Ryne Sandberg Resigns As Phillies Manager: 'I'm Disappointed'
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — Ryne Sandberg's eyes were bloodshot, and his voice trembled a touch when he announced his resignation as Phillies' manager on Friday. Pete Mackanin, Phillies third base coach, will take over as interim manager.
With Phils' interim President Pat Gillick and general manager Ruben Amaro to his left, Sandberg said the decision to step down was his and his alone. He said it was a tough day for himself, and also said it was not an easy decision.
In over two years as Phillies' manager, Sandberg had a 119-159 record, taking over for Charlie Manuel. It included two last place finishes in the National League East. This year, the Phillies have the worst record in baseball, 26-48, with a whooping minus-122 in run differential.
"I'm stepping down as manager as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, it's not an easy decision and in a lot of ways I'm old school and I'm very dissatisfied with the record," Sandberg said. "I'm not pleased at all with that, and that goes hand-in-hand with being a manager. It's been a difficult thing to swallow, but I have thought about it for some time and we've come to this day. With some leadership roles coming up, I thought it was not important for me to be in the way with the way things have gone this year. But this will allow the organization to go forward and get thing going forward."
Sandberg said he was dissatisfied what was going on the field and the team's record. As far as going forward, Sandberg felt, it was better for the Phillies. He said he thought about this decision for the last week to 10 days.
When asked what triggered his decision, Sandberg replied "It was just the accumulation in my mind of the losses. I do not like to lose. I hate to lose. That's the biggest thing that weighed on me. With some changes at the top looming, I go back to my statement, I did not want to be in the way of anything happening in the progress moving forward. The accumulation of losses that I take responsibilities for and something that really took a toll on me."
Sandberg said he didn't know whether or not he would be in the Phillies' future plans, especially with talk that the Phillies are considering Andy MacPhail as the new president of the team.
Sandberg enjoyed managing the team and being around the team every day. He said he had no addressed the team when he made the announcement Friday afternoon.
"I believe the players came every day to the ballpark on time, and prepared and I know they'll still go out and play hard, and they played hard through yesterday," Sandberg said.
Amaro said Sandberg's decision was sudden. He said Gillick and himself are in the process of moving forward to hire a new manager.
"I'm disappointed, that's probably the biggest thing as we speak right now," Sandberg said.
Amaro said that he didn't think Sandberg should shoulder all of the blame, and that the Phillies' demise should be shared by everyone, including himself. "We do things as a team and as an organization and we win as an organization and lose as an organization. I take my level of blame for things that are happening on the field as well. Ryan was here as manager for a reason and he was prepared to take on this task. I respect the decision that he's made."
