As only the Phillies can

With the firing of Ed Wade one would think that the Phillies #1 priority would be to find his replacement. One would think, but in true Phillies fashion the Phills have started what is probably the most important off season in Philadelphia baseball in recent history by undercutting the new GM before he even set foot in the door.

Yesterday Dave Montgomery with Ruben Amaro, Jr and Mike Arbuckle flew down to Virginia to resume negotiations with free agent closer Billy Wagner. While Wagner may have been the most important Phillies pitcher this last year one would think as Rich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Daily News has pointed out maybe the signing of Wagner should be left to the new GM since he may think of other ways to spend the 8-10 million dollars it would take to bring Wagner back.

If that wasn’t enough at Mondays press conference where it was announced that Wade was “being relived” of his duties as general manager, Montgomery gave manager Charlie Manuel and his staff an endorsement for a job well done but in his very next statement said the new GM would have the final say in the manager and coaching staff decisions. Nothing like telling all would be candidates that they have a say but you’d sure prefer if they didn’t touch Charlie and his gang just yet.

So how long before www.firedavemontgomrey.com is taken?


Steven (terrible) A. Smith strikes again with this gem of writing. Could somebody please just smack him when he turns in anything that doesn’t pertain to his “expertise” the NBA? While we’re at it could someone explain to him that Brian Cashman, who is in Smith’s terms a “real” GM, might not be all that real? Sure over the last 8 years Cashman’s reign over the New York Yankees has resulted in 8 strait division crowns and 3 world titles, but there are 3 things that have to jump right out at you when talking about Cashman’s tenure as the Yankees GM.

1st Most of the core Yankees that won the 3 world titles were already there when he started.

2nd The Yankee pay roll is about 110 million dollars more than the Phillies. Cashman won’t have the luxury of covering up his mistakes by just eating salaries nor will he have the luxury to get the biggest names on the market just because he can. On top of that since his 3 World Series victories the Yankees have become increasingly more and more disappointing and vulnerable despite the pay roll increasing every year.

3rd Cahsman works for the most hands on “Boss” in MLB and during his time the Yankees have made some horrible personnel decisions. It would be foolish to give Cashman full credit for every good to great moves the Yankees have made while it would also be just as foolish to put all the blame on Steinbrenner for all the questionable to horrible moves that were made at the same time.

That’s not to say Cashman wouldn’t be an improvement or that he’s not a great GM, but it shows that there really isn’t any way of knowing until he’s away from the Yankees, and at the cost he will come at is that a chance the Phillies can afford to be taking right now?

Either way the Phillies have to find a way to excite the fan base again. Hiring Cashman would help do that as would Philly area native Gerry Hunsicker, who is the man responsible for the current Houston Astros team.

Weather the Phillies hire Cashman, Hunsicker, one of the other big names or a relative unknown we Phillies fans have come to expect that if there is a way to screw things up the Phillies will find that way. As Joe said to me in an email, “You just know Steve Phillips is available.”

Yep, that pretty much explains the knot in my stomach whenever I start think about this stuff.