Gillick on Phillies Rebuild: ‘You have to kind of disassemble piece by piece’

Let's spare you the details. You already know the Phillies have admitted to rebuild, but have yet to do a thing about it. Ruben Amaro has responded with his normal "smug" remarks saying the team has had some good discussions and that he likes the talks that are ongoing. Well, that isn't very reassuring to the Philadelphia faithful who have seen nothing but the uneventful signings Grady Sizemore, Jerome Williams and Jeff Franceour.

All that being said, Phillies interim president, Pat Gillick, elaborated on his idea of what the rebuild will take, saying that it isn't going to happen over night, but rather something that happens one piece at a time. The goal is to get younger, but there are also a variety of things standing in the way of accomplishing that goal.

 “It’s not easy. What you say and what you can accomplish are different. There are challenges to getting younger from the standpoint of contracts, trade situations, no-trade clauses, 10-and-5 (no-trade rights). That all enters into it. You can’t just say, 'I'm getting younger.'"

“It’s challenging. It’s challenging. It’s challenging. It isn’t really like you implode something. But you have to kind of disassemble piece by piece. This isn’t 'boom.' You have to try to get where you want to be, but you do it in a patient, methodical way. You try to do it as much as you can in a planned fashion, piece by piece. You know it can’t happen like that all the time, but that’s what your desire is, your challenge is.” [CSNPhilly.com]

Perhaps one of the biggest disappointments so far this offseason other than, you know, not doing anything, was failing to sign Cuban slugger, Yasmany Tomas. He ended up signing with the D'Backs as part of a deal that will pay him $65 million over six years. That definitely wasn't out of the Phillies price range. Just look at Howard and Lee's contracts. They have the money. So what gives, Pat?…Oh, we have to ask Ruben? Sigh.

“You have to ask Ruben about that and only because that’s in his area,” Gillick said. “So I don’t really want to delve into that area. I think that’s a question for him.”

Gillick was asked if he liked Tomas as a player.

“That’s not my job,” he said. “It’s a scout’s job. I didn’t see the player. It’s a scout’s job to evaluate the player.”

But, as acting club president, Gillick has some control over where and how the Phillies spend their money. He could make a determination on a player’s worth, though he wouldn’t say whether he advised against signing Tomas.

“I could say that or I could say I’ll talk to our ownership and have [Amaro] represent why we should pay this guy $65 million,” Gillick said. “Let me say this, I control the purse strings up to a certain point. But when you get to $65-$75 million, that’s a decision to be made not only by the general manager, but by whoever’s the acting president and by ownership because it’s a commitment they’re taking on. It’s different than acquiring a player that’s making two years at $12 million or something like that.” [CSNPhilly.com]

The current rumors swirling around the Phillies are heavily focused upon Cole Hamels. While the Phils hope to get a large return in exchange for the former World Series MVP, they will likely have to wait to see what happens to Jon Lester, Max Scherzer and other free agent starters. It is clear that teams such as the Cubs, Dodgers and Red Sox want to see if they can dish out the funds to sign one of these high-tier free agents rather than part with young talent. While losing Hamels may be a hard thing to swallow, he is the guy who represents the best chance at sparking the rebuild process.

“They’re going to work their way through [Jon] Lester, [James] Shields, [Max] Scherzer and those guys,” Gillick said. “Teams don’t have to give up any players. All they have to do is give up money to get them. I think things change a little bit once one of these guys or two of these guys fall. There’s some clubs that are in contention that we know are looking for pitching. If they don’t get one or two of these guys then there will be two, three or four clubs out there looking for pitching. They’ll maybe go into another direction of thinking trade as opposed to free agency.” [CSNPhilly.com]

Marlon Byrd, Ryan Howard, Carlos Ruiz and Jonathan Papelbon are all possible trade chips along with the rest of the team. The Amaro plan hasn't changed as the Phils GM plans to keep his ears open on every player on the roster.

"Ruben declared a while back that he was certainly available to listen on all of our players,” Gillick said. “Not necessarily to trade them all, but he would listen on all of them.

“I think teams are reluctant to give up talent. I don’t think they are shortchanging us. I think they like some of our people. They don’t like all of them, but they like some of them. It’s just the fact that there aren’t that many clubs that have that much depth that they can afford to give up the talent that you should get for the guy.” [CSNPhilly.com]

The Phillies brass has been rather quiet thus far this offseason, but that could change a lot in one week at the Winter Meetings.