• March 19, 2024

It’s Time For The Phillies To Fire Amaro/Sandberg

Ruben Amaro JrThe Philadelphia Phillies are exceeding everyone’s expectations this year. That’s right, this Phillies team is actually far worse than any of us could have anticipated going into the 2015 season.

Before the season began, some thought they would lose over 100 games. Some thought they would be one of the worst teams in baseball.

Well the Phils have really surprised us, and gone the extra mile. This isn’t just the worst team in baseball. We could very well be looking at the worst team in professional sports.

Certainly, they’d have to be in the conversation, at least.

The Phils have dropped 23 of their last 28 games. They’ve been outscored 52-14 since last Monday when the series against the Orioles began. The players look like they’ve already mailed it in and quit, and we’re not even through June yet.

This franchise has become the laughing stock of the league, and it’s easily the worst team I can remember having the misfortune to watch.

After another lifeless effort in a 10-1 loss to the Cardinals on Saturday night, this team needs a major shakeup in the worst way.

It’s gotten to the point now where things are so bad, that this organization almost has to make some changes. What’s going on right now is just unacceptable, plain and simple, even for a team that everyone expected to be bad.

It’s time for heads to roll.

Ideally, the purge would start with the long-awaited dismissal of village idiot General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr.

Amaro is the biggest culprit for the product currently on the field. From the incompetent manager and his coaching staff, to the historically bad outfield, to the countless bad contracts, Ruben has done more than enough damage and needs to be removed at once.

It’s also time to pull the plug on Ryne Sandberg.

Sandberg has contributed absolutely nothing positive to this roster since taking over for Charlie Manuel back in 2013. The embattled manager has held the job for almost two full years, and has done nothing to improve this club or the players on it.

Sandberg was supposed to be a guy who was going to come in and reinstall basic fundamentals of the game, but the Phils have managed to become one of the most boneheaded, mistake-prone teams in the league. He’s in over his head, and he’s got no answers. Send Sandberg and his wretched pitching coach Bob McClure away, and let Larry Bowa finish out the year as manager.

Firing Amaro and Sandberg won’t change this team’s fate for 2015. But it will offer the fanbase some hope for the future, knowing that some fresh faces will running the show in the future.

 

Denny Basens

Read Previous

Why Walter Thurmond Makes Sense At Safety

Read Next

Charleston Native Byron Maxwell Expresses His Pain From The Slaughter

0 0 votes
Article Rating
38 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
paulman
paulman
June 21, 2015 11:31 am

This is what occurs when sticking with a bad formula and strategy as far as Roster Mananagement goes… GM Amaro walked into a great situation when he took over for the retired GM.. He had a winning culture, a core of Players in their Primes and a rabid Fan-Base shelling out $$$$ nightly at a great hitters park in CBP… The Fall from one of the Top 2-3 Teams in MLB from 2007 thru 2011 Seasons to the Absolute worst is an indictment of his lack of Baseball Knowledge, player & Talent Evaluation, Contracts and the overall lack of managing a Roster from Year to Year.. Other Teams GM’s won’t even talk to Amaro for he continues to still over-value his Roster which has 2 Tradeable Players (Hamels & Papelbon and maybe Harrange whose been brutal the last month after a nice Start)

I would Fire Amaro, Sandberg & McClure
Have Bowa Coach the remainder of Season and Trade Hamels,Papelbon for a couple of Prospects and then try to Trade Utley,Ruiz, Howard, B Revere and D Brown and if I couldn’t move them, then I would eat the remainder of their Contracts and simply release them and play the Younger Players…
1B – Ruf , 2B – Hernandez, 3B – Franco & SS -Galvis

zilents44
zilents44
June 21, 2015 11:36 am

it will take at least 4 years for this team to compete again…..its so sad how the phils fail so fast……management is horrible

Stevo
Stevo
June 21, 2015 12:21 pm

No, its not time….. its LONG PAST time.

