.

The back end of the bullpen is a must have. You have to have a lights out closer. And the dearth of talent that is available is what is driving the market price up. Just like some dumbas team is going to pay $12M for AJ Burnett some dumbass team is going to pay out the ass to sign a closer like Bob Wickman or Trevor Hoffman.

BJ Ryan is the only other good option out there as far as closers go. And he'll be asking for what Billy Wags is asking for too.

You can have the greatest SP's in the league but if you have a shoddy bullpen then it doesn't mean spit, bro. They need a badass closer. And Wags is that guy.

If they want a stud SP, which we all know they need, they better not sign Burnett. They need to use Burrell or Abreu to get him.

[BigEd76]

No team would be stupid enough to give BJ Ryan $10M a year......not even the Mets...

[Rome]

Meh.  Agree to disagree, I guess.

I'd rather have four front-line starters and a mediocre closer than what the Phillies have now (and will apparently have again next year).