hiester.com

Having been swept out of the playoffs in the first round, the Phillies ride off into the sunset to ponder next year. Now everyone is asking the big off-season questions.

 Should they re-sign Charlie Manuel as manager? That’s a tough one. If Manuel were in the middle of a contract, I would certainly not fire him. He may have messed up a few double-switches, but he’s been doing something to motivate the players. With the loss of Freddy Garcia and John Lieber to injuries, Adam Eaton to Steve Blass disease and Brett Myers to the bull pen, the Phillies starting rotation was decimated this year. Plus they were without Howard, Utley and Victorino for stretches. Somehow, the Phillies kept winning enough to stay within striking range of the Mets. Although the Mets staged a 1964-style collapse, the Phillies had to win a lot of ball games to capitalize. Their two sweeps of the Mets late in the season were nothing short of phenomenal. They now own the Mets. Willie Randolph can start Cy Young, Walter Johnson and Nolan Ryan next year and the Phils will still beat them. You can thank Charlie Manuel (and Jimmy Rollins) for that. But the question remains: new contract for Uncle Charlie? I say no. But, I also say the worst thing they could do is hire Joe Torre (odds of Torre coming here are the same as the odds that Milton Bradley wins the Nobel Peace Prize) or Joe Girardi (and I promise I have absolutely nothing against Italian Americans name Joe). The Phillies have found chemistry in their clubhouse. Here are two perfectly qualified candidates for the Phillies skipper job: Davey Lopes and Milt Thompson. These guys have proved their effectiveness. Thompson’s hitting tutelage gave them the most potent offense in baseball. Lopes’ base-running genius translated to an 88.2% successful stolen base percentage–the highest in the history of baseball. You read that right. Highest. Ever. The Phillies fundamentals soared in the second half of the season. Promote one of these guys. They have already won the approval of the Phillies “Keyser Sose” ownership group.

And please give us a new 3rd base coach. I don’t care if it’s the Phillie Phanatic or a ball girl or Bill Campbell sitting there in a Barcalounger eating dollar dogs.

I’ll leave it to the other million armchair GMs to figure out how to fix the starting rotation and the bullpen, what to do with Myers (hint: he wants to be a closer–keep him there), Burrell(Pat, Adam Eaton doesn’t think the idea of swapping brains worked out very well and he’d like his back–what? You traded it to Rick Ankiel?) and Eaton. Certainly trade value for players like Werth, Dobbs and Iguchi have gone up (and before you jump all over me, I have no idea of their contract/free agency status and no time to look it up now). Two of those guys for Dontrelle Willis?

How about those Flyers?