It wasn't difficult to put two and two together. Pat Gillick suggested that he expected a replacement to be named for him soon, and Andy MacPhail was reportedly the guy the Phillies were targeting. Add both of those things up, and you get what CBS Sports' Jon Heyman passed along on Wednesday afternoon:
The Phillies plan to hire respected longtime baseball executive Andy MacPhail to lead their operations soon, people familiar with the team's thinking said.
MacPhail, a former top executive with the Orioles, Cubs and Twins, is expected to be tabbed for the role of president or similar, with Hall of Famer Pat Gillick expected to move over to a consultant job similar to the one he held before taking the president's job not too long ago will fill while Dave Montgomery recovered from cancer surgery.
Heyman later added that an official announcement might come out "within a week or so."
As the Daily News' David Murphy suggested, it feels like the Phillies are keeping the status quo despite making a change. The 62-year-old MacPhail has an impressive résumé that includes two World Series titles with the Minnesota twins in 1987 and 1991, as well as a heist of a trade that brought Adam Jones and Chris Tillman to Baltimore. Only time will tell if a more dramatic shake-up was necessary, and it should be noted that Gillick helped bring a World Series to Philadelphia after being hired by the organization in his late-60's.
If MacPhail is indeed hired and allowed to run the show, his first order of business would likely be to evaluate both general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. and manager Ryne Sandberg. Gillick, who has served as team president since taking over last August, could move back to the same type of consulting position he previously held before David Montgomery went on medical leave.
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