Philadelphia Phillies: An 8th seed playoff spot should not save Matt Klentak’s job

Win or lose, Philadelphia Phillies GM Matt Klentak has got to go.

No matter what happens over the next two days, the Philadelphia Phillies need to fire general manager Matt Klentak. Currently sat two games below .500, with the only hope of a playoff spot coming in the way of the Gabe Kapler led San Francisco Giants collapsing, the lack of results here in 2020 fall squarely on Klentak’s shoulders.

Hired in 2015 to lead the Philadelphia Phillies out of their unsuccessful rebuild, Klentak has failed pretty spectacularly at what turned out to be a fairly easy job on paper. By 2018 owner John Middleton was opening up the checkbooks for Klentak to spend big in free agency, and by 2020 the team boasted one of the highest payrolls in all of baseball.

Klentak was allowed to shell out huge money on free agent contracts in the likes of Bryce Harper, Jake Arrieta, Andrew McCutchen, Zack Wheeler, David Robertson, and Didi Gregorius. While some of those names have become beloved figures here in the city of Philadelphia, the lack of results over the last three seasons speak for themselves. Klentak has not been pulling the right strings.

*For what it’s worth, guys like Harper and Gregorius were likely not Klentak advised moves. Ownership played a big role in landing #3, and Girardi campaigned hard for his former shortstop.*

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After back-to-back September collapses in 2018 and 2019, ownership pinned the blame on former manager Gabe Kapler. In a somewhat scapegoat-ish fashion, Middleton was more than happy to criticize Kapler’s managerial tactics at the end of last season while continuing to praise Klentak and his work in building the “fourth lowest bullpen ERA post trade deadline”.

Even with well respected manager Joe Girardi joining the club, the Phillies once again find themselves unable to capture a winning record here in 2020. Despite boasting one of the best offenses in all of baseball, and a starting rotation that is comparable to other playoff teams around the NL, the Phillies have been unable to succeed this year due to their historically bad bullpen.

When it comes to who is to blame for that failure, it all circles back to the general manager.

Klentak tried to “outsmart” the league this offseason, opting to not sign a single reliable bullpen arm while simultaneously bringing in below average rookies and outcast veteran free agents. No-name relievers like Austin Davis, Trevor Kelley, and Deolis Geurra quickly dug the 2020 Phillies into a hole early on, and Klentak was then tasked with fixing said issue.

To no one’s surprise, all of Klentak’s midseason trade acquisitions completely flopped. Heath Hembree and Brandon Workman are going to go down as two of the worst relievers in Phillies history, David Phelps won’t stop giving up home runs, and David Hale is really only valuable during double-header spot start situations. Klentak traded away multiple valuable prospects to land these guys, and they somehow made the team even worse than they were initially.

This upcoming offseason for the Philadelphia Phillies is a crucial one. Despite limping towards the end of the season this weekend, this team is genuinely close to being NL East contenders. They were an average bullpen away from having a playoff berth locked up two weeks ago.

With that in mind, it would be a complete malpractice to trust Klentak to right the ship this winter. He’s proven time and time again that he is completely in over his head, and the decisions that have to be made this offseason will have serious lasting impacts on the franchise moving forward. Both JT Realmuto and Gregorius are free agents, and the team desperately needs a GM in charge who can find a way to bring them back.

Rumors broke Saturday morning that Klentak would in fact be let go should the Phillies miss out on the postseason this weekend, but that by itself is not enough. Even if this team goes on to win the freaking World Series, Klentak and his silly book of “analytics” need to hit the road this offseason, before he gets the chance to set this team back even further.