Brookover: Klentak had a head start on Phils rebuild

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The Phillies will play the first of their 35 exhibition games Sunday at Bright House Field with the high expectation that they can at least beat the University of Tampa, the defending Division II national champion.

It was an embarrassing loss to the Spartans in last year's exhibition opener that served as the trigger point for the Phillies' tumble to the bottom of the baseball standings. By the time the 99-loss season was over, they had a new manager and a new president, and were searching for a new general manager.

The last of those jobs went to Matt Klentak, and now, with the start of actual games, the youngest general manager in franchise history can begin to get an idea of not only where the Phillies are in their rebuilding process, but also where they still need to go.

An argument can be made that Klentak's role in this rebuilding project started at second base, which means he should be the general manager of a pretty good team sooner rather than later. At the very least, he has stepped into an appealing situation. When former general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was fired last season, a scout at Citizens Bank Park immediately declared that the Phillies might be the most attractive GM opening in baseball.

Klentak, 35, agrees that he stepped into a nice situation.

"That's right," he said Friday inside his spring-training office. "I studied that a lot prior to my arrival . . . and many of the advantages we have are real. First and foremost is the commitment of our ownership. The ownership has shown over the years that they will spend. The ability to carry a big payroll to support a winning club, that is going to be there."

The payroll bullets figure to be used at a later date, but they are nice to have in the back pocket. What makes the Phillies attractive for the young GM now is the fact that the rebuilding started before his arrival. A flurry of deals, with the centerpiece being the haul brought in when Cole Hamels was traded to Texas, has replenished a farm system that appeared to be improving anyway.

Add in homegrown top prospect J.P. Crawford and successful rookie seasons by third baseman Maikel Franco, centerfielder Odubel Herrera, and pitchers Aaron Nola and Jerad Eickhoff, and you have an outstanding starting point for building a better tomorrow.

Klentak put his own fingerprints on the process when he traded closer Ken Giles to Houston and got five players in return, including Vincent Velasquez, the favorite to win the No. 5 starter job out of spring training. Suddenly the Phillies are filled with young talent and less than four months away from adding the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, a selection that could be a college pitcher who is close to being big-league ready.

Before being hired by Phillies president Andy MacPhail, Klentak held two long-term jobs with teams. One was working under MacPhail in Baltimore from 2008 through 2011 and the other was with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from 2012 through 2015.

"I think this situation is closer to what I experienced with the Orioles than what I experienced with the Angels," Klentak said. "Basically all four years I was with the Orioles, in some way, shape, or form, we were rebuilding. With the Angels, in contrast, the second week on the job we signed Albert Pujols for $240 million and C.J. Wilson [for $77.5 million], so the expectations to win immediately were heightened with the Angels.

"I think both those experiences were helpful in formulating what our plan of attack is here, but I think as far as a road map is concerned, the league is littered with them. Some of them are a little more relevant to us than others."

It is a plan once drawn up by the Phillies that began with Ed Wade as the general manager that intrigues Klentak the most.

"I think perhaps the best road map is what the Phillies did a decade ago," he said. "The core of that great team that was winning for a half-dozen years was built from within. It came from the draft, it came from savvy trades, and they extended the windows of their core players to create a sustained winning team. In a lot of ways, that may be the best road map for us to follow."

That Phillies plan actually started at the turn of the 21st century and Wade was gone by the time it came to fruition with the five straight division titles from 2007 through 2011. This plan should not take as long, but it is apparently going to require at least some level of patience.

"The one thing we've looked at throughout the industry is that teams that have been disciplined about the way they are building their clubs and stay the course are, without exception, the teams that are rewarded in the end," Klentak said. "Sometimes it happens a little bit more quickly and sometimes it take a little bit longer. The time frame is dictated by the development of the players."

There is a lot of truth to that, but it is also dictated by the quality of the decisions made by the front office. Some smart decisions were already made before Klentak's arrival. Now he is on the clock and there are plenty of reasons and resources to believe the Phillies' situation should get better sooner rather than later, starting with a Sunday victory over those plucky Spartans from the University of Tampa.

bbrookover@phillynews.com

@brookob