New Phillies President MacPhail: Stick With A Strategy And You'll Be Rewarded
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Longtime baseball executive Andy MacPhail will take over the role as Team President from Pat Gillick at the end of the 2015 season. MacPhail is optimistic the team will be able to rebound from their current downward trend.
MacPhail told Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT that, despite having the worst record in baseball, the situation is not irreparable.
"I think that there are a lot of people that would've loved to have been in this spot. Even if you just took the myopic view, we can only go in one direction, and that's up right now. As I mentioned in the press conference, we all tend to evaluate things just as a snap shot in time, just how things are right at this moment. We don't widen that lens sometimes and remember that the Phillies had five first place finishes; they had 12 years of 80 plus wins. This game is designed to punish you if you win. You draft lower. You end up paying more for the same talent as it matriculates its way up through arbitration and free agency. By design, the Phillies are going through the punishment phase now, and our job is to get them out of it as quickly and as effectively as we can."
He believes there is a strong case to be made for choosing a strategy and staying the course.
"The worst thing a franchise can do is get itself in a situation where they find themselves changing their strategy every two or three years. Whether it's Baltimore or Pittsburgh or Kansas City or Tampa, the teams that develop and stick with it, they ultimately get rewarded. The timetables may be different for each one, but if you do stick with it, the game will reward you."
MacPhail, who will serve as Gillick's assistant for the remainder of this summer's campaign, also addressed why he is waiting to take control, rather than making the move now.
"One big reason is I've been sitting on my couch at home or traveling for the last three years. It's only prudent to assume this game has changed two-fold in that period. Even some of the very basic fundamentals of the game are different from just three years ago. For example, the entry of amateur talent into your system, it's a whole different system today than it was three years ago. There is a lot that I need to get up to speed on."
