Phillies skipper rewarded for his steady approach

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Charlie Manuel will make roughly 200 times as much money to manage the Phillies as he ever did to play major-league baseball. The big guy said he made "19 grand" in his best season.

The bank balance has changed. The man with the bankbook has not.

"I'm me," Manuel said Thursday morning. "I'm comfortable with who I am."

And it is precisely because Manuel is the same guy that he received his new multimillion-dollar contract from the Phillies. The deal, like the four division titles, two pennants, and World Series trophy, is a product of Manuel's steadfast approach to life and baseball and everything in between.

"Know thyself," Manuel likes to say. He said it when he was ridiculed by fans and media during his first couple of years with the team. He said it when players he believed in got mired in slumps. He said it as his team learned how to win, evolving into a perennial contender and finally a champion.

He doesn't say it as much now. With a ring, and with fans chanting "Charlie, Charlie" when he walks from a Grapefruit League clubhouse to the team bus, he doesn't have to.

It took a lifetime in baseball for this baseball lifer to reach the pinnacle of this game he loves. Now that he's there, Manuel sees no reason to step back down.

"I'll probably stay around as long as they'll have me," Manuel said. "I don't think I'm going to catch [Joe] Paterno. I'd like to, but he's got a head start on me. But at the same time, I think I made it pretty clear to Ruben, I'm not planning on getting out in the near future."

Manuel's two-year extension really is the final piece of the puzzle Ruben Amaro Jr. has been putting together since succeeding Hall of Famer Pat Gillick as general manager. Ryan Howard is signed for the long term. Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee are signed for the next three to four years. Chase Utley has three years remaining on his contract. Manuel's new deal keeps him behind the batting cage for these three swings at the pinata.

"We've still got some winning to do," he said.

As Utley's knee problem looms larger, you can see the twofold beauty of this design. Amaro has assembled enough talent to compete at a high level until Utley returns, whenever it is. But if injuries and other calamities prevent the Phillies from winning it all this year, they will return as legitimate contenders in 2012 and again in 2013.

The team is steady and persistent, just like its manager. This is not a coincidence.

"That's one of Charlie's real strengths," club president David Montgomery said. "It was Jim Thome, when he came over, who said, 'You should talk to my friend Charlie; I think he can make a difference,' and he really has. Every day is the same in that clubhouse and in that coaches room. He's been spectacular that way."

Manuel is a world-class hitting coach. He leaves one of the tougher parts of managing, the handling of the pitching staff, to coach Rich Dubee. He has ups and downs as an in-game strategist, which is true of most managers. But it really is the atmosphere - expect to win, do the work to make it happen, respect the game and your teammates - that rewrote the scouting report on this franchise from "10,000 losses" to "2008 champion."

"One of the reasons we've been such a strong second-half club under Charlie is that players who show up here in February are still getting along with each other in September," Montgomery said. "There aren't any factions in our clubhouse. I've witnessed clubs where you get to a certain point in the season and the starters think the relievers are holding them up, the offense is complaining about the pitching, and etc. In the six years Charlie's been here - and I don't think it's just a coincidence - I haven't seen any of that."

Any business that experienced the explosion in revenue that the Phillies have enjoyed would reward the key players. This team might be successful with another, cheaper manager, but Manuel has earned every zero on this extension. He earned it for what he's already done, and because he's the best man to keep on doing it.

"We talked quite a bit about changing the culture, the mind-set," Amaro said. "It made it a more positive environment, where instead of the glass being half empty at times, we've changed to where the glass is half full."

The glass has been all-the-way full for the last four years. Because of that, because Manuel has remained true to himself through a lifetime in baseball, his glass runneth over.