Philadelphia Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg has resigned, the team announced today. He’ll be replaced by Pete Mackanin, who’ll manage the team on an interim basis.
Sandberg, 55, took over the job late in 2013 when longtime manager Charlie Manuel was fired. Sandberg was the third base coach at the time and also had experience managing in the minor leagues. He had a record of 119-159 during his tenure with the Phillies, who had a 26-48 record this year, which is the worst record in the majors right now. There was already reports of Sandberg being fired sometime this season, but general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. denied those reports.
“It’s not an easy decision,” Sandberg told reporters. “In a lot of ways I’m old school and I’m very much dissatisfied with the record and not please at all with that. And I think that goes hand in hand with being the manager. So it’s been a difficult thing to swallow, but I have thought about it for some time and we’ve come to this day. But I do want to thank the Phillies and Ruben Amaro for giving me this opportunity to do this with the club that originally drafted me in 1978.”
Sandberg didn’t have much of a chance, since the team is an obvious rebuilding stage and the organization has done anything to improve there chances of success.
“With some leadership roles coming up I think it was important for me not to be in the way with the ways things have gone this year, but to allow the organization to go forward and really get this thing going. But in the last three years in Philadelphia I have met some of the most passionate baseball fans on a daily basis that always gave me encouragement. They love their baseball and that was something I’ll never forget.”
The main reason that Sandberg stepped down is the fact that he hates to lose “I do not like to lose, I hate to lose. I think that’s the biggest thing that weighed on me.”
