Phillies fans rejoice!

[BBTV]

LOL, Lance Parrish. He had the coolest mitt (black with the orange 'lips'.)

[BBTV]

It's Gillick:

Twenty-five years after he stole George Bell from them in the Rule 5 Draft and 12 years after his Toronto Blue Jays beat them in the World Series, the Phillies are hoping Pat Gillick can work a little magic for them.

Gillick will be named the Phillies' general manager tomorrow, multiple baseball sources told The Inquirer today. A news conference is scheduled for tomorrow.

Sources said Gillick, 68, had an impressive interview with Phillies president David Montgomery on Friday in Philadelphia and emerged as the front-runner over former Houston Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker and other candidates ? if he wasn't the front-runner from the start. Montgomery also interviewed Phillies assistant general managers Ruben Amaro Jr. and Mike Arbuckle and Cleveland Indians assistant general manager Chris Antonetti.

Gillick will replace Ed Wade, who was fired Oct. 10.

Gillick could not be reached for comment last night, but he said last week that "I think the Phillies are in a good situation. They have a good nucleus. . . . I know some of the people with the Phillies. It's a good group. I like what I heard."

Montgomery had been criticized for possibly moving too slowly since Wade's dismissal, but there were strong indications after Gillick's interview that Montgomery was much further along than people thought and was coming close to a decision.

One source said that Montgomery wanted to have a GM in place before next week's general managers' meetings in Southern California, so that meant he had to have something finalized this week.

The Phillies, who finished one game behind the Houston Astros in the National League wild-card race, face an important off-season. With record-setting payrolls over the last three seasons, the Phillies have not won more than 88 games or reached the playoffs. In fact, they have not reached the postseason or won 90 or more games since 1993.

They're trying to re-sign closer Billy Wagner, and need to figure out what to do with first basemen Jim Thome and Ryan Howard. They also need to figure out their plans in center field, and decide how their rotation will look.

Those are big decisions. The Phillies think Gillick can make them better than anybody.

Gillick has a tremendous track record, which is why Baseball America in 2001 named him the top executive of the last 20 years.

When he was the GM in Toronto, the Blue Jays won five American League East titles and world championships in 1992 and 1993. He acquired Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter in the same trade in December 1990. But after critics nicknamed him "Stand Pat" for not making trades to get his team over the hump, he landed David Cone and Rickey Henderson to lead those teams to world championships.

When Gillick was the GM in Baltimore, the Orioles reached the American League Championship Series in 1996 and 1997. He left the Orioles because he clashed with meddlesome owner Peter Angelos. The Orioles haven't had a winning season since.

And when Gillick was the GM in Seattle, the Mariners reached the ALCS in 2000 and 2001 and won a major-league record 116 regular-season games in 2001.

The Mariners won 393 games during Gillick's four seasons in Seattle, the most of any team.

But how long does Gillick plan to stay with the Phillies? That could be answered tomorrow.

Montgomery, however, said Sunday that he wasn't concerned about Gillick's age.

"I like older people," joked Montgomery, who is 59. "How can't I?"

Montgomery also is not concerned about Gillick's living arrangements. Gillick keeps a full-time residence in Toronto, where his wife runs an art gallery. But Gillick indicated Friday that he planned to get a place in Philadelphia, most likely in the city, and would be here "most of the time."

If Gillick can get the Phillies to the playoffs, fans probably won't care much about his age or where he lives. The Phillies sold nearly 600,000 fewer tickets this season, and are starving for a winner. Fan discontent is one reason that Montgomery fired Wade and decided to take the team in another direction.

Tomorrow, the Gillick era begins.

Extra bases. Mike Schmidt is no longer a candidate for the managerial vacancy with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. . . . Relief pitcher Ugueth Urbina and catcher Todd Pratt filed for free agency today. Reliever Terry Adams, who left triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the middle of the season and talked about retirement, also filed for free agency.

[BBTV]

You can't argue with Gillick's resume. While like a lot of people, I fell in love with Hunsicker, on the surface, Gillick seems like a good choice.

However, being that this is the Phillies, arguable the worst run organization in pro sports (actually, one of the worst run businesses in any industry) there may be something else to this.

Possibilities:

*Gillick agreed to keep Uncle Charlie as manager, and Hunsicker didn't. We don't know this, and I'll give Gillick the benefit of the doubt, but it is a possibility. I don't know what Gillick's relationship was with Lou Pinella in Seattle, but maybe this opens that door?

*Gillick is old (68) and while Joe Paterno has shown us that age isn't a factor on whether someone can do a job or not, the reality is that he won't want to be GM for more than a few years. Could he just be a place-holder for Ruben Amaro? Montgomery is loyal to a fault, and probably feels a sense of obligation to Amaro, and this is his way of giving him the job... but not yet. Again, I'm ready to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one too... for now.

[BigEd76]

Gillick is purely a placeholder for Amaro, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Let's win a World Series in the next 2 years....

[VitaminD]

I can live with Gillick. I would have preferred Hunsicker, since he's a local guy (and I will always hold a small grudge toward Gillick for 1993... ) and I thought him to be a little more independent-minded, which would be a refreshing change from Fast Eddie. Hell... I was convinced they were going to just promote Amaro now, and propagate the charade further.

Here's hoping Gillick does such a great job training young Ruben that some team snaps him up before the Phils can give him the job.

[BBTV]

Well, today he confirmed that Uncle Charlie, Ruben Jr., and Mike Arbuckle will remain on staff for at least a year. The scary part was that he was asked point blank "Would you have taken the job if Montgomery told you that you HAD to keep all three in place."

His response - "Yes."

I made a promise to myself not to be negative towards the Phillies from now until the first major foul up, so I'm still not going to read too much into this. But...

[VandyDelphia Mike]

Kudos to the Phillies for going with a Gillick, with a proven track record, as opposed to handing over the keys to the car to the latest MBA Sabremetrician that Julio Franco could have fathered ...

Then again, this is the Phillies, so you know this is going to backfire somehow.