Anatomy of a rebuild: Phillies’ Matt Klentak recalls pivotal moments of team’s return to contention

Matt Klentak is seated behind a desk in his spring-training office on the third floor of Spectrum Field. It is lunchtime on a Thursday, and the Phillies general manager is sharing the details of a recurring dream that he has had over these past three years.

"I can see the dogpile on the mound of us celebrating a championship. I know it's going to happen. But I couldn't see the names on the backs of the jerseys or the faces of the players," Klentak says. "Now, based on some of the moves this offseason and the positive steps that our players took last year, now the names and the faces are starting to come into focus a little bit better."

Baseball fans in Philadelphia surely can see them, too. It's homegrown ace Aaron Nola, and slugger Rhys Hoskins, and fireman reliever Seranthony Dominguez. It's all-star shortstop Jean Segura and catcher J.T. Realmuto. It's $330 million superstar Bryce Harper.

After seven years out of the playoffs, the Phillies finally have the core of what they believe will be their next great team. But when Klentak got hired 3½ years ago, he couldn’t even foretell when the Phillies might be competitive again.

So, Klentak did something that couldn’t have been comfortable for a rookie general manager in his mid-30s. He conceded that things would likely get worse before they got better and asked for patience from a city and a fan base that aren’t known for possessing that quality.

"Being honest and up front with our fans and our corporate sponsors and our season-ticket holders about what the plan was, that wasn't hard. Frankly, that was the easy part," Klentak said. "What was hardest to go through was the losing. But for a market like Philadelphia, where our goal is to win over a sustained period of time, I don't think we had any other choice."

What follows is a timeline of significant moments along the Phillies’ way from the depths of 99 losses in 2015 to their most highly anticipated season in eight years.

» READ MORE: John Middleton’s mandate pushed the Phillies to become contenders again. Here’s how they made it happen.

By the time Klentak got the job, the rebuild was already underway. Andy MacPhail had taken over as team president four months earlier, and Jonathan Papelbon, Ben Revere, and franchise icons Cole Hamels and Chase Utley were promptly traded.

The course was set. It was up to Klentak to navigate.

Rebuilds take on many forms. The Astros drafted and developed their core and got ahead of the analytics curve. The Cubs’ nucleus came together in three years through the draft, trades, and a big-ticket free agent (Jon Lester). The Royals’ rebuild lasted eight years; the Pirates’ took five. But Klentak noted one common ingredient: a strict adherence to the process.

"The first thing we identified was that organizations that committed to a rebuild and didn't deviate from their plan were rewarded 100 percent of the time with a return to the playoffs," Klentak said. "Being realistic, in Philadelphia, we had to target being on the [short] end of that. Not three years, specifically, but eight was going to be too much. The most important part was, if you stick together from top to bottom, understand your objectives and stick to the plan, you’ll be rewarded in the end."

During Klentak's first two offseasons, the Phillies signed five major-league free agents (David Hernandez, Jeremy Hellickson, Michael Saunders, Joaquin Benoit, Andres Blanco), all to one-year contracts. They traded for stop-gap veterans (Charlie Morton, Clay Buchholz, Howie Kendrick). The payroll fell from $145 million, ninth-highest in baseball in 2015, to $103 million, fifth-lowest in 2016.

But they invested in other areas, including a beefed-up analytics department. At the forefront of that effort: Andy Galdi, a quantitative analyst hired away from Google before the 2016 season to become the Phillies’ director of research and development. The Phillies had two full-time R&D staffers in 2016. By 2017, the group also included former employees of Northrop Grumman, Bank of America, and Baseball Prospectus.

“We spent time building the infrastructure,” Klentak said. “Improving facilities, establishing a nutrition program, building an R&D department, adding scouts in the Far East. It’s hard to point to those things and say, ‘Because we spent money in this area, now we have this player.’ But we know, or we think, that we’re doing the right thing.”

