In Philly, no two brasses are alike

OF THE FOUR men who began this fall as the general managers of our professional sports franchises, three remain in those jobs. The odd man out was clearly the most successful of the four, helping to build a roster that won 10 of its 16 games despite season-ending injuries to its quarterback and defensive captain; despite spearheading, just a season before, the successful hiring of the most coveted coach at the time, Chip Kelly.

Odd man out may be somewhat inaccurate, for Howie Roseman is still with the Eagles organization, but bumped so far upstairs that he will need field glasses to view the assemblage of players he was once chiefly responsible for. In that, he is more exiled than Flyers president Paul Holmgren, who is still consulted by the man who replaced him, or so Ron Hextall says.

The Phillies had their own Ickey Shuffle yesterday, David Montgomery announcing he was healthy enough to resume his responsibilities as team chairman but not team president. That job remains in the hands of Pat Gillick, which is the best news that has come out of any of the four organizations in quite some while.

That's because Gillick has already done reconstruction and done it extremely well. Toronto, Seattle, Baltimore, here, there, everywhere. He does not require the Music Man faith that Sam Hinkie's bold strokes requires. He does not follow the educated-elsewhere prodigal-son model the Flyers keep applying with varying degrees of success. Structurally, he plays well with others, which does not seem to be the case with our current football coach - here, there, and everywhere he's been in charge.

No, if Gillick is going to step on any toes, it will be those of Ruben Amaro Jr. - if he hasn't done so already. And for Phillies fans understandably unconvinced in Amaro's team-building acumen, that seems win-win.

Gillick's job, at least a healthy chunk of it, is to undo some of Amaro's most notorious machinations: moving good guy Ryan Howard and whatever small piece of the existing $60 million owed to him elsewhere; moving bad guy Jonathan Papelbon and whatever small piece of the (potential) $26 million owed to him elsewhere. Adding young arms and unproven kids, knowing that hitting on even one or two of them constitutes success.

That is where Hextall will find himself by season's end. I suspect he has found himself there already, maybe even knew it when he ascended to the job last June. What's alarming is that he hasn't necessarily acted that way. His early proclamation that his roster was a middling, muddling one was almost immediately muted by an expectation that it was nonetheless capable of a playoff run.

For Flyers fans young and old who have been tortured by decisions made due to such duplicity, this is particularly maddening, especially given his role in building Los Angeles into repeat Stanley Cup champions. So far, Hextall's most significant move has been swapping out Scott Hartnell for R.J. Umberger, gaining a year of salary-cap relief when the latter's contract expires after the 2015-16 season.

If Hextall was Gillick, he might even be so honestly blunt as to target the following season as a realistic goal year for his long-term plan. Recently, Gillick even pushed back by a year his earlier projection of remaking the Phillies into contenders again, empowered by the resume mentioned above and a complete lack of concern over his job security.

Hinkie has that job security, at least while his plan plays out over the next couple of years. Like Gillick, he's accruing assets. Unlike Gillick, there is no huge body of evidence to suggest that he knows what he's doing.

Which swings us right back to the only GM to lose his job over this winter of discontent. Holmgren earned Ed Snider's trust with that unlikely run to the Cup finals in 2010, on the backs of two lightly paid backup goalies, if you can imagine. Kelly has gained that with two 10-win seasons.

But trust built over time trumps the fleeting kind that Homer gained and lost with Mr. Snider. And so Kelly is in a similar spot now. Ten wins won't cut it anymore, and anything less . . . Oh, boy.

Kelly doesn't have Pat Gillick's resume or the luxury of Josh Harris' faith or even the family-like loyalty Ed Snider bestows upon those who wore the orange and the black. Kelly has the owner's ear now, and the trust it implies. But can he afford even one season like the one Tom Coughlin, or Sean Payton just went through?

Strange if you think, as I do, that the answer is no. Four teams in this town, only one that wins more than it loses, and it is as volatile as any of the others. Consider that the Sixers and Eagles have all changed GMs more than once in the time since Amaro ascended to the GM job.

As Richie Ashburn used to say, "Hard to believe, Harry."

On Twitter: @samdonnellon

Columns: ph.ly/Donnellon