On Gillick as advisor
The last time Gillick had an advisory role with the team, it was after he quit as GM to run the team from the shadows, handing Bavasi a list of things that were all but done or that he needed to be done, and the results stank. Bavasi eventually came out on top to be the in-name and in-fact GM, and the results stank, sure, but at least the team had direction.
I’ve been harping a lot on the lack of baseball sense of Armstrong/Lincoln and how that affects the team as a whole organization. And we’ve talked about the new GM hire. If Armstrong hires Gillick to be in the same kind of position, it’ll be bad all around.
I wonder if this possibility wasn’t a factor in other candidates declining to interview. Gillick’s planned departure from Philly’s been known for some time, and the possibility that they’d be a new GM for a team with Pat Gillick whispering in the ownership’s ear constantly and undermining their position might well have made the job far less attractive to them.
There’s just too large a potential for conflict. If they wanted to hire Gillick to be the GM again, they should have held off on the process and hired him. If they wanted him back in the front office, that’s the way to go. And I don’t think giving him Chuck’s job would be much better: with a president so highly experienced supervising anyone, the chance they’ll decide they could do the GM job better is quite high (see the Tigers a few years back).
And yet you can see how attractive this proposition would be for those at the top. With a new and untested GM, they’d love to have someone with Gillick’s success and knowledge around for oversight and reassurance.
Resist! Resist, Chuck! It’s a bad idea!
Armstrong also said that during the GM selection process they were getting advice from Gillick. It’s not likely that Gillick was telling them that what the team needed was to get better at integrating integrating quantitative data with observational data.
as I understand it, it is pretty much impossible to not get input from Gillick once he has your number. I think it was Chuck who said that when Pat was the GM it was one constant meeting the entire 3 years.
we just have to hang our hat on his tradition of not working in the same city where he has his house.
I don’t see this happening.
From everything I’ve read so far Armstrong and Lincoln are putting all their eggs in Zduriencik’s basket.
I think (admittedly somewhat optimistically) that Armstrong/Lincoln would rather be part of an actual successful organization than a successful organization based on their preconceived notions of the past. Zduriencik offered a giant sized opportunity for ownership when he asked who should stick around and they chose to let him decide. Even if Armstrong decides later to tell Zduriencik that maybe they should keep guys like Lee Pelekoudas (or even hire Pat Gillick) they already gave up the best opportunity to do that with virtually no resistance or hesitation from Jack.
So far, at least publically, they’re showing a ton of confidence in letting the untested GM Jack Zduriencik handle this team.
Let’s wait until Gillick gets done with his 3rd WS appearance before we get too excited.
I agree 100%.
People keep telling me “Gillick has been in must-win situations his past 3 jobs, having him as an advisor could be good”.
It’s not good. We didn’t get the young, compter savy, Sabrhead GM we wanted, but we at least got a GM who acknowledges that those stats are part of a successful organization. Brining Gillick in will only destroy any chances that Zduriencik hires a stat team.
You hired the best candidate you thought posssible HowChuck, now let him do his job…by himself.
And just like that, Derek @#$*s up.