What Pat Gillick Really Meant

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Phillies President Pat Gillick recently sat down with Todd Zolecki of MLB.com for a Q&A session. Below are some of the questions and Gillick answers followed by our translation of what Gillick is really saying:

Question: So for fans thinking about coming to the ballpark this year, what’s your sell?
Gillick: It’s going to be a little bit different. I think what I think is going to be exciting about it is the fact that we’re going to have some new young players on the field.

Translation: Didn’t you guys hear that we’ll be selling booze this year? What else do you need? A medical marijuana section? If I had any young players that were actually worth the price of admission right now, I’d name them. Who am I gonna say? 27 year old Dom Brown? PED-using Freddy Galvis who has hit .218 in 514 ABs? Ben Revere? 32 year old Grady Sizemore? I’d tell you Giles, but just seeing a guy throw 100 mph isn’t worth our ticket prices, unless it’s against like the Marlins because now we charge less for shitty teams and gouge you for the popular ones.

Question: How do you assess the rebuilding process to date?
Gillick: The one thing that we really have to concentrate on is more bats and more position players. The players that we’ve received back in the different deals that we’ve made and the drafts we’ve made it’s more pitching.

Translation: We pretty much suck at drafting and trading for stud pitching. You remember Aumontt and Seth Rosin, right? So, now we’re gonna focus on some bats.

Question: What do you think about the bats in the system right now? Do you see anybody coming up?
Gillick: I do, but I think they’re probably a couple years away. We’ve got a void at the Triple-A level as far as anyone that you would say is on the doorstep and ready to step in.

Translation: We’re fucked for years, unless we get lucky somewhere.

Question: You have new amateur scouting director in Johnny Almaraz. What do you think is going to be different about future drafts? Is there a philosophy change?
Gillick: Not saying that our former director didn’t like players, but our new scouting director likes players. People might not understand that, but sometimes you look at a player and you can talk about his minuses or you can talk about his plusses.

Translation: Hey man, we’re all zen and optimistic now. Instead of seeing players glasses as half empty we’re now a glass half-full team. No one needs any more negativity in their life. We have the entire scouting department meditating now and reading The Secret. That’s all about the law of attraction. We are gonna think positive about players and they will turn out positive.

Question: What do you think the organization has learned about the situation it’s in right now? If you could do it all over again, are there steps you could have taken to avoid this rebuilding process?
Gillick: You know what? It’s one of those calls you’ve got to make. A gut call. You win over 100 games in 2011. Ryan goes down and you want to see if he’s going to recover. Hey, let’s see what happens through 2012. So it didn’t happen. Our players were getting a little bit older. So maybe 2014 we maybe should have started what we’re doing now. We’d be into our second year.

Translation: Did 2013 happen? I’m getting up there in age and I just forget about years sometimes. Quite honestly, I have no idea how teams like the Giants, Cardinals, Braves, etc avoid the total rebuilding process? Well, none of those teams have Amaro, but I can’t really say that.

Question: Do you like the way you have handled the Cole Hamels situation? It seems everybody on the outside is saying the Phillies should pull the trigger, etc.
Gillick: Any of our players on our roster, as we’ve said before, if it will improve the ball club we’ll listen on anyone. But some of the more valuable pieces that we do have … I mean, we haven’t heard the things that make us jump up and down and say, ‘Hey, we want to do this.

Translation: We are scared to trade any top line studs because we failed so miserably in the Cliff Lee trade. We aren’t moving Cole Hamels unless someone offers us all 40 of their picks in this year’s draft and 3 prospects. If I’m jumping, it’s gotta be worth it

Question: Ruben’s contract expires at the end of the season. Will you address that before the end of the season?
Gillick: I think it’s something that could go through the end of the season. At this point I don’t think it’s going to be addressed. I think it would probably be at the end of the season.

Translation: Are you kidding me with this question? I like to eat out in this city. I don’t need to be public enemy #1 by extending Amaro and end up having servers spitting in my beers or soups. I’m gonna address it at the end of the season and hopefully I can convince this ownership they need to move on from their golden child. Hopefully, the team will completely embarrass themselves and the fans stay away. That’s the only way I get make a change.

Question: You’ve maintained your support for him throughout. Does that still hold true?
Gillick: Absolutely. Absolutely. As I’ve said, we’re in this together. He has to make the ultimate decision. He’s the point guy. He’s the one that gets all the heat, but we’ve all had a hand in making these decisions. So consequently I think we all share responsibility.

Translation: Do you like a paycheck? Yeah, so do I. I got grandkids and college tuition just keeps rising. This ownership loves this kid so I gotta support him as much as I can in public to keep getting those checks.