Ryne Sandberg resigns as manager of Phillies, cites looming front office shakeup

It is pretty clear that Ryne Sandberg made this decision by himself.

"This is pretty sudden," a shaken Ruben Amaro Jr. said on a couple of different occasions in a hastily-called press conference at Citizens Bank Park on Friday afternoon to announce that Sandberg was stepping down just three months into his second full season as Phillies manager.

Sandberg twice cited the Phillies' looming front office shakeup as a catalyst for his decision. The Phillies are reported to be finalizing an agreement with longtime baseball executive Andy MacPhail to join the organization in a leadership role that would eventual replace club president Pat Gillick. Interestingly, MacPhail was the president of the Chicago Cubs when Sandberg was in the midst of his Hall of Fame career there.

"I do not like to lose," Sandberg said. "I hate to lose. I think that's the biggest thing that weighed on me. And 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 and progress going forward."

Sandberg said he did not want to be an impediment to change.

"For me, it's a tough one to stand on with the record, with changes, to see if I'm the guy going forward or not, but those two things combined I felt the sooner the better as far as doing what I'm doing today," Sandberg said.

Bench coach Pete Mackanin will serve as interim manager. Amaro said the team was still processing how it will proceed long term. MacPhail is expected to be introduced at some point between now and the end of the All-SAtar Break.

"I don't know that Ryne should be feeling that he should shoulder all the blame," Amaro said. "We do things as a team. We win as an organization, we lose as an organization. . .I take my level of responsibility for things that are happening on the field as well."

Gillick was asked how far away the changes are that Sandberg alluded to.

"I can't really comment on that," Gillick said.

After a few moments of silence, the press conference ended.