paulman
paulman
June 21, 2015 1:05 pm

I remember HAC stating the Phils were now amongst the big-boy Franchises that had the leadership, wherewithal financially to compete year I and year out with the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers where they could just reload after a down year… These other Franchises have been able to maintain for they are not afraid to make moves and don’t get so emotionally attached to Players like the Phiilies and their Fans do… This is what happens when Teams are not used to Winning, they have to hold onto the memories and players that brought the that success instead of managing a Roster with objective analysis and to keep on moving forward..: look at the Red Sox & Dodgers & Cardinals who have rebuilt their Rosters 2-3 Times over the last 5-6 Seasons, they don’t rest on their laurels… Why do Philly Teams seem to do this !!! I’ve seen it with the Eagles & Flyers as well.. Hang onto popular players for no good reason.. GM’s have to make the tough choices and decisions every off-season if they want to stay competitive.. Philly GM’s enjoy too much of the Status Quo.. I do think Hinkle is not cut from this mold and will make this decisions as we have already seen, Chip Kelly cleaned out a lot of popular Veterans which were overdue and gas also moved on from popular players so no doubt he’s constantly looking to move forward.. The Phils need to wake up and get with the Program..
WhatTeamkeeps a Core of 6-7 Players for 7-8-9 Years anymore and remains competitive, injury free, production and good working Contracts for the Team..

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 21, 2015 1:36 pm
Reply to  paulman

Have you seen the Red Sox record? Yankees haven’t won since 09… I remember you saying in 10 they should not try to compete in 10-11…

paulman
paulman
June 21, 2015 2:03 pm
Reply to  haveacigar

Red Sox went all-in for LHP J Lester and once they failed to sign him seemed to fail in having a solid Plan B to address a shaky Pitching Staff…
They will look to mice Veterans like Victorino &. Napoli to Contending Teams and free up Salary thigh Victorino has been injured a lot the last couple of years that he’s probably on no ones long term list
Red Sox are struggling due to lack of Pitching, but they are in much better position in Terms of their Roster Talent and $$$$ Wise to get right back in it next Season… Phils will need 3 Years just to contend in the NL East let alone the juggernauts of SL Cards and better Teams like theDodgers/Giants…

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 21, 2015 2:30 pm
Reply to  paulman

Paul, the dodgers haven’t been to the WS since 1988 and the angels since 2002…it’s sports. Get over it.

paulman
paulman
June 21, 2015 2:35 pm
Reply to  haveacigar

Angels have made the Post-Season often and the Dodgers have competed the last 2 years in the NL Playoffs…
Remember you have to make the Post-Season first…
Dodgers were sucking for a while when the previous Owner ran into financial issues and the morale was terrible there even though they had talent.. The new regime they have there now will keep them competitive on a yearly basis..

paulman
paulman
June 21, 2015 2:43 pm
Reply to  paulman

Look at SF Giants, they let the Popular Sandoval walk, the let an aging Juan Uribe walk they kept their resources for their Bullpen and develop young Players who come up and perform

Look at the Cardinals, they let an aging and over-priced Pujols walk,
The lose Pitcher Carpenter,Wainwright to Injuries, bring up Farm SystemPitchers and don’t miss a beat, they have a relatively new iF
They traded hometown here OF Craig and go out and trade young Pitcher Shelby Miller for still young Justin Heyward…
The point is all these Teams massage their lineups every off season to stay competitive where the Phills had this older,aging core group that were basically treated as “untouchable” and became too comfortable went on auto-pilot the last few years…

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 21, 2015 2:44 pm
Reply to  paulman

World Series bro… Nothing less. If the Phil’s had followed 08 with a WS win in 9, 10 or 11 we’d all be kinder… Now time to get 2 starters for Hamels, one for pap and draft a stud number 1…

