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Philadelphia Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg turned in his resignation on Friday afternoon, and it was the best decision he could have ever made. Normally, managers won’t step away from a managerial job because it may be the last opportunity they receive to be the head honcho, but Sandberg was in a miserable situation.
General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is the most clueless GM in all of MLB. When the Phillies were coming off of a run of five consecutive NL East division titles in 2011, Amaro Jr. decided to reinvest in his current core of superstars, even though they were all over the age of 30. Ryan Howard, Cliff Lee, Chase Utley, Carlos Ruiz, Jonathan Papelbon and Cole Hamels take up a combined 77 percent of the team’s payroll, and Hamels is the youngest at 31. Amaro Jr. had every opportunity to get top prospects in a trade for any of these players, but he decided to hold onto each in hopes that he would find the fountain of youth. Instead, the Phillies have turned into the worst team in MLB, and their minor league system is extremely bare.
Sandberg could see the writing on the wall; either he was going to be the sacrificial lamb and get fired at one point, or he would never have the talent to be successful if he continued to stay in his job. Sandberg is a proud baseball man, a Hall-of-Famer and a competitor, and continuing to be in charge of a losing organization finally sent him to his tipping point. I hope for Sandberg’s sake he gets another opportunity in the future, because I believe he has a great baseball mind but accepted a job with a general manager who was sabotaging the team.
Now that Sandberg is gone, Amaro Jr. should be the next one out the door as Andy MacPhail is set to become the Phillies’ team president in the near future. Current team president Pat Gillick will move to a consulting role once MacPhail is hired. Gillick has always had Amaro Jr.’s back even though he is the guy who constructed the team that won those five straight NL East division titles, no Amaro. I believe after an evaluation period, Amaro Jr. will get what’s coming to him and receive his well-earned pink slip. Maybe that will give Sandberg some vindication.
Jason Fletcher is a MLB Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com Follow him on Twitter @JasonFletcher25, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google+.
