Pete Rose says what he would do as Phillies general manager
By Matt Rappa
Baseball’s hit king Pete Rose says what he would do as Phillies GM
With the start of the 60-game shortened season less than two weeks away, Philadelphia Phillies fans remain persistent in wanting the front office to re-sign All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto.
Bryce Harper has even advocated in recent days for his friend and teammate, who he calls his “favorite player in the world.”
If baseball’s hit king and 1980 World Series champion Pete Rose had any input, however, he says he would focus elsewhere as general manager — not so much on bats, rather, pitching.
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“Do you see what the Yankees did? They went out and signed the best pitcher, [Gerrit Cole],” Rose said in a recent conversation with SportsRadio 94 WIP’s Howard Eskin. “You’re not going to win by signing a guy you know is going to hit 35 home runs.”
“There’s going to be a lot of guys who are going to hit 35 home runs.”
Rose said he would put his big money into investing in pitching, not into a player who “may have a good year, may not have a good year.”
“You win with pitching, not with slugging,” he added. “There’s a lot of teams that slugged last year. Minnesota. [No one] hit more home runs than them, but they didn’t win because they didn’t have pitching.”
MLB Team Home Run Leaders, 2019 Season (Team Wins, Team ERA)
- Minnesota Twins, 307 (101, 4.18) – AL Central Champions (Lost ALDS)
- New York Yankees, 306 (103, 4.31) – AL East Champions (Lost ALCS)
- Houston Astros, 288 (107, 3.66) – AL West Champions (Lost World Series)
- Los Angeles Dodgers, 279 (106, 3.37) – NL West Champions (Lost NLDS)
- Oakland A’s, 257 (97, 3.97) – Wild Card (Lost Wild Card Game)
The 17-time All-Star went on to say he wants the Phillies to get some frontline pitching to surround themselves underneath star outfielder Bryce Harper, who he calls one of the top-five players in baseball.
“You can’t sign two or three big-name free-agents and win. I don’t care where you’re playing, what country you’re in, what year you’re in … you can’t outscore the opposition every night,” Rose said. “You can’t win 9-8, 8-7 every night. You got to win some of them 2-1, 1-0 games.”
“The teams who do that are the teams that win the most games. You got to have pitching. Good pitching stops good hitting.”
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Of course, teams have to be balanced in order to go deep into the postseason. Rose’s playing career spanned 24 seasons, five of which with the Phillies from 1979 to 1983. He said the key to success and winning games is having guys at the top of the lineup who can get on base to complement run producers, such as his former teammate and fellow 1980 champion Mike Schmidt.
As for the 2020 Phillies, Rose said Harper does not have a lot of players at the top of the lineup, who he calls “table setters.”
“If you’re going to lead off for the Phillies, don’t worry about home runs,” Rose said. “Harper’s one of the best in the league, but what Harper doesn’t have is what Mike Schmidt had, guys at the top of the order who’s on that base every time he comes up.”
“When you got me and [Joe] Morgan leading off, you’re going to knock in a lot of runs,” he added.
“You’re going to win a lot of games just because you have the opportunity to knock in runs.”
So, Rose wants the Phillies to add frontline starting pitching, and start having a focus on complementing Harper with players in the order who can “set the table.” Andrew McCutchen just might be that guy.
Before his June 2019 torn ACL injury, McCutchen led the entire National League in walks (43), bested only overall by Los Angeles Angels slugger Mike Trout. Not to mention, McCutchen was leading the Phillies in runs scored (45) and posted his highest OBP (.378) since 2015.
Perhaps, Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler can rise to Rose’s frontline starter label as well.
Time will tell how the Phillies fare in the 60-game sprint.