Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Mackanin’s future still up in the air
PHILADELPHIA » You might not know it, judging by attendance figures and chronically woeful win-loss standings numbers, but there is something to be excited about when it comes to the Phillies.
Entering Monday night’s last-homestand opener against the Washington Nationals, for example, the Phillies were on an actual better-than mediocre run ... they were 19-17 since ending a six-game losing streak on Aug. 19 with a win in San Francisco.
Rhys Hoskins was just starting to burst on the major league scene then. Nick Williams had already shown promise after his earlier promotion. And still there were ongoing questions about what happened to Maikel Franco, what would happen with Tommy Joseph and what the heck else could happen to hot-cold-hot again mystery man Odubel Herrera.
Those questions and others (such as how general manager Matt Klentak might try to build a pitching staff) will drag into the offseason.
Just as intriguing, however, is the largely unasked question about the future of the Phillies’ staff of field teachers, primarily that of manager Pete Mackanin.
With six games remaining in the season and one season left on his contract, Mackanin — with just a little verbal push — addressed the issue of his job security Monday afternoon. His 170-236 record as a Phillies manager isn’t exactly a resume highlight, but Mackanin has had to oversee one of the most daunting rebuilds this franchise has had in its history. A period of time, he noted, in which the Phils have “had a lot of unproven players in the midst of trying to find out if they’re solid major league players.”
Yet after overseeing an eight-game improvement in 2016 over the prior season, Mackanin has seen this club slip well below everyone’s limited expectations this year. So in the end ... does Pete deserve to stay or will he go?
“I still don’t know,” Mackanin said. “I’m signed through next year and I assume I’ll be here, but you never know. You never know what they’re going to do. So you just keep moving on. I just take it a day at a time and manage the way I think I should manage and handle players the way I think I should handle them. That’s all I can do. If it’s not good enough, then fine. I hope it’s good enough. I hope (Klentak) thinks it’s good enough.”
For long spells this season, there have been arguments that say otherwise.
A decent first few weeks dissolved amid an embarrassing May, as from April 28 through June 2 the Phillies lost 20 of 26 games. They seemed to level briefly, then went on another ugly run, losing 12 of 13 through the latter daze of June.
Most games were simply the byproduct of a team that wasn’t as good as most. Too many times, however, games were lost via a bevy of baserunning mistakes, miscues in the field and repeated absences of concentration among the players.
Hard to look at, more difficult to correct, apparently.
“What I tried to do the entire season long was to try to keep an even keel and try to stay positive, but at the same time point out the need for urgency,” Mackanin said. He added he’s had 1-on-1 talks with players, telling them, “It’s important for you to continue to move forward and continu playing your best and minimize the mistakes, or learn from the mistakes you’re making and quit making them.”
Yet all the chats he could muster couldn’t prevent a long season from getting longer. And when the Phillies lost their first five games of August any thoughts of summer excitement seemed long dead. Then came Hoskins. And Williams proved he’s here to stay. And Aaron Altherr got healthy again. And Aaron Nola stayed hot. And while it all came likely too late to avoid a last-place NL East finish, at least 2018 doesn’t seem such a lost cause. Large caveats there, of course, not the least of which is Klentak’s mission of finding a workable starting rotation to build around Nola.
There are other player mandates, of course, as on those base paths and in the field, the Phillies have to cut down on the kinds of dumb mistakes that have plagued them three years running. Upon reflection, the manager and his coaches have to share in some of the blame for that, and the responsibility to get better in that area next year.
That is, if Mackanin and however many of his coaches will return in 2018.
“It always seems to boil down to, do you need better coaches? Do you need a better manager? The answer to all these questions is you need better players,” Mackanin said. “You need players who are going to be better players. You look at the Nationals, they were on the verge (in 2014) and then this kid Trea Turner came out of nowhere and hit .330 for them the next year. They added players who are impact players and that’s what we need. Rhys Hoskins very well may be one of those guys. But that’s what all the conversation comes to. It’s ‘Blame the manager (and) the coaches.’ How about if the players perform better? Now can we get the players to perform better? Everybody tries hard to do that.”