Phils manage to find solution to Mackanin’s doubts
Pete Mackanin will have a new job next baseball season. Considering the way he has viewed the Phillies’ situation, it will be for the best.
For more than two years, Mackanin has managed the Phillies. Though a strong communicator, lifetime baseball man and acceptable tactician, he failed to yield improvement. Yet it was his unwavering belief that it was mostly because the Phillies needed better players. In his new position as an assistant to general manager Matt Klentak, he can help find some. Either way, his lament was becoming old and tired.
Even with a tight payroll, the Phillies had players this season. Good players. Plenty of good players. Talented, young. Some power. Some live arms. Enough players to make up a presentable baseball club. Too many to have been so buried in last place so early as to have ruined a summer at Citizens Bank Park.
Under Mackanin this season, the Phillies were comically inept on the basepaths, prone to slumps and ever challenged to swing at the proper pitches. And while Mackanin acknowledged as much, he never found a way to make sure it was corrected. His message was being blocked. It was time for someone else to give it a try.
If Mackanin was correct that it was the players who were inept, he is in the right spot to make that improvement. If he was wrong and the Phillies’ talent was deeper than he’d concede, then the next manager will provide that proof.
The Phillies have too many developing potential stars for a manager whose doubt about their skills can muffle their development.
So, no, Mackanin will not be the National League Manager of the Year. Who will? Well, here is the Dixville Notch ballot in that race, a ballot submitted this week in order of preference: 1. Dave Roberts of the Dodgers; 2. Dusty Baker of the Nationals; 3. Torey Lovullo of the Diamondbacks.
All of a sudden no home is complete without a fire pit.
Jake Elliott kicked a 61yard field goal Sunday, and the resulting breeze temporarily whisked away a likely area-wide obsession.
The three-pointer gave the Eagles a walk-off, 2724 victory over the Giants. It also gave Doug Pederson relief. Earlier, he’d ordered a fourth-and-eight play from the New York 43 that failed. He would confess that he had been influenced by newer football analytics that took into consideration more than grunts and groans from the stands.
Typically, it takes time for any fan to dismiss the influence of new sports math. Some still whine about pitch counts, and the vanishing sacrifice bunt, and the lost significance of the basketball position. But it is best to have six strong innings of starting pitching followed by a posse of relievers with varying styles. And why wasn’t it always sensible to play the five best basketball players, regardless of some artificial arrangement of positions? And why ever sacrifice 33.3 percent of available outs in an inning?
Had the Eagles lost, “fourth-and-eight” would have replaced “fourthand-27” as the most cited “fourth and” reference in franchise history. But quitting after 75 percent of available downs while on the business side of the 50 is what doesn’t make sense.
The great coaches do what they think is right, not what used to be considered right. Pederson may or may not be a great coach. But he has the courage to accept newer thinking. And that’s a start.
Sunday, the Eagles will play the Chargers in a kiddie-menu-sized soccer stadium between Los Angeles and San Diego. Half the fans will be rooting against the home team. Through three games, the Birds have shown resourceful defense, an ability to win and an improving quarterback. As for the Chargers, they can’t score. Make it Birds 30, Chargers 17.
Those brown roadside signs that tout tourist sites that no one has ever visited … I don’t get them.
Four college basketball assistant coaches have been charged with bribing players with up to $100,000 to sign scholarship papers, among other accommodations. As the scandal grew, Rick Pitino was effectively fired at Louisville.
For too long, certain programs and coaches were assumed to have the option to select the best possible recruits at whatever cost to the job security of others in their profession. Only a child could believe that to have been through normal recruiting luck and hustle.
Since the news cracked Tuesday, there have been calls to sanitize college basketball. That’s not necessary. Only certain programs need disinfecting. As for the Louisville basketball program, which only recently was alleged to have had paid strippers entertaining recruits, it requires a hazmat unit.
You get wine tastings? And what does cheese have to do with it, anyway?
The 76ers have until Oct. 16 to decide whether to extend Joel Embiid’s rookie contract.
If they are looking for some advice, here’s a recommendation: Nah.
Since the minute they selected Embiid No. 3 overall in the 2014 draft while he was reporting a weak back, the Sixers have been trying to recover that investment. And despite the glimpses of greatness that Embiid has shown in 31 total games over three seasons, they are still under water.
Don’t let this get around, but Embiid is undependable. And he would probably demand $25 million a year for another four years to re-sign. At some point, a buck-and-eight-zeroes could finance plenty of talent that if fitted properly with Markelle Fultz, Dario Saric and Ben Simmons could win basketball games.
Embiid came to his fourth NBA training camp this week, but not to participate in full-speed drills. Too sore. Again. His physical problems are unfortunate. But if the Sixers give themselves payroll problems, that will be not be unfortunate at all. That will be reckless.