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 21, 2015 1:40 pm

That said, the landscape in MLB has changed. FA are by in large a gamble and waste. The metrics age has taken over, offense has been neutralized.
Phil’s need 2 starting players for hamels, 1 for pap, draft number one and hope there is a Harper or trout at the top…. Hire mcphail and the next joe madden

paulman
paulman
June 21, 2015 1:52 pm
Reply to  haveacigar

More Teams are smarter now and are locking up their Young Players up before they hit Free-Agency in their younger/prime years….
Teams are also getting smarter of not going more than 3 Years on Pitchers Contracts once you get past the Elite Pitchers…

I think the Phills will get 2 AAA/MLB Ready Prospects for Hamels and 1 A Prospect and should be able to get a 1 AAA/MLB Ready Propect for Papelbon

DCar
DCar
June 21, 2015 2:15 pm

SERIOUSLY?!?!?
It was time to fire Ruin 2morrow 3 years ago!

paulman
paulman
June 21, 2015 2:32 pm
Reply to  DCar

After the 2012 Season is when changes needed to be made…
Rollins should have never been resigned on that 3 Year Deal, just like Utley should not have been resigned on his current 3 year Deal last year…
As a GM, you have to know when to walk away from proven Players who are at the end of the line production wise… We all saw both Rollins/Utley slide year to year in terms of production and stature and there’s no reason to ever be “sentimental” and keep a Player for what they achieved 3-4 Years ago..

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 21, 2015 2:33 pm

Fraud, big spenders have not faired well recently. Tigers, rangers, angels, dodgers haven’t won a WS during this time.

paulman
paulman
June 21, 2015 2:48 pm
Reply to  haveacigar

And I am not advocating going out and signing 3-4 Olayers to long term deals either for that doesn’t work… You have to Draft Well and develop the at the minor league system and stress some core values in terms of fundamentals.. The Phils gave always been bad in stressing small ball and even though CBP is a hitters park, small ball is a way to manufacture runs and win games and especially at those big ball-parks out west .. Who was the last good Bunter on the Phils? The last great base-stealer (maybe Rollins in 2005/2006?) Revere had potential.. How about Batters coming thru with RISP which Phils have sucked for the last few years as a Team…

paulman
paulman
June 21, 2015 2:54 pm
Reply to  haveacigar

Tigers have been in Playoffs about every year? Until they address their Bullpen
They will never win a WS, their Bullpen has been crap for a while now

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 21, 2015 3:08 pm

Paul when the Phil’s were going to the playoffs but not winning the series you were whining…I was saying go for it, make the playoffs and you have a shot. Now you change your tune… Typical.
Also as for clutch RBI do you know who is second in mlb in go ahead RBI in the last 10 years..and that includes q12,13,15….the big piece …

seansyh
seansyh
June 23, 2015 11:45 am

I think the Phillies need to hire a new Team President who will put an emphasis on scouting in the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean countries. One way for this team to rebuild would be to sign a top power hitter and pair him with Maikel Franco in the middle of the line up. Yosmany Tomas would have been a nice piece, so a hitting prospect like him.

Being that we play in a hitters ball park, I think we need to start looking for some big bats. The year we won the WS, we had 5 or 6 guys that hit 30+ Home Runs. There are a ton of raw hitting prospects coming from the Dominican Republic the past few years, so I think we should start there.

seansyh
seansyh
June 23, 2015 11:51 am

Also it seems like Ben Revere is increasing his value with each game. He will never fetch us a great prospect, but with his manageable salary, decent average, and base stealing we could atleast get something for him. However, his slugging % and power numbers are atrocious.

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 26, 2015 4:05 pm

Sandberg resigned! Damn

greenfan
greenfan
June 26, 2015 4:14 pm

Sandberg reigned. Couldn’t take all of the losing. Amaro must go. There is not a manager out there that could win with the group of garbage that Ruben assembled.

