Ryne Sandberg New Philadelpha Phillies Manager, Charlie Manuel Fired

The Philadelphia Phillies have fired longtime manager Charlie Manuel and replaced him with Hall of Fame player but rookie big league manager Ryne Sandberg.

According to ESPN, management informed Manuel on Friday that they did not intend to renew his contract at season’s end and, in fact, it might be best to simply part ways at this point of the season.

Manuel, who led the Phillies to the playoffs in consecutive seasons spanning from 2007-11 and won the World Series in 2008, did not take kindly to the news. “I’m mad because they took the best seat in the house from me,” he told ESPN. “I enjoyed every bit of it.”

Maybe some parts of it more than others. The Phillies missed the playoffs last season and are stuck in fourth place in the NL East this season, some 20 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves.

Enter the 53-year-old Sandberg, who has spent the year as the team’s third base coach, his first major league coaching position. He spent the previous two seasons as the Phillies Triple-A manager, leading Lehigh Valley to its first playoff appearance.

At one point, Sandberg appeared to be being groomed to manage the Chicago Cubs, the team with which his Hall-of-Fame playing career. He managed four seasons in the team’s organization, but when Theo Epstein took over as head of operations he made it clear that Sandberg would not manage the club in the near future. Sandberg then parted ways with the Cubs.

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