Former Phillies Manager Roasts Ryan Howard and MLB Players of Today

Dallas Green was the Phillies manager from 1979 to 1981 and won a World Series championship during that time. His word in Philly is still relatively gospel.

He’s now a senior advisor to the general manager with the Phillies and didn’t pull any punches during an appearance on the WIP Morning Show with Angelo Cataldi today.

When asked about the game today and what’s changed, Green sort of goes off, but tries to be nice at the same time. The conversation moved to Ryan Howard and what Green would do with him. Last year, then Phillies general manager, Ruben Amaro, Jr., said that the team would be better off without Howard, and it sounds like Green shares that same opinion.

Dallas Green: What I tried to create in Philadelphia when I was there was a work ethic and a pride about what you’re doing and a pride about your game. It’s a hard road to sow today, Ang, because of the money. They get so much money now – they don’t even understand the history of the game.
 
Cataldi: What would you do with Ryan Howard? This is a guy that gave so much to the organization, all those thrills, but he’s at the end-
 
Green: The days are over.
 
Cataldi: Yep, so what do you do?
 
Green: I heard [Phillies general manager] Matt [Klentak] say, obviously, performance is what it’s all about. Well, he hasn’t performed, obviously. If he doesn’t perform in spring training, you know, you’re backed up against a wall again. In fairness, [Phillies manager] Pete [Mackanin] has already come out and say he’s probably gonna platoon most of the time, which is a fair deal. At least in his mind and the team’s mind. But, the guy is still here. And I think it’s time for somebody to grab him – if it’s an American League team, if somebody wants him – I know Matt’ll work a deal that’ll be favorable to the team. It would be best for him to move on.

Green’s not the only one to hold that opinion, because Amaro and I do, too. Yuck. I hate Amaro. Anyway, it has to be hard to get anything of value for Howard because of his contract, which ends after this season. And that’s part of the reason Green wants him moved, but it’s likely that the Phillies would have to eat the rest of the contract, anyway.

…

On the contrary, the Nationals’ Bryce Harper in an ESPN The Magazine interview said baseball is a tired sport because you can’t express yourself. I’d love to see how a conversation about this between Harper and Green would go. Here’s what Harper had to say:

Baseball’s tired,” he says. “It’s a tired sport, because you can’t express yourself. You can’t do what people in other sports do. I’m not saying baseball is, you know, boring or anything like that, but it’s the excitement of the young guys who are coming into the game now who have flair. If that’s Matt Harvey or Jacob deGrom or Manny Machado or Joc Pederson or Andrew McCutchen or Yasiel Puig — there’s so many guys in the game now who are so much fun.
 
“Jose Fernandez is a great example. Jose Fernandez will strike you out and stare you down into the dugout and pump his fist. And if you hit a homer and pimp it? He doesn’t care. Because you got him. That’s part of the game. It’s not the old feeling — hoorah … if you pimp a homer, I’m going to hit you right in the teeth. No. If a guy pimps a homer for a game-winning shot … I mean — sorry.”
 
He stops, looks around. The hell with it, he’s all in.
 
“If a guy pumps his fist at me on the mound, I’m going to go, ‘Yeah, you got me. Good for you. Hopefully I get you next time.’ That’s what makes the game fun. You want kids to play the game, right? What are kids playing these days? Football, basketball. Look at those players — Steph Curry, LeBron James. It’s exciting to see those players in those sports. Cam Newton — I love the way Cam goes about it. He smiles, he laughs. It’s that flair. The dramatic.”

You can listen to audio of Green’s interview on WIP below.