Anthony Mazziotti
With both of the National and American League Championship Series happening right now, I am left wondering who will be the next manager to lead the Phillies to October greatness?
Will it be a proven skipper like Buck Showalter, Dusty Baker, Ron Gardenhire, or even Mike Scioscia? Could it be a younger guy with some success like a Brad Ausmus?The Phillies will have their pick of the litter. They are a top market in baseball, they have a deep farm system and they have a lot of money to play with. Not to mention having a core comprised of Rhys Hoskins, Nick Williams, JP Crawford, Aaron Nola, and Jorge Alfaro is pretty enticing for whomever gets the manager position. In summation, Philadelphia would be really appealing to anyone that is not already in the organization.
That said, I don’t think they should look outside the organization for their new manager. In my opinion, the choice is right under Andy MacPhail and Matt Klentak’s noses. The only man for the job is none other than the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs manager, Dusty Wathan. He is only 44 years old and can continue to grow with his young core.
Think about it: Wathan has been with the core for a few years already and has had runs of success at all three levels on minor league baseball. Why would you hire an outside guy when you have a homegrown coach who already has a relationship with his players?
The only knock on Wathan is that he doesn’t have any MLB experience. I don’t understand why this would be so much of a red flag, everyone needs to get their start somewhere. He’s been managing teams in the Phillies organization since 2008. He should be an MLB coach before long and I would hate to see someone homegrown go on to have success outside the Phillies organization. Especially if the new manager fails.
To answer my thought from the beginning of this post: the guy to lead the Phillies to October greatness should be Dusty Wathan. Get it done, MacPhail and Klentak.
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