Phillies need more than just a new manager

June 6, 2007 | By Mark Rasy | Discuss

Well the Phillies are in a slump again and everyone is calling for the firing of Charlie Manuel, while others are saying, “what does it matter if you fire the manager when the players can’t seem to hit or doing anything right on the field”. So I started wondering, are these guys really this bad or are they up to something else. Remember back in mid-April when the Phillies started out with an atrocious 3-10 record? The players had a team meeting before the Reds series and they came out playing inspired ball and went on to sweep that series and actually salvage a decent April record. That started me thinking that something else might be going on. Could there be a coup going on by the players?

I haven’t heard anyone say that maybe the players are embarrassed to be playing for Charlie Manuel and they are losing on purpose to get his ass fired. At first you may dismiss this idea as stupid and irrational, but think about it. Would you want to be playing for a moron like Charlie Manuel? These players are probably the laughing stock of the league. They probably hear all kinds of jokes and insults from other players about having to play for a guy, who by all rights has no business being a manager. You don’t think the players know they are playing for an idiot, which has a detrimental effect on good players on this team! These guys know they can’t win with him as manager and so I’m sure on some subconscious level it is undermining their own game.

You still think my theory is absurd? Well haven’t you ever worked under someone who you thought was an idiot and that you knew you could do a better job than? Didn’t working under this person, who you knew was making bad decisions, have a negative effect on your job performance? Well if it could affect you at your job, why wouldn’t it have an effect on professional players who are affiliated publicly with this moron Charlie Manuel on a daily basis? It could, and I believe that the players are playing poorly (except Pat Burrell, he just sucks no matter who is managing) because of being associated with Manuel. It may not be intentional because I don’t think the players have organized themselves enough to lose on purpose to get Manuel fired, but on a subconscious level this may be what is happening.

You might say, “but the players say they like playing for Manuel”. Come on, what are they supposed to say, “ they can’t stand playing for him and that he is a bumbling idiot”? No, you’re never going to hear something like that in the press but I think it has gotten to the point that these players are embarrassed that Manuel is their manager. Will firing Manuel be the thing that can turn the Phillies’ season around? I’m not entirely sure that you can salvage this season unless they would go on some insane winning streak, but firing Manuel would be a start in the right direction. You can’t win anything with this guy as manager so the team may as well cut it’s loses now and start building for the future. Who knows maybe the Phillies could do what the Marlins did back in 2001. the Marlins were 11 ½ games back on 4th of July 2001 and clawed and scratched their way back to win the World Series, so it’s not totally out of the realm of reality for the Phillies to get back in the chase. However, you have to start by changing the atmosphere around that dugout. And that change needs to start by getting a manager who the players can respect and who they believe knows what the hell is going on. Not someone who still has trouble knowing when to do a double switch.

Also, one other thing they need to do is change the home uniforms. They look like giant candy canes in those red pin-stripes. Like any successful person will tell you, confidence starts by feeling good about how you look and these players can’t be feeling good about themselves wearing those home uniforms. I think that maybe why they have a better road record than home record. They feel better about themselves in the road grey uniforms and therefore play better. But that is a subject for another article.