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The upside of finishing with the worst record in the majors: You get to make the first pick in the draft. In baseball, though, even the No. 1 overall pick doesn't usually make an immediate impact. And the 2016 draft class didn't feature one player who stood out above all the rest.

So, the Phillies spread the money. They took outfielder Mickey Moniak with the first pick, then grabbed right-hander Kevin Gowdy at No. 42 overall and shortstop Cole Stobbe at No. 78. And by signing Moniak to a $6.1 million bonus that was below the assigned value for a No. 1 overall pick, they were able to go above slot for Gowdy ($3.5 million) and Stobbe ($1.1 million).

Three years later, Moniak and Stobbe haven’t played above A-ball; Gowdy is returning from Tommy John elbow surgery. Phillies officials still believe in Moniak, in particular, who finished strong last season at high-A Clearwater. Privately, though, they must wish they had opted for Nick Senzel, the No. 2 overall pick who signed for $6.2 million and is in line to make his big-league debut this season for the Reds.

The first full season of the MacPhail-Klentak regime went, well, pretty much as Klentak suspected. The Phillies scored the fewest runs in the league and allowed the fourth-most. And they lost often -- 91 times, to be exact.

"It was hard to come to the ballpark every night knowing you're probably not going to win and then going home having not won," Klentak said. "That's hard. Because those games add up, and in my role, I don't have the luxury to turn off the TV in the fourth inning when I get frustrated. The losing wears on everybody -- fans, myself. But to effectively implement a rebuild, you have to trust in your long-term vision, and you have to believe that the steps you're taking today are going to pay off tomorrow."

The first four months of the 2017 season couldn’t have been any more bleak, even for a team that went 134-190 in the previous two years. The Phillies were 6-22 in May and 9-18 in June. They lost 58 of their first 86 games and, at the All-Star break, were on pace for 108 losses.

Then, Rhys Hoskins came along.

Called up from triple A after hitting 29 home runs in 401 at-bats, Hoskins went 0-for-2 in his debut, a 10-0 loss to the Mets. Four days later, though, he went deep twice in San Diego, the start of a homer binge. He slugged 11 in a span of 14 games in August and finished with 18 homers, the most ever by a rookie who debuted after Aug. 1.

At last, the Phillies had a homegrown star.

» READ MORE: Rhys Hoskins has set an impressive home-run pace in his first two seasons

The 2017 Phillies lost 96 games, five more than in 2016. But progress can't always be measured by overall wins and losses.

After the all-star break, the Phillies went 37-38 and scored as many runs (358) as they allowed. Hoskins wasn't the only bright spot. Right-hander Aaron Nola, a first-round pick in 2014 and pegged as a middle-of-the-rotation starter in the minors, had the look of a potential ace. Over his final 18 starts, he posted a 3.00 ERA and 137 strikeouts in 117 innings.

“Wins can serve as a proxy, but wins are not the full extent of it,” Klentak said. “We had guys like Rhys and [Jorge] Alfaro and [J.P.] Crawford and [Roman] Quinn and [Nick] Williams, that core group of young guys ascended to the big leagues and excelled down the stretch. That led us to believe we might be in position to take a step forward.”

Next step: Hire a manager.

Klentak inherited Pete Mackanin, and for two seasons, he didn’t see much point in replacing him. The 66-year-old was perfect for stewarding the team through a teardown and the early stages of the rebuild. Now, though, Klentak wanted a fresh perspective, someone who could better connect with a young team.

Bring on Gabe Kapler.

Kapler, 43, is every bit as progressive as Mackanin was old-school. Actually, he's nothing like any previous Phillies manager. From the way he looks and speaks to his philosophies on leadership and his in-game strategy, he had a polarizing effect on the fan base from the day he was introduced at Citizens Bank Park.

"It's incredible to me how thoughtful he is, how well he communicates and how adjustable he is," Klentak said. "I have seen in so many ways the way Kap thought something in spring training or in April or over the course of the [2018] season, and based on whatever feedback he received, he made adjustments. And he's done so without ego and because he knows it's the right thing for the franchise."

