Even Ryne Sandberg has had enough of the Phillies. Friday afternoon, the team announced that Sandberg has resigned as manager, 74 games into his third season in Philadelphia.
The Phillies were slogging through an expectedly terrible season, compiling the worst record in MLB at 26-48. No team is out of first place than a larger deficit than Philadelphia’s 14.5-game margin. Their -122 run differential is easily the worst in baseball, 37 runs worse than any other club.
Amaro and #Phillies were taken off guard by Sandberg’s resignation. Sandberg informed them of his decision after he arrived at 10 a.m. today
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) June 26, 2015
Third base coach Pete Mackanin will take over as interim skipper. He’s previously served in an interim capacity with the Reds and Pirates, and has interviewed for openings with the Cubs, Rockies and Red Sox.
Things weren’t about to get any better in Philadelphia with a roster almost completely lacking in talent and aging players with expensive contracts tying up the payroll. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. waited far too long to unload the likes of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels when he had an opportunity.
Even if you say Amaro was handcuffed by poor performance, no-trade clauses and injuries, his stubborn insistence on other clubs surrendering elite prospects, while also paying the remainder of those enormous salaries has left the franchise in a dismal state with a dim future. Sandberg likely had a better idea of that than anyone, working first-hand with the rosters Amaro saddled him with.
But it also appears that he may have resigned before he was fired, according to recent reports that the Phillies will hire Andy MacPhail to be the new team president. The new executive’s first order of business would likely have been to fire Sandberg, and you have to figure Amaro would be joining him in unemployment soon.
That’s not to say Sandberg didn’t have his faults as a manager. He showed an inability to deal with veterans, butting heads with Hamels and Jimmy Rollins. And he didn’t show much of a talent for developing younger players such as Domonic Brown, Freddy Galvis, Ken Giles and Cody Asche.
But Sandberg didn’t demonstrate very good strategy during ballgames either, frequently relying on bunting and “small ball” (even for players who were better off swinging the bat), overusing his relievers, and not pitching around key opposing hitters in high-leverage situations when bases were open. Listing so many deficiencies doesn’t leave much positive to say about Sandberg’s managerial skills.
“I do not like to lose, I hate to lose. I think that’s the biggest thing that weighed on me,” Sandberg said at a press conference. “I felt it was better now than later, for myself, my family, the organization.”
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 22: Philadelphia Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg looks on against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on April 22, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
You have to wonder how resigning in the middle of a season might affect Sandberg’s chances of being hired again as a manager. Though his poor record with the Phillies (119-159 overall) and the various issues mentioned above probably don’t make him a strong candidate on the market. He’ll likely have to rebuild his résumé with a coaching position elsewhere and letting the memory of his failed tenure in Philadelphia fade with time.
However, between getting passed over by the Cubs after managing four seasons in their minor league system and his miserable experience with the Phillies (which included two seasons in the minors), maybe Sandberg won’t even want to be a manager again, despite paying significant dues to show teams he was a capable field leader. But after nearly 10 years of grinding away in dugouts, perhaps he’ll prefer to take a role in a front office instead.
This certainly isn’t how you want to see a Hall of Famer like Sandberg end up in his post-playing career. But if he never ends up managing again, his legacy as a player will vastly overshadow his failures in the dugout.
