It’s alive! It’s alive!

PHIL, the Phillies’ super top secret computer for Sabermetrical (word?) research, has finally been completed, somewhat, and is currently being beta tested by big boy in the GM’s chair Matt Klentak. From Philly.com:

General manager Matt Klentak said he is currently working with a beta version of the custom-made sabermetrics system. Klentak said the system – aptly named PHIL – is a place for the team to store and manipulate data, including scouting reports, medical information, basic statistics, and “refined, nuances statistical information.” The PHIL acronym stands for “Phillies Holistic Information Location.”

“Basically it’s a place to house all of our information and synthesize it and try to manage it and pool it and bring all together,” Klentak said. “That’s what PHIL will provide. I’m new to it. I was not involved in the design of it, but I’m getting more and more familiar with it. We’re making some tweaks to it to make sure it suits what we’re looking to do and what we’re hoping to achieve. It’s close to its official launch.”

The Phillies have their very own Hal.

We first learned about this thing in a David Murphy article back in February. At the time, it seemed Ruben Amaro was somewhat involved in PHIL’s creation… so, um, er, we can’t be certain that PHIL will even do long division. But, it’s another step in the right direction for the Phillies, so long as PHIL isn’t the most frightening blend of three cautionary tales, painfully used as references here, that baseball has ever seen– a technological trojan horse cultivated by Amaro to destroy the rest of its creators upon his departure and lock MacPhail out of the ballpark. Open the CBP doors, PHIL! I’m sorry, Andy, I’m afraid I can’t do that.

I’m sure PHIL is perfectly friendly… but I’d still keep that thing on a leash.