MLB Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies’ Front Office Needs New Blood, Not A Reshuffling

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By @papreps

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David Manning-USA TODAY Sports

The news that the Philadelphia Phillies are promoting David Montgomery and keeping Pat Gillick in his current role should concern every fan of the team.

It represents not the new blood and fresh outlook the team needs, but a reshuffling of old blood that got the team in its current predicament, which is a consensus last-place finish again in 2015. Gillick was promoted to Montgomery’s role as president after Montgomery took a leave of absence due to a health scare.

When he took the job, Gillick, 77, said he did not want to do it permanently because he was focused on retiring. Now Gillick has the job permanently and Montgomery, 68, has been kicked upstairs to the position of team chairman. So the Phillies fans have one guy in a key position, Gillick, who does not want to be there and another guy, Montgomery, who was essentially pushed out of the way.

That’s not the kind of new blood this team needs, especially considering that Montgomery has a long-standing personal relationship with current GM Ruben Amaro Jr. that could cloud his thinking. Montgomery’s boyhood idol was Ruben Amaro Sr., when the older Amaro was the shortstop with the Phillies in the early 1960s. Montgomery went to the same high school that the younger Amaro did, Penn Charter in Philadelphia, and considers Amaro like a son.

Amaro still holds views about current Phillies players that appear out of line with conventional thinking, that players like Ryan Howard can still be productive. Montgomery appears to support that and Gillick is in line with the other two.

Bring any smart baseball executive into town and they probably do not see the issue, among others, the same way. That’s what the Phillies need now, a new objective approach, and not reshuffling the old chairs.

Mike Gibson is a Phillies writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @papreps , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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