PHILS PHACTS:
Open To Anything – Everybody
knows that Phillies general manager Matt Klentak has a lengthy to-do list. It
starts with improving the pitching staff. It won't be easy, so Klentak has to
be open to any means of improvement, which includes trading some of the club's
young talent, possibly even closer Ken Giles. "The biggest thing is we need to add
innings to our rotation to help protect our kids," Klentak told reporters
on Tuesday at the General Managers Meetings in Boca Raton, Fla. "That's
going to be important. We'll be opportunistic in terms of how many and who they
are. I don't want to put a number on it. But you know what we ended the season
with and who was in our rotation, and who walked away." Aaron Harang, Jerome Williams, Chad Billingsley and Cliff Lee are free agents. None are expected to
return. Aaron Nola and Jerad Eickhoff are heavy favorites for two 2016
rotation jobs. Adam Morgan, David Buchanan and Alec Asher will be competing for spots, too. Philadelphia
could pursue free-agent starters like Doug Fister, J.A. Happ and Bartolo Colon this offseason, and it could try to
trade for pitching, too. Giles could help the Phillies acquire more young
talent for the rotation, bullpen or elsewhere. The Phils already have received
calls from teams about Giles. "It's not a goal," Klentak said about
trading their closer. "We're trying as much as possible to collect as many
good young controllable quality players as we can. But as I said last week and
probably the week before that, we're trying to be opportunistic at every turn
and trying not to operate in absolutes. I think Ken is terrific. He's great in
his role. We want to hold the leads we can hold, but I don't want to
categorically say we will or we won't do anything. "I think we do need to
be conscious, regardless of how many games we win next year, of making sure
from a morale perspective we are winning the games that we are in a position to
win, and I think having a good bullpen in general is critical to that. And I
will also say, when you ask, 'Is it a luxury?', I think it's a little different
when you're talking about a guy with one year of service time. If you were
talking about a pending free agent, then, yeah, that might be a slightly
different situation. But Ken Giles, if he's here, can very easily be a part of
our future, so I think we have to account for that in our thinking." The
Phillies also need to find some outfield depth. Jeff Francoeur is a free agent. He performed well in
a part-time role, but performed even better as a leader in the clubhouse. "We've
been talking to him," Klentak said. "The guys that are our own
players, we've had the luxury to talk with them longer, so yeah we're not ruling
anybody out. "We have room on our 40-man [roster] to add. Some of that
will come through Rule 5 [Draft] protections, and some will come through waiver
claims or free-agent signings or trades. There's a lot of room for growth on
our roster in general, and I have no doubt that at least one of those spots
will go to an outfielder."
GM Praised By Former Boss – Jerry
Dipoto knows Matt Klentak's strengths and weaknesses as well as anybody. Dipoto
hired Klentak as assistant general manager with the Angels before the 2012
season. They worked together through July, when Dipoto resigned as the Angels'
GM. Dipoto, who is now the Mariners' GM, spoke on Tuesday at the General
Managers Meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., about Klentak landing the Phillies' GM
job. "Matt is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get guy," Dipoto said.
"He is a wonderfully nice guy. He's extremely intelligent. Good family
guy. He knows the baseball rules inside and out. I think one thing you'll not
see, he's a ferocious negotiator. He's very good in that milieu. "He has a
good feel for players. I guess most importantly, Matt is a listener. He listens
to the people around him. So what is being said, he will absorb. He'll do a
great job." Dipoto confirmed what others have said about Klentak before
and since Phillies president Andy MacPhail hired the GM: Klentak is a
well-balanced decision maker. He might not have a scouting and player
development background, but Klentak listens and gets along well with those
people. "Matt was always a part of what we were discussing in scouting and
player development," Klentak said. "So when we were laying out player
plans for guys at the lowest levels in the Minor Leagues, he sees how that
develops. He didn't spend much time out in the field, but his last two years,
we did get him out and he started scouting and watching players. He would sit
in the Draft room every year, go through the Draft and see how we stacked
players up. Why we would choose this player here and that player there. "He
was probably our go-to guy in understanding how to best balance the Draft pool
money, which is a more complex thing than maybe your average cross-checker was
able to designate. Matt was pivotal, he was our spearhead, in salary
arbitration. He was a go-to guy for me. We would split up contract negotiations
almost 50-50. He would take this half and I would take the other." Dipoto
said Klentak Also was heavily involved in every free-agent contract the Angels
signed from 2012-15. "I don't know if I would have survived the four years
without him," Dipoto said. "I would ask his opinion on anything. A
lot of times, I would not do things because he would be anti that move. I'd
bounce things off him. Our offices were very close to one another, so I'd just
walk in with a baseball bat, start taking swings, and sometimes he'd tell me I
was crazy and sometimes he'd tell me that was something he thought we should
try. … I think Matt understands where the Phillies are in their progression
right now, where they need to go, and he'll make good, balanced decisions that
incorporate the people around him."
THE BEGINNING:
The
Phillies finally put an end to the season finishing in last place in the NL
East with a record of 63-99. Given the departures, aging stars, injuries, and
bipolar performances, this has ended up being one of the worst seasons in
franchise history! However, at least Ryan Madson got another ring this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment