Imagine going throughout the day eager to get home and grill a cheeseburger on the grill. All day thinking about how great it's going to be, salivating at the mere thought of it. At the end of the day you pull into the driveway, briskly walk into the kitchen, swing open the refrigerator door to begin the grilling process and...
...All that is in the fridge are ingredients for a salad.
Not to sound like Bill Parcells, but that is very analogous to the type of scenario that what will transpire if the Phillies undergo big changes in the wrong order. When -- not if -- big changes are made, the first thing that needs to happen is a new general manager.
I've given Ed Wade a lot of slack, but it is now clear, even to me, that the way he has constructed this team is just not going to work, there's just something missing. I thought that in the end, the talent was too great not to shine and time was all it would take, and Charlie Manuel would help to facilitate the process, rather than retard it like Larry F. Bowa. Guess I was wrong.
Sure we can point to players that need to go, and the case could be made that the manager needs to go as well (though bad managing can't get you this far under .500, there is more to it than that). But at some point, the general manager needs to be replaced as well, and if changes are made in the dugout first, a new general manager may come in and say, "wow, that isn't how I would have done it" and then, there will be changes made to the changes.
So who should replace Ed Wade? Many point to former Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker. Not only does Hunsicker have a decent track-record of success in Houston, but he also has deep Philadelphia roots. Others would probably like to see someone of the Theo Epstein/Paul DePodesta type -- a young Ivy Leaguer that sat at the feet of the master, Billy Beane.
Frankly, I don't care. My only criteria would be that the eventual general manager would have a proven winning philosophy. It can be of the number crunching variety or the Twins-ish scouting variety or somewhere in between, but he has to come from a lineage that has a winning history. No matter where you're philosophies lie, you can not deny that teams such as the Twins, Braves, A's, and Cardinals have developed a culture of winning. It's important for the Phillies to obtain a GM that has a winning philosophy and then enable him to put it to work.
For most of the last 122 years, the Phillies have had a culture of losing. Reversing that trend will actually be the biggest change of all.
-----------------
Update:
Link: Philadelphia Daily News | 05/13/2005 | Bill Conlin | DECONSTRUCTION PROJECT.
One Chair wants managing partner David Montgomery to completely blow things up, starting with, coincidentally, Ed Wade. So first I end up agreeing with Larry Bowa on playing Utley every day, and now this. What is happening to me?
At least I didn't call for a trade with the Yankees for Dioner Navarro, which would be quite a deal to pull off One Chair, because Navarro plays in the Diamondbacks organization. He was traded over the winter as part of a deal involving a little player by the name of Randy Johnson.
-----------------
More from the glorious world of Philly sports...
...I caught the interview that Drew Rosenhaus -- Terrell Owens agent -- gave to Dan Patrick on SportsCenter last night, and I have two words: Slime. Ball. I'm glad Jeffrey Lurie and Andy Reid are standing their ground. It's the right thing to do.
...Larry Bowa, Buck Martinez, and Mark Patrick spent some time this morning talking about the Phillies woes on XM Radio. The conversation was prompted by a caller from New Jersey who asked, "Is it really that hard for a young lefty hitter to hit left-handed pitching...Is it really that wrong to play Chase Utley?" Bowa's answer: "Utley can hit left-handed pitching. He should be out there everyday". Eventually, the trio concluded the conversation by agreeing that the Phillies may not really be underacheiving, it may be that they truly are this bad.