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 26, 2015 4:23 pm
Reply to  greenfan

There is waaaay more to this story! The piss poor fundamentals that he was supposed to instill, the bullpen fiasco, and then him having no idea about Utleys injury….something has not been right …

zilents44
zilents44
June 26, 2015 4:19 pm

its crazy instead of the little bitch ass owner,just cleanng house it was so bad sandberg said i guess i have to fire my own self……terrible top to bottom

paulman
paulman
June 26, 2015 4:23 pm

Bench Coach Pete Mackanin is going to take over for the remainder of the Season, someone needs to Fire that Pitching Coach Bob McClure’s ass..
He was a bum in Boston and again with Philly..

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 26, 2015 4:26 pm

Mackana. Is the third base coach, meaning they skipped over bowa… That too is telling…. Ok from the Fraudman like absurdity…. Chase utley, player manager…you heard it hear first! He has pics of Montgomery and gillick doing it in the shower

paulman
paulman
June 26, 2015 4:31 pm
Reply to  haveacigar

Mackanin was Bench Coach under Charlie Manuel
Bowa is too explosive to handle young players at this stage…
Just blow the damn Team up…

zilents44
zilents44
June 26, 2015 4:35 pm

fire everybody top to bottom…..thats the only way

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 26, 2015 4:48 pm

I would love to know what’s really going on. The insubordination and fundamentals…Sandburg was supposed to be the savior on that shit

paulman
paulman
June 26, 2015 5:06 pm
Reply to  haveacigar

Sanberg stuck between and rock and a hard place, but bottom line, he’s not mentally tough enough to Manage 25 MLB Professional Players and brought little energy, vision to the Clubhouse or Dugout…
This team showed no improvement under his Tenure and in fact, got worse with a lot of their Fundamentals, Defense, Cut-Offs, Base Running, overall Baseball IQ
He should have been on the “Walking Dead” TV Show for he was a Walking Zombie 3/4 of the Time .. I’m Serious..

mhenski
mhenski
June 26, 2015 5:12 pm

Thank god he quit (even though he is a pussy bitch coward quitter for doing it and should’ve never been hired in the first place). I’m pretty sure he attended special needs classes as a kid guy can’t talk and sounds like a retard when he does. i wouldn’t hire him to be my admin

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 26, 2015 5:36 pm

HOF players tend to suck as coaches and managers. I was optimistic when I saw galvis’ start to the year, Herrerra, I thought maybe he could make them ball players but the lack of fundamentals , insubordination, clueless handling of pitchers…

paulman
paulman
June 26, 2015 6:18 pm
Reply to  haveacigar

A tough act to follow when half your Roster has Players that have Long-Term Big Contracts and who have already won and a few of them on Auto-Pilot and then the other half of the lineup are Young Players that are trying to prove that they belong at the MLB Level..
GM Amaro/OWnership should have let Charlie Manuel finish out his Contract instead of firing him with 50 Games to go which was stupid, then once the 2013 Season was done, then Cut the Chord with Charlie, the Entire Staff and most of the Core of Phillie Players after that 2013 Season when clearly they should have been in a full rebuild mode.
But that’s all under the water under the bridge now, the Phils basically wasted the last 2 Seasons going with the status-quo for the most part instead of being serious about rebuilding..

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 26, 2015 6:23 pm

Fuck that… It’s the pros you manage your roster. No excuses, Sandburg sucked… Franconia sucked and ended up good… You never know.

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 26, 2015 6:32 pm

Fraud man, the grief you gave Charlie and the organization while they were winning 100 games and then to come on here with that lame shit… You are a moron!

zilents44
zilents44
June 26, 2015 6:41 pm

lol u really be on pman hard hac

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 26, 2015 6:48 pm

Be consistent… Well I guess he is… He wanted Charlie fired in the midst of a 100 win season….now he excuses Sandburg for this shit…he is consistently stupid.

coldbrewski
coldbrewski
June 27, 2015 1:24 pm

Not sure about everything else, but you’re on point with the site attention whore fraudman…lol