Phillies Owners Exposed
Philadelphia Magazine’s Richard Rys has deliverd a terrific exposé on the Phillies ownership and what they’re prepared to do to to make this team a constant winner - or a constant loser.
David Montgomery, the team’s president and the face of its owners, will never be mistaken for Evel Knievel. Today, “Gentleman Dave,” as he’s known, is in the middle of the Diamond Club schmoozefest, shaking hands and smiling. Also here is chairman Bill Giles, who in 1981 assembled a group of investors to buy the Phillies. There are five conspicuous absences, though: Claire Betz, the 87-year-old who took her seat at the ownership table when her husband, head of Betz Laboratories, died; the Buck brothers — Jim, 82, Bill, 78, and Whip, 75 — founders of TDH Capital, the Delaware Valley’s first venture-capital interest; and John Middleton, 53, whose cigar company, John Middleton Inc., sold for $2.9 billion last year. They are the shadowy owners of the Phillies, and for this Phantom Five, the less interaction with the public, the better.
We don’t want to see them either. However, we do want to see a team that was given more than a quarter-billion in city and state assistance to build Citizens Bank Park win on the field.
The importance of winning can not be overstated with a team like the Phillies. Yeah, the owners don’t give a shit; yeah, the top-tier mid-season free agents are not coming here; and yeah the team is not ready to make serious run at a Championship.
But you do have players - Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, Chase Utley, Brad Lidge, Jimmy Rollins - that have to play better. PLAY BETTER BASEBALL.
The Phantom Five meet four times a year, beginning in March during spring training. That session is known as the annual meeting, and it’s a chance for the Phillies vice presidents and Montgomery to deliver state-of-the-team reports to the bigwigs. Bill Webb, the attorney who helped Giles buy the team more than a quarter-century ago, is still there, handling the minutes. The meeting leads off with Montgomery’s baseball report, recapping the past season, laying out an improvement plan for the one ahead, and answering the sorts of questions the average fan might ask. (How’s our top 2006 draft pick doing after Tommy John surgery? Is there another Kyle Kendrick in the farm system?) The other executive reports — like the economic breakdown from Jerry Clothier, the team’s finance guru since 1982 — rarely generate further discussion. There’s another meeting after the draft in June, and a light December session that doubles as a holiday party. The season-end recap is scheduled each year for September, as if to presume the Phillies’ campaign will never extend into October.
That last line is a killer and its the last I’ll quote from this terrific article. Get to know the ownership group. It is the one constant that dominates this team’s ineptitude.
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July 9th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
they have a good core, but it takes more than a core to get rings, its the extra things that get you there, when was the last time the phils made a big splash in free agency? adam eaton??? tom gordon??? that’s the lone big splash they’ve made since jim thome, wes helms was only for a few million, he doesn’t count as a big splash in my book, and if you look at the yankees, red sox, cubs, rays, what do they all have in common ?? they all went the extra step and used a different source to get good players, which was gettin japanese players thru that wierd bidding system or even jus goin into japan and signing somebody, and i’m not sayin they should’ve spent $50 mill or anythin crazy like that to bid on some of these players, but somebody like akinori iwamura, a 3rd baseman in japan, but i think plays 2nd base now, who had a cheap bidding price would have been a great pickup for the phils since thirds been a huge hole for them since rolen left, or how about going into south america and actually paying for quality players to get into their farm system?? the only way to sign these good players is to pay for them, they’re all free agents down there, and the phils are too cheap to even do that, even cheap-ass teams like oakland and cincinatti are makin moves to sign players in south america
the team has been makin a crapload of money this year, i not only want them to sign the players they already have, but would like them to actually spend money and get difference-making players thru free agency/japan/south america, do somethin!