Emboldened by their finish in 2017, the Phillies got more aggressive. They signed four free agents, all for multiple years, including three-year deals for Carlos Santana ($60 million) and Jake Arrieta ($75 million). At the end of spring training, they locked up prospect Scott Kingery for six years and $24 million before he played a major-league game.

"We were very conscious in those first few years about not signing any free agents to multiyear contracts," Klentak said. "We weren't going cheap for the sake of going cheap, but it didn't seem to make a lot of sense to lock ourselves into future commitments when, frankly, we didn't know exactly what the timeline for our return to contention would be.

“Last offseason, that philosophy started to shift. We were still careful not to extend too far. They were two- and three-year deals, not five-, six-, 13-year deals. But as we started to see progress at the end of ’17, that’s why we made the moves we made.”

Well, look who’s in first place. In what could only be labeled a surprise, even to MacPhail and Klentak, the Phillies led the NL East for 39 days. Nola had become more than an ace; he was a Cy Young candidate. They were atop the division at the All-Star break, which prompted a prospect-heavy bid for Manny Machado. The Orioles dealt the star shortstop to the Dodgers instead, but the Phillies’ intention was clear.

Through it all, though, Klentak tried not to lose sight of reality.

“Had the 2018 season unfolded differently, it could very well have shifted our focus this offseason. I’m glad it didn’t,” he said. “The fact that we played as well as we did for as long as we did gave us the belief that we’ve got the makings of a very good team here. But the thing that gets lost sometimes about the 2018 Phillies is how young we were. On opening day, we were the youngest team in baseball for a significant margin.”

They were about to play like it.

On Aug. 7, the Phillies were 64-49 and 1½ games ahead of the Braves in the NL East That night, they beat Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke. They were rolling.

But they lost 33 of the next 47 games. They were eliminated from playoff contention on Sept. 22. They slid below .500 three days later. And on Sept. 26, Klentak stood in the press box at Coors Field in Denver and tried making sense of it all.

“In that moment, it was hard to maintain an objective look at the season and the upcoming offseason, but that’s our job,” he said. “It was frustrating. It was miserable. But there were explanations -- a flawed team defense, a lack of depth in certain areas, our inability to get good lefties out late in a game, a young team that needed to go through some growing pains to learn how to win. Falling flat on our face exposed those flaws, and in some ways, that helped shape the direction of our offseason.

“There’s been a perception for years that the Phillies were going to spend big in the [Bryce] Harper-Machado offseason. For years, we were open to that as long as the team and the organization was ready for that. As much as we may try, we couldn’t force the timeline. If, in an alternate universe, the organization was not ready to make moves this offseason, I’d like to think we would’ve had the discipline to wait. Fortunately, our players did put us in a position to be aggressive and we were able to do the things we did this offseason."

Even now, the quote resonates.

“We’re going into this expecting to spend money. And maybe even be a little stupid about it.”

For better or (mostly) worse, those 17 words -- attributed to managing partner John Middleton in a USA Today story from the owners’ meetings in Atlanta -- would define the most fascinating Phillies offseason since 2011. Klentak became Mr. Popularity, with agents flooding his phone and rival GMs calling to unload bad contracts. The Phillies’ conversations were often leaked to the press. If Team Stupid Money was involved in the bidding, surely it would drive up the price.

“We’re not having any trouble getting meetings,” Klentak said in December.

But fans’ expectations were rising, too. Now, there was no excuse not to sign Machado or Harper -- or even (gulp!) both. After all, it’s only stupid money.

In transforming the roster, the Phillies could have traveled down several paths. One thing is for sure, though: A trade with the Mariners provided a clear direction.

By jettisoning Carlos Santana and erstwhile top prospect J.P. Crawford, the Phillies accomplished a few goals. First, they cleared out first base for Hoskins, who preferred his natural position after a difficult year in left field, and opened a spot to acquire an outfielder. Next, they landed all-star shortstop Jean Segura. Finally, they added to the bullpen with relievers Juan Nicasio and lefty James Pazos.

“