Ryne Sandberg Steps Down As Phillies Manager: 'Not An Easy Decision'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg announced his decision to step down during a Friday afternoon press conference. The Phillies are 26-48, worst in Major League Baseball.
"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, 55, was 119-159 (.428) since being named Phillies manager on September 22nd, 2013.
"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."
Ruben Amaro Jr., hired as Phillies general manager in 2009, also addressed the media deflecting some of the blame.
"I don't know that Ryne should be feeling like he should shoulder all of the blame. We do things as a team and as an organization. We win as an organization and we lose an organization. It's really a team effort. I take my level of responsibility for the things that are happening on the field as well."
Former Pittsburgh Pirates (2005) and Cincinnati Reds (2007) manager Pete Mackanin will replace Sandberg in the interim. Mackanin was hired by Sandberg as the Phillies third-base coach in 2014.