Gillick: Jobs of Amaro, Sandberg "absolutely" safe
Pat Gillick stepped in last week as the Phillies acting team president and CEO when David Montgomery had to take a medical leave of absence. Along with ownership, he'll have final say on baseball operations. On Tuesday, he endorsed both his manager and general manager.
Pat Gillick has not spoken with David Montgomery since stepping into the Phillies team president's shoes last week.
Montgomery is still recovering from a procedure to remove cancer from his right jaw in May. He took a medical leave of absence on Thursday.
But Gillick has spoken to the Phillies ownership group, and they wanted the Hall of Fame executive to get a firsthand look at the on-the-field operations.
Gilliick arrived in Atlanta on Tuesday. He'll remain with the team on the current road trip, on the next homestand, and then when the Phillies play in San Diego and Oakland later this month, too.
Gillick will work in conjunction with Amaro, he said. But since he is currently Amaro's boss, he has final say on baseball operation matters, which could include the fates of both Amaro and manager Ryne Sandberg.
But Gillick said both Amaro and Ruben were safe on Tuesday.
"Absolutely," Gillick said.
Why so?
"Well, let me say this, one of the more difficult thing to do in professional sports, and not only baseball but all sports, is to be patient," Gillick said. "It's very difficult. It's very difficult for the fans to be patient, it's difficult for the media to be patient, it's difficult for ownership to be patient. But sometimes when you get challenges, and the challenges are we haven't played well in the last 2-3 years. These are basically the same people that made the decisions when we won 5 division championships from 2007 through 2011. These are the same people making the decisions. So, all of a sudden, Ryne wasn't here, but Ruben was here. All of a sudden he didn't get dumb overnight. It's just right now, we're in a situation where we know where we're headed and it's going to take some time to get us where we want to go."
So are both Amaro and Sandberg "absolutely" in place going into next season?
"They're under contract; Ruben is under contract through '15 and Ryne is under contract," Gillick said. "Right now, there is no thought whatsoever of replacing either one."
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