Are the Phillies really “Pat Gillick Fixable”?
By Tim Kelly
When Pat Gillick replaced Ed Wade after the 2005 season, the foundation was laid for the Phillies. Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins looked like players primed to be part of something schedule. Cole Hamels was on the horizon. Ryan Howard was blocked by Jim Thome, but looked as if he had a chance to be a special big league bat or trade chip. While Gillick’s greatest transactions as Phillies general manager may ultimately be the acquisitions of Brad Lidge, Pedro Feliz, Joe Blanton, Jayson Werth, Jamie Moyer, Shane Victorino and Matt Stairs–which fueled the Phillies 2008 World Series run–finding a way to dispose of Jon Lieber, move Thome for a good return and moving Bobby Abreu/Cory Lidle to help fuel a culture change, put together the groundwork for the Phillies 2008 World Title and five year division title run. But make no mistake, Ed Wade didn’t leave Gillick with an entire organization to reconstruct.
Prior to Gillick arriving, not only did the Phillies already have Utley, Hamels, Rollins and Hamels (the core) in the organization, but Carlos Ruiz, Ryan Madson, Pat Burrell, Brett Myers also. I’m not saying any of that to discredit Gillick, because many general manager’s could have been handed an identical situation and wouldn’t have turned it into a World title and the most successful run in franchise history. But Gillick didn’t walk into a situation where the cupboard was bare.
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In fact, Gillick is a hall of fame general manager, but his career was largely built off of turning already good teams into World Series caliber teams. The Blue Jays were a very good team long before he was promoted from within the organization to general manager, ultimately propelling them to back-to-back World Titles in 1992 and 1993. He didn’t win titles in Baltimore or Seattle, but he walked into already successful situation and just made the teams better. I’m not underestimating how hard it is to walk into a good situation and make it better–look at Ruben Amaro’s tenure if you want to see how hard it is to improve an already good team–but I’d sign up for any of those situations before I’d sign up for trying to rebuild this Phillies team into even a playoff contender.
Thursday evening, 94 WIP’s Howard Eskin reported that as part of a organizational power shift, Gillick would likely have the interim tag ripped off his title and remain as the club’s president. Much like in 2006, Gillick walks into a situation with overpriced veterans that need to be moved, only many of these overpriced veterans seem nearly unmovable. And unlike 2006, Gillick isn’t blessed with the club’s greatest core in nearly 30 years waiting for him after he gets out from under those contracts.
It’s worth considering that Eskin could be flat-out wrong about his report on changes in the organization. He was last offseason when he reported that the Phillies and Blue Jays were talking about a Jose Bautista-Dom Brown centered trade. And probobly that time that he tried to make it seem like the Eagles were seriously considering signing Brett Favre as Michael Vick’s backup (imagine that). Eskin being completely wrong about this, while perhaps upsetting, would hardly be a surprise.
Also, Gillick wouldn’t be serving as the general manager. He’s 77 years-old, and if he does stick around permanently, it isn’t exactly clear how substantial his role in the organization would be. What is clear, is that for at least the time being, he’d be working with Ruben Amaro Jr.. You would think in any trade talks, the two would serve as equals, but that’s just me speculating. Maybe Gillick did come out of retirement just shy of 80 just to serve as his former understudy’s understudy. Either way, the last time the two worked on a trade together (reportedly), it ended up with Cliff Lee getting shipped to Seattle for Phillippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies, and J.C. Ramirez, in what was undoubtedly one of the worst trades in franchise history.
Unlike 2006, Gillick isn’t blessed with the club’s greatest core in nearly 30 years waiting for him after he gets out from under those contracts.
If Gillick does get some serious power in a return to the Phillies, this may present his toughest task in his illustrious career. Not only is he faced with trying to move Howard, phase Rollins out, and potentially keep Utley in the fold at first-base, but he’s faced with having to try to help hit a home run on moving Cole Hamels. He’s stuck waiting for Jonathan Papelbon and Ruiz’s extremely team-unfriendly deals to expire. He’s almost assuredly going to be part of a crew hamstrung by eating Howard’s money for a few years. He may have to seriously consider the idea of giving Yasmani Tomas over $100 million before he steps on an MLB diamond. And the farm system has to continue to be rebuilt, with Maikel Franco, Ken Giles and J.P. Crawford appearing to be the only long-term cogs for the organization, none of whom are superstar type of talents.
As I said, all of this comes with the caveat that nothing from Thursday’s report is confirmed. Even if it is, we don’t know exactly how much influence Gillick is going to have on day-to-day matters. If he does choose (and is given) a heavy role in the organization again, he walks into a situation that isn’t exactly familiar to him. If done correctly, this isn’t a two or three year re-tool, it’s a five or six year rebuild. And call me crazy, but I’m not sure someone three years away from 80–even if he is a hall of famer–is cut out to play a key role in that type of rebuild, especially when he doesn’t have a track record of fixing these type of situations.