Pat Gillick Admits That, Yeah, The Phillies are Going to Stink for a Few Years

Pat Gillick spoke to John Clark today and was shockingly realistic — though maybe still a bit optomistic — when considering the Phillies’ potential for future success. Said Gillick:

“I think where we are right now, it’s probably a couple years,. I wouldn’t think [2015] or [2016,] ’15 or ’16 I don’t think is in the cards. I think somewhere around 2017 or 2018.”

It’s a welcome change of pace from Ruben’s (and the team’s) former stance of “this core still has some success left in them.” Gillick then told Clark, kind of against what Ruben and Dave Montgomery said during the season, that the near-future will be more of a “rebuild”:

“I think we’re more toward rebuilding than reloading. That’s my opinion. I think it’s hard to ask the fans, it’s hard to ask the media, it’s hard to ask, you know, anyone, to be patient. Patience is kind of thin these days. But I think this is going to be more of a rebuilding, more of a restructuring than a reloading.”

It’s still not the full-rebuild that Rube and Dave said wasn’t in the cards, but it’s at least more of an admission that something has to be done. 2017 or 2018 might still be a bit on the early side to turn a 73-win team into a major contender, but the first step to rebuilding is admitting you have a problem. Or something like that.