It’s no secret the Phillies are crashing and burning this season.
When you look at the roster, the injuries, the performance becoming a fraction of its potential it makes me wonder what’s going on.
Cliff Lee, CLIFF LEE, just got his first win days before the All Star break.
Trade rumors now are starting. “Sell the Team!” one shouts, “It’s never too late to rally!” shouts another.
What could the Phillies change to turn this season around?
They need a spark.
All season long the Phillies have been using their farm system to fill needs. Infielders, Outfielders, Pitchers.. the transactions are tough to keep up with.
I think they need to make one other call up this season.
Sure, we all love Charlie Manuel. Great guy. Great manager. If you’ve ever heard one of his classic stories at the Winter Banquets you know the guy is old school baseball. There’s nothing but love for Charlie.
With that said… tap the right arm and call up Ryne Sandberg. We’ve seen on different levels on how his presence and leadership can get a team moving and winning. The IronPigs hadn’t had a winning season in its brief history until taken over by Sandberg. They are currently in 1st in their division and going strong.
It’s time for a leadership change in Philly. Letting Charlie Manuel go with the grace and respect he deserves will allow this team to face in a direction other than straight down. It’s time, it really is.
Your thoughts?
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
Here’s a less radical thought: The Yankees need a good pitcher for their playoff run, and their loaded with all kinds of talent. Ruben needs to talk to them about trading Cliff Lee for a few top-notch players, including a pitching prospect from the Minors who’s a year or so away from being ready for Prime Time. Lee’s at the end of his useful career anyway, and the Phils might as well get something for him while they can. Plus they can then use the money they gain on their salary cap to go out and find a first-rate pitcher they can make a trade for before the deadline.
I firmly believe Sandberg is their manager of the future — and that probably means next year. But I think Charlie’s mean too much to Philly to be sacked unceremoniously in the middle of his final season. He needs to retire in style, not get fired.
Agree. You have an aging team. The manager isn’t the issue. Y’all know how I love Sandberg and want him to get his shot at The Show, but as long as you’re backloaded with injury-prone players whose skills are starting to erode, you’re just setting him up for failure. (But if you want to bring him up just long enough to give him some MLB experience so he’ll be ready when the Cubs finally have a team for him to manage, I’m totally good with that. I haven’t given up on my Ryno-returns-to-Friendly-Confines-as-conquering-hero fantasy….)
I totally agree, and I believe that next season it wouln’t surprise me to see Ryno get the call to manage the Phillies. The time has come. Perhaps Charlie could be feeling the same way, maybe it’s time to step down with dignity and respect. Don’t fire him, let him finish out the season and hopefully Charlie will exit on his terms. Do the right thing Philly
Truthfully, I think Charlie’s looking at having to break up the team he put together and build from pretty much scratch. And I don’t know that he’s up to that challenge — not just from the standpoint that he’s pushing 70 and it’s getting to be time to retire, but also because I don’t think he wants to preside over the dismantling of the team he built. Face it, these guys have become “his” guys, his friends, and emotionally I don’t think he’ll be prepared to do that. So I think it will be easy for him to turn the reins over to Ryno.