Klentak is about to face a defining moment as Phils’ GM
PHILADELPHIA » As Matt Klentak enters what should be the defining week of his professional life, he must remember the No. 1 rule of scouting: Try to determine how an individual will perform in tough times.
Klentak is the Phillies’ general manager. And his ballclub is facing tough times. Not all of it has been his fault. Not much of it has been his fault, actually. And since it’s not his individual task to ensure that one player a night doesn’t make a goofy baserunning decision, it’s OK to say that very little of the Phillies’ last two disastrous seasons have been charged to his account.
Klentak has been in charge of the junkyard for 634 days, barely long enough to develop one player. And because it was understood that he was hired to be a pressure-washer, he has been given time to mix the soap and water. But his time for that is up. By 4 p.m., July 31, that hose must wipe out the filth that has infected the Phillies’ organization. that, or it will be turned directly at the general manager who will have been unable do the job.
Matt Klentak is not facing a simple trade deadline. He is facing the moment when he will begin to be judged in a whole different public way.
There is an enduring sports theory that making trades just to make trades is a short-sighted, juvenile response to failure. Like any other guideline, it is good advice to consider. But there are exceptions to everything. The Phillies are the exception.
There is something terribly wrong with Klentak’s major-league mix. That happens. Because no matter what the analytics might prove, some teams just cannot properly function. Either to They’re lemons.
Klentak has talented players to move at a time when doing so cannot make his team worse. That puts him in a good position. He can trade anybody — major or minor league — for anybody else, and chances are the Phillies will not fall 30 games below .500 next year.
When Klentak’s boss, Andy MacPhail, said it as “safe” to say that there are no untouchables, it was as close as he could come to telling Klentak to get off his backside. To this point, Klentak has been timid, settling for acquiring average major league players with the intent only to flip them later for young talent, or for adding to his collection of prospects. He has yet to add an accomplished major-league player for the purposes of substantially improving the roster for the long term.
The best example in the modern era of the Phillies abruptly demanding a new deck of cards was when Lee Thomas surrendered 28-year-old developing star Juan Samuel in a deal for Lenny Dykstra. Shortly before, he’d effectively acquired John Kruk for organizationally developed Chris James. That was in 1989. With that momentum, Kruk and Dykstra were central to helping the Phillies win the 1993 National League pennant.
In a less dramatic move, yet one in that general spirit, came in 2006 when Pat Gillick suddenly shoved Bobby Abreu to the Yankees. Even though the Phillies received rubbish in return — whatever did happen, anyway, to Matt Smith, Jesus Sanchez and Carlos Monasterios? — the move was motivated by the primal urge to change what wasn’t working. By 2007, something worked.
Thomas and Gillick were well established in the industry, veteran baseball men able to sense when a roster was dysfunctional without having to be so convinced by a computer program. Klentak may have that capacity, too. But if he does, he will show it in the next 10 days.
What can he do? Plenty. He doesn’t need Pat Neshek, an All-Star setup man. Tommy Joseph has 36 home runs in 195 games, including 15 this year, is only 25, cleared of concussions and a sufficient defender. He should help a contender, and moving him would open first base for Rhys Hoskins. Jeremy Hellickson is on an expiring contract and can pitch; he’d be ideal in the middle of any contending rotation. Those moves will happen. They must happen. They are the simple moves.
But what about Maikel Franco? He’s 25, is hitting the ball hard and has special skills. But can’t the Phillies lose 100 games with somebody else at third base? What about Odubel Herrera, a 2016 All-Star? What about Cesar Hernandez? Freddy Galvis is an under-rated talent. Even if the market seems low for any of those players, Klentak must take some chances. Because if he hits next July with the same basic everyday nucleus, he’ll be the one about to be flipped.
Winners of three of their last four, the Phillies will return to Citizens Bank Park Friday to play Milwaukee. Usually, but not always, Klentak meets with the press before the first game of a homestand. But if he is Daily Times unavailable this time, he will have a valid reason. The trade market is open. Some major deals already have been made. Klentak is waiting. But he is running out of time.
He has to work. Times are tough. He must produce.