QUICK TO ACT: NEW GM CLEANS HOUSE, HIRES OWN MAN
Nicholas Hoff wasted no time in making his presence felt around the Phillies front office, as he announced the firing of Director of Scouting Marti Wolever. The casual fan may not know much about Wolever, but the learned fan is very familiar with the Scouting Director’s work as he is the man responsible for drafting Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard, and Kyle Kendrick, along with several other established big league players in other organizations.
“It’s a major blow to the organization,” said an anonymous source. “Marti was a great guy, liked by everyone, and real good at his job too.” When asked why Hoff thought it necessary to fire someone well regarded by most in the Phillies organization and across Major League Baseball, Hoff declined to comment. Instead, he chose to announce that Wolever’s replacement had already signed a contract and that nothing would slip through the cracks during the transition from one Director of Scouting to the next.
Replacing Wolever is former Orioles’ General Manager Andy MacPhail. MacPhail, 60, is up there in age but many still consider him one of the wiser minds in the game. While the Orioles never achieved much under his watch, many of Baltimore’s core players acquired under MacPhail’s leadership, including Chris Davis and Adam Jones. “He’s a good choice,” said an anonymous AL executive that previously worked with MacPhail. “When he came into Baltimore, he said, “Okay, we need to stop patching this roster. Let’s start developing our own guys.” It took time, but Baltimore’s now reaping the rewards of his labor.”
That same executive remarked that the Orioles, when they first hired MacPhail, were in a similar position to the one the Phillies are now. In fact, he said, bringing in MacPhail is about his player evaluation skills as much as it is about experience. “You cannot dig the Phillies out of their hole overnight, so to get someone on your side that’s done it before is a big plus.”
How does MacPhail stack up compared to Wolever? First, they have different philosophies when it comes to selecting players. Wolever prefers 'toolsy' players, like Cole Hamels, whereas MacPhail prefers players with lower ceilings but higher floors. In other words, MacPhail would rather take a sure Major Leaguer than the guy who may wake up one day hitting like Mike Schmidt or never wake up at all. Moreover, MacPhail is better at evaluating present-day big league talent and players in the minors than Wolever is according to the sources I interviewed.
In summary, while the Phillies fired one of their most-beloved executives, they replaced him with someone that brings just as much, if not more, to the table. Not only that but the hiring of MacPhail also shows that the front office is embracing a new philosophy. What that philosophy is, and how successful it will be, we do not know. But we should be patient. In Hoff We Trust.