Matt Klentak not being fired yet is an insult to Philadelphia Phillies fans
By David Esser
The Philadelphia Phillies haven’t fired GM Matt Klentak yet.
It’s now been over four days since the Philadelphia Phillies season ended. During that timeframe, the Atlanta Braves won a playoff series, the Marlins won a playoff game, and the Philadelphia 76ers hired an entirely new head coach. Yet, for whatever reason, Matt Klentak remains in power in the Phillies front office.
In Klentak’s fifth year as Phillies general manager, he had a completely disastrous year. He constructed one of the worst bullpens in baseball history heading into Opening Day, and when tasked with fixing it at the trade deadline, he somehow made things even worse. The Phillies finished under .500, missed the expanded postseason (despite boasting one of the highest payrolls in the league), failed to ink JT Realmuto or Didi Gregorius to extensions during the season, and of course had to watch former prospect Sixto Sanchez light things up for the Miami Marlins.
It was a really, really bad year for both Klentak and the Philadelphia Phillies, and the solution seemed quite obvious. Fire Matt Klentak, and bring in someone just adequately good at their job to fix the mess which the current GM has currently created.
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A decision like this, in theory, should happen relatively quickly. The Los Angeles Angels fired their fifth year GM just mere hours after their season ended. Why couldn’t Phillies owner John Middleton do the same?
Because money.
Klentak is still technically owed $6 million on his current contract, and that’s money John Middleton would have to fork over regardless if he fires him or not. No matter what Klentak’s job status is heading into 2021, he’s going to get that $6 million.
Based off the way Middleton has conducted baseball operations the last year or so, having to pay out any sort of “extra” money is likely something he wants to avoid at all costs. Despite his overall mantra of “winning at all costs”, Middleton completely froze up when it came to paying the luxury tax this year in order to lock up Realmuto. That’s a decision that’s already coming back to bite the Philadelphia Phillies.
Klentak’s results speak for themselves, he’s simply not a very good baseball general manager. He’s whiffed on more trades than I can count, his Jake Arrieta signing was a disaster, and his lack of player development in the minor leagues has left the Phillies farm system completely gutted now that Alec Bohm and Spencer Howard are on the main roster. While I hate calling for someone to lose their job, this is a pretty cut-and-dry scenario.
Even some of Klentak’s “best” moves weren’t really his doing. Bryce Harper was always an ownership play, and Gregorius was a result of Joe Girardi being hired.
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At the end of the day, the decision to fire Klentak is an obvious one. He’s spent roughly $400 million the last two seasons, and he has absolutely nothing to show for it. This is a decision that should have taken Middleton minutes to make, and yet here were are sat around while he does his “due diligence” on the issue. When in reality, this is one big ploy all based around an extra $6 million.
Pretty lame if you ask me.