Phillies: The case for Juan Samuel as the future manager

As the miserable 2017 season comes to a close, the Philadelphia Phillies need to consider a new manager for 2018, and Juan Samuel has earned a chance to lead the team.

Pete Mackanin simply hasn’t done anything to warrant being the Phillies‘ manager of the future. Sitting at 46-78, they are nowhere near where many people expected them to be this season.

With some continuity and improvements in throughout the lineup, some people thought the Phils could flirt with .500 baseball this season and end up around 75 wins for the season. But now it seems like it would be miracle if they could get to 62-65 wins.

Not all of the disappointment has to due with Mackanin as the team has had some unfortunate injuries, as well as players like Michael Saunders and Maikel Franco being major disappointments.

But Mackanin hasn’t helped the team’s cause at all, either.

He’s left pitchers in far too long, like he did the other day with Aaron Nola, and he’s also been insistent on playing veteran players instead of better, younger players, like Jorge Alfaro.

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Despite Mackanin receiving a contract extension from Matt Klentak earlier in the year, the Phillies need to cut Mackanin loose and give another longtime member of the coaching staff a shot at being the manager, Juan Samuel.

Samuel has been a member of the Phillies’ coaching staff since 2011, primarily as a base coach, where he continues to serve as the team’s 3rd base coach this season.

He’s seen some of the best and the worst times while with the Phillies organization as in his first year the team won 102 games, but has also been around for some of the worst years in the history of the franchise during the past five seasons.

Samuel started his playing career with the Phillies back in 1983 and played his first six and a half seasons in Philadelphia, where he made two All-Star appearances and earned one Silver Slugger award.

The Dominican Republic native got his start coaching with Detroit in 1999 and remained with the Tigers organization until 2005 when his contract was not renewed. He spent the 2006 season managing in the minor leagues and then was hired to be the Orioles’ 3rd base coach prior to the 2007 season.

He spent the next four seasons with Baltimore and was elected into the Phillies’ Wall of Fame during the 2008 season for his playing days with the club.

In an interview with Philly.com’s Marcus Hayes last August, Samuel said he was surprised that he was selected to the team’s Wall of Fame, but was glad to be remembered like the other

Samuel was named the interim manager for the Orioles during the 2010 season after Dave Trembley was fired with 51 games left in the season. In those final 51 games, Samuel had a managerial record of 17-34 record, but that was at the tail end one of the worst seasons in Orioles history.

After the 2010 season, Samuel joined the Phillies and is still with the team as the 3rd base coach in 2017.

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No one on the team’s current coaching staff deserves a shot to be in charge more than Samuel. He has plenty of familiarity within the organization and has said in the past that he wants to be a manager in the big leagues.

“My ultimate goal is not to finish my career coaching first base,” Samuel told CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury back in 2015.

Allowing Samuel to be the manager next season won’t hurt the team in the short term as the team will not be expected to compete barring some drastic moves during the offseason.

It can only benefit the team in the long run if Samuel turns out to be a good manager.

But there’s no point in bringing back Mackanin for next season when he’s already proven he doesn’t deserve to be the team’s manager of the future.

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It’s time to let Samuel have his turn at the leader of the clubhouse and see if he can help with the development of the team’s younger players and help usher in a new era of Phillies baseball led by himself and the young stars like Rhys Hoskins, Aaron Nola and Nick Williams.