In a rather surprising turn, the Phillies have announced that hitting coach John Mallee has been “relieved … of his duties.” He’ll be replaced by none other than Charlie Manuel, the club’s grizzled former skipper. MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki first tweeted the news.
It’s a decidedly old-school turn for the uber-contemporary Phils. There are some echoes here of a move earlier this year by the division-rival Mets, who installed the 82-year-old Phil Regan as pitching coach and have seemingly benefited from the move. Manuel, 75, has remained a visible figure in the Phillies organization since finishing his time as the manager, but has not occupied a rigorous, everyday role. It seems likely he’ll only be asked to man his new post for the remainder of the present season.
There’s little question the Phillies are in need of a jolt. They’ve steadily slipped behind the Braves, Nats, and Mets since holding the NL East lead in mid-June. Now, the Philadelphia club is separated from postseason position by two games and multiple other teams.
Manuel has long been lauded for his hitting acumen, so he’ll be asked to help the club’s batters with their mechanics and approach. That’s certainly an area of need, given that the Phillies have collectively produced at a mediocre 90 wRC+ clip over the past thirty days. But it seems this move says as much about a need for veteran grit and gravitas as it does a desire to modify the organization’s batting tutelage. And it’s a clear sign that Phillies upper management is not pleased with the way the season has progressed after a winter chock full of big investments.
Harper is awful
I like this move
I miss hearing quotes from Charlie.
Gabe is hilarious but in a WTF way…Charlie will breathe some fresh air into that clubhouse….
He hasn’t breathed fresh air anywhere since 2009.
…when you hire a 75-year-old man to bring fresh air into a clubhouse…
I wonder if Charlie is wearing depends underwear yet?
it all depends
It’s about time!
Charlie was one of the best hitting coaches I ever saw.
Manny Rameriz and Jim Thome would have been lucky to bounce around the majors for 4 years had it not been for Charlie. And they always gave him credit for making him the hitters they became.
This is the first good move I’ve seen the yuppie Philly GM make. The owner probably forced him into it. Expect he wants Charlie to try to talk some sense into the manager as well.
Unfortunately, the biggest problems with the Phillies are the pitching and defense.
The Phillies have a manager on their staff in case Kapler can’t get the job done.
In case he can’t? what more proof do you need?
He was given a trashy rotation wnd his entire bullpen got hurt. The problem has always been klentak
Klentak and Gabe deserve each other – preferably somewhere else.
Lol the guy has had bad rosters for two years and is a .500 manager. He’s fine.
His team’s record is 76-86 in their last 162 games. Time for Gabe to go.
Reminds me of when they made Michael Scott co-manager with Jim. Look at how well that turned out. smh
REJOICE!
Hiring a 75 yr old former WS manager isn’t the long term answer, but the philosophy at least will change….I can hear Charlie talkin’ to Hoskins now, “…son how many times do think it’s a good idear’ to let a straight 95mph fastball go by ya….?”
Thank you…
Jays brought back Gaston to be Hitting Coach. They hit pretty well during his tenure.
Rumor for him getting let go by the Cubs was his habit of buying women of the night while on road trips.
I’m gonna assume you’re talking about Mallee not Manuel
At his age, what the heck was he doing with them????????????? Just because the dog catches the bus, doesn’t mean he can drive it…..
Worst. Analogy. Ever.
Only took until August 13th. How about we let him manage too.
Hey, at least you fired the actual hitting coach, we (Cards) just fired the assistant hitting coach.
Is Larry Bowa also interested in an expanded role again?
Yes! Bowa is exactly what this team needs to get them moving. No more California BS, just good, old school hard work and motivation.
Funny, Bowa was born in Cali….but to the son of a former player and manager.
California was a different place when Bowa was born.
How about Utley as Manager and Jamie Moyer as pitching coach. Back up the truck and pay these guys whatever it takes! They have a baseball sense/IQ. Kapler and Yound are Freakin Clowns!! Wake up Philly
i was thinking it would be a good idea for Bowa to be the interim manager for a week to jolt the team into playing better and then put in Dusty Wathan or someone else for the rest of the season. unrealistic, but something that might work.
It’s about time they make a change to there coaching staff. If Kapler doesn’t work out they have great replacement. Go Charlie!
it must be weird for Manuel to be back in the same place he had a lot of success with a lesser role
Probably not. Charlie is down on the field almost every day during BP. He’s got a relationship with these players. Perhaps he can teach them how to level out their swings and just make solid, hard contact rather than a HR,K, or infield pop-up.
When you get a flat tire, the first thing you do is change your sparkplugs…..the Phillies are just weird……
Manuel in Philly, Regan with the Mets….MLB is trying to appeal to the young……
Or save their main fanbase.
i dont think you change an assistant coach simply to “appeal to the young.” theres a bit more at stake here as far as the average fan is concerned.
Coincidentally enough, John Mallee was fired just before his former Cubs team begins a 3-game series in Philadelphia. Mallee is a native Chicagoan who was Joe Maddon’s first hitting coach after he was hired on October 9th, 2014 just before the manager “officially” opted out of his Rays gig when then GM Andrew Friedman departed Tampa. The opt-out clause in Maddon’s contract was triggered when Friedman left and the Cubs hired the “Genius” on November 2nd after previously promising Rick Renteria would return as their manager for the 2015 season.
Offensive production during Mallee’s tenure from 2015 through 2017 prove that he was the Cubs best hitting coach under Maddon. The Cubs ultimately replaced Mallee in 2018 when they hired Chili Davis who was a disaster on the North Side of Chicago. Davis was replaced by this season by advanced analytic guru Anthony Iopace but the Cubs offense continues to be their #1 problem, at least in terms of consistency and clutch performance.
*Anthony Iapoce*.
Are you suggesting they will hire him back or should?
Not necessarily, just offering some background and stating facts.
Anybody who has read my posts over the years, particularly Chicago baseball fans, already know that I can’t stand Joe Maddon and felt that Rick Renteria was shafted by the Cubs in the process. For the record, Renteria was terminated on October 31, 2014, one week after Maddon opted out of his contract with the Tampa Bay Rays. That’s on the front office and also a manager who was actively campaigning for a peers job.
I would also point out that I am a lifelong fan of both the Cubs and White Sox and don’t have an axe to grind either way. What I can offer is that the Cubs loss involving Renteria is now the White Sox gain.
The Cubs have had a revolving door of all position coaches the past 3 years. Some due to promotion like Dave Martinez. The issue is not position/hitting coaches like Davis or Mallee but with players that are not as good as the Cub’s organization believes.
Same can be said of the Phillies organization as well. At least the Cubbies have a trophy in the last 10 years.
and the Phillies do in the last 11 years !
Yeah, this is true. However,I said back in November of 2008 that I would be happy for 10 years now that a parade went down Braod St.
Here we are 11 years later and 8 of them have been below mediocrity.
I’ve been patient, but now it’s time to start winning again.
Outside of ownership, the only constant during this “revolving door of all position coaches” has been manager Joe Maddon and the front office headed by Theo Epstein. Many players have remained but not all. Generally speaking the manager has priority with the selection of his coaching staff which would seem to put the blame mostly on “Genius Joe”.
Well that is something. I wonder if John Kruk is available to consult as well.
Lifetime .300 hitter. He might be a good consultant.
and I’d hire Ricky Bottalico as pitching coach!
yeah, surpised they got rid of him so quickly. have to assume it was beyond performance.
Is someone helping Chris Young pack his bags too?
Carlos Ruiz perhaps? He’d be a better pitching coach than CY.
Mallee is the Phillies sacrificial lamb for purpose of satisfying the fan base. Unfortunately the ineptness of the Phillies belongs to the entire staff. The staff of twelve plus members of the team R&D cannot process the info necessary to improve the existing players as well as the failure of a the coaching staff to utilize the acquired knowledge and put it into a productive performance by its players. The atmosphere of the clubhouse along with a non-working baseball philosophy will continue to spell disaster. Contracts are exceedingly high, the medical staff has failed in reviewing players conditions prior to signing and John Middleton needs better baseball advisers in all aspects of the game. MLB might be making money but it’s only because of selling product to new markets. At home because of their lack of respect for baseball, the game is hurting. It’s time for fans and the players to “Balls Up” and take back our game, America’s Game!!
Amen !
there’s no way a lineup with the players it has in it should be hitting this bad, and its not reasonable to believe that everyone is responsible. Malee’s job is to oversee and improve the team’s hitting, something that’s well regressed this year despite the addition of numerous generally good hitters. if you fire anyone, it at least starts with him.
“Manuel is expected to simplify the Phillies’ offensive approach, something manager Gabe Kapler acknowledged in June had become too complex. It might be why the team has struggled to hit fastballs in the strike zone. They have a .336 wOBA (25th in baseball) and a .504 slugging percentage (25th) against fastballs in the zone. To put that into perspective, the Phillies had a less talented offense under former hitting coach Matt Stairs in 2017, but had a .342 wOBA (17th) and a .505 slugging percentage (20th) against fastballs in the zone.” mlb.com/phillies/news/charlie-manuel-returns-as-ph…
One more time…. Manuel is expected to simplify the Phillies’ offensive approach, something manager Gabe Kapler acknowledged in June had become too complex.”
Gee Gabe……ya think?
Can you imagine the front office analytics geeks presenting various charts, graphics and other techno data on a laptop to old Charlie? And him responding … “where’s the ‘on’ button?”
Goes to show how far teams like Astros and Dodgers are ahead of the rest. They are heavy on analytics but know how to deliver the info without being a slave to the numbers.
I always thought Kapler would have been better served as a bench coach under a Charlie Manuel type to begin his career……This may have helped Kapler learn to be able to go with his gut on occasion….?
Phillies replaced wrong guy – Kapler overmatched . Bochy made him look like a kid in SF – Front Office needs to admit it was a mistake hiring Kapler . Pitching Coach,Hitting Coach have been replaced – the Manager signs off on those moves. Players know what is going on – they don’t respect the Manager.
I’ll take Mallee on the White Sox! Todd Steverson is not getting it done.
Sigh!
Kapler pitched to red hot Pilar when Crawford (ice cold) was on deck..a triple later, the game was lost..Alex Rodriguez said at the time, horrible managerial move.
First, the hitting philosophy has been to get “launch” angle and take pitches..that’s why so many pop flys, pop-ups, and roll over ground balls into double plays. This move is long long over due..Not sure Charlie is the guy, but can’t hurt..just way late..
Oh, while I’m at it, the pitching coach needs to go also…why you ask? because they decided they wanted the Phillies starters to pitch up in the zone..unfortunately, they don’t have the talent to pitch up there…because of that, the Phillies are in position to set a record for home runs given up…they lead all of baseball in giving up the long ball..none of the 29 other teams are even close..
Hi Dads….been a frustrating season again….It’s rough to watch Krapler day in and day out saying the same rah rah nonsense, he really just has to disappear into the front office somewhere and we replace him with someone who is willing to go :”Dallas Green” on the clubhouse when it’s needed….Nice to see Charlie back, must’ve been Middleton’s call….can’t imagine Klentak wanting an old school antianalytic guy to be showing the team how baseball should be played and expose this nonsense for what it is…
mod, this is a talented team..the starting 8 is very good even with Cutch going down..they have the worst approach ever at bats..so many runners left in scoring position…
this may sound crazy but it’s time to hire Pete Rose as hitting coach. that guy knew how to hit.
LOL…except he is banned from ML baseball…
The philosophy of “get’em on, get’em over, get’em in” is lost in today’s game. Only rarely is it applied and it’s killing baseball.
The Phillies played that small ball in Game 1 against the D-Backs. They were stealing, bunting, and sacrificing guys over to manufacturer runs. That baseball is so much fun to watch.
Watching the poor AB’s you mention is as fun as watching paint dry.
no quality hitting coach, so Rhys Hoskins is a dead pull hitter who has not made a single adjustment…every pitcher he faces pitches him outside and he still tries to pull everything…..not once have we phans heard of anyone working with him to adjust…
Uneducated baseball fan : Harper sucks he must be the problem. (He has like the 3rd best averge in baseball with runners in scoring position) (you state this because you want to be a part of a conversation though clueless)
Smart fan : the Phillies are on pace to give up more home runs then any team in the history of baseball. I think that might have a little more to do with the Phillies issues then super clutch Harper who will finish with 100+rbi and has one of best on base % in game.. Just a guess though.
nobody really feels bad for the Phillies. They talk about all this money that they have and how they are going to put together some super team and only really seem to upgrade the offense? I firmly believe that the Phillies would be running away with the East with significant upgrades to the rotation last offseason. They let Keuchel go to the Braves which could have significantly shifted the power of the east–hes a big game pitcher. They could have made some interesting trades and pulled a Will Smith in at the deadline, or traded for Stroman. Phils GM seems to still be living on the high of the Harper signing, or maybe he ran out of money and should close his mouth about how much they are going to spend.
Oh shiiii. Could be good news, but I’m more excited to watch infinity war and endgame back to back.
The Phillies under Pete Mackanin,slow starts and strong finishes.Phillies under Kapler,good starts and choke in the end.Hopefully they eventually get it right.
And for all you Harper haters,i can’t wait for next year,after he goes through a normal offseason without figuring out where he’ll end up playing.
Phillies dismiss live Pitching Coach, will instead use MANUEL !!
sometimes you gotta do things by the book!
It’s crazy that once McCutchen went down, the team started to slide. Crazy how a “washed up old man” can still help a club when on the field.
Having Charlie in the dugout helped bring the players bats alive. Why not use some former Phillies players like Ricky Battaico, Jimmy Rollins
or Ryan Howard as coaches.