Ruben Amaro Jr., the general manager of the Phillies and Charlie Manuel, the manager spoke with the media about the team's dismal performance this season and the hiring of a third base coach.
They informed that Ryne Sandberg has been promoted as third-base coach and infield instructor. Considering one of the worst season's for the Phillies this year, Sandberg would be required to think out of the box to resurrect the team's performance.
They promoted Ryne Sandberg, the Lehigh Valley manager, to the major-league coaching staff on Thursday. There were speculations that he would replace Manuel who still has a year remaining on his contract.
"That's the sexy thing to think about, but the fact of the matter is he's not the heir apparent," Amaro said. "We've made no promises to him. He'll get an opportunity to be a major league manager at some point.
"Whether it is with the Phillies, I don't know. We're just happy to have him on our staff. He's a great addition to our staff."
Manuel, who led the Phillies to five NL East titles, too put speculations at rest confirming that there was no problem with his contract.
"I know how old I am," he said. "My favorite saying is know thyself. I know myself. I still have a lot of passion and drive and I still love baseball. At the end of the year, I'll be glad to sit down and take inventory of myself and talk to people, see where I'm at.
"I'm not saying I'm going to retire, not going to say I'm going to quit. I've been in the game a long time and I love it and I'm looking forward to next year because it's a great challenge. I'm very satisfied where I sit."
Sandberg is considered a top candidate as manager for the Phillies and when Manuel was asked if he had apprehensions of Sandberg replacing him as manager, he said: "It just came up now, didn't it? It doesn't put any more pressure on me. Since we've had him here (in the organization) and I've been around him in the winter time. ... I absolutely like everything about him.
"I question him all the time, see what kind of knowledge he's got. He's going to be really good, be our defensive guy in the dugout. His responsibility is going to be a lot more than coaching third base. We can use his hitting expertise.
"He's a Hall of Fame hitter with a lot of good ideas, he talks hitting the way I like and brings value to us."
Sandberg's promotion came less than 24 hours after the Phillies fired 3 coaches, Sam Perlozzo, the first base coach, Pete Mackanin, the bench coach and Greg Gross, the hitting coach. Sandberg was earlier serving as manager of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
The Phillies had a very unimpressive season this year (81-81). Manuel discussed the various mistakes the team had committed this year adding that an efficient coaching staff was important to avoid the fundamental errors. "Any time you make coaching changes, I don't like them and I'm sure Ruben doesn't like them," he said. "But it was very important we do some things, and what we did required some people losing their jobs. Sometimes change is good, whether it's a coach, player or manager."
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