Phillies showing desire to win in 2018 by firing Pete Mackanin

The Phillies made a surprising move Friday by announcing that Pete Mackanin won’t return as manager. It’s clear the team is ready to make the next step.

The Phillies made a major decision for their future Friday by announcing that Pete Mackanin will not return as manager for the 2018 season. The search is now on for a new manager, with plenty of names being thrown out.

No matter who winds up getting hired for the job, whether it be an old-school baseball guy or a younger stats-driven manager, it’s apparent that a major shift is coming to Philadelphia baseball. The team showed major improvements, especially in the second half, prompting the front office to make this decision.

Step one of this shift was to fire Mackanin. His future as the manager was never guaranteed, even when he signed a contract extension earlier this season. Mackanin was first hired as the manager on an interim basis in 2015 when Ryne Sandberg resigned, but he stayed as the full-time manager after the season.

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One major gripe with Mackanin was how he has handled the team’s younger players. It took Rhys Hoskins setting major-league records for him to finally get consistent playing time at first base this season. In addition, he was slow to let Jorge Alfaro get consistent playing time behind the plate for the ultimately inferior Cameron Rupp. Mackanin was also hesitant to let J.P. Crawford get playing time at shortstop because he wanted Freddy Galvis to play 162 games at shortstop.

Those issues stretch back to last season as well, with last year’s Rule 5 pick, Tyler Goeddel, never being able to establish any footing in the majors because Mackanin rarely played him. When Goeddel got consistent playing time he did well, but Mackanin simply refused to put him in the lineup by the end of the season without any real good reason.

Mackanin stressed loyalty to the guys in his clubhouse over newer, younger, and ultimately better players coming up from the minors. This hurt the team and their ability to win. You can see how much of a difference those players make just by looking at the stark contrast between the first and second half for the Phillies.

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While loyalty to players is important, it can only go so far. At some point, letting better players play, even if it means cutting playing time for guys you like and that like you, is the best thing you can do for a team. If the team is winning games, it’s hard for there to be much dissent.

The second half of this season showed that the Phillies can be a good team when the best players play. Unfortunately, it took way too long for Mackanin to come around to this fact, and that’s what ultimately led to his firing.

Next: Five names to watch for a new manager

GM Matt Klentak said in his press conference Friday that the team is looking for someone to lead them into the future that could help them make a turnaround like the Twins this year. That someone will probably be a manager who puts the best lineup forward every day with the hope that the team will win as many games as possible in 2018. It’s clear that someone wasn’t Mackanin.