In a move that has seemed inevitable for months, reports out of Philadelphia are that the Phillies and long-time manager Charlie Manuel have parted ways.
Phillies to make manager change, sources say. Press at 230.
— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyCSN) August 16, 2013
To say the least, the timing of the move is curious. One would think that after nine years of service, two pennants and one World Series championship, the Phillies would have waited until after the season to make a managerial change, but for whatever reason they decided the move had to be made today with the Phillies sitting at 53-67. Over his twelve-year managerial career, Manuel has only twice ended a season with a losing record. The first was his final year in Cleveland where was let go mid-season with a 39-47 record. This year would be the second.
Manuel certainly had his flaws as a manager mired in old school ways of thinking and was perhaps a bit out of touch with today's player as he is 69 years old, but this move has all the appearances of Manuel being pushed out the door in an effort to assign blame for an old, injury-prone and deeply flawed roster performing like, well, an old, injury-prone and deeply flawed roster.
Perhaps the motivation was to get Ryne Sandberg, who has been named the interim manager, some experience at the helm. Sandberg has been a popular managerial candidate throughout the league for years and long considered the manager-in-waiting for the Phils. By putting him in place now on an interim basis, the Phillies would essentially be giving him a month and a half long job interview. That assumes Ruben Amaro Jr. is even thinking that far ahead, which is a dangerous assumption with the Phillies GM.
What remains to be seen is if there will be more wholesale changes coming this off-season for the Phillies. The idea of moving out Manuel and promoting Sandberg from within feels more like a "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic" kind of move, but perhaps a new voice leading the clubhouse could lead to a big roster shake up. That might be easier said than done though as Amaro resisted making any real moves at the trade deadline and is already on the hook for $119.5 million in payroll next season.
Suffice it to say, this is only the beginning of what should be an interesting few months for the Phillies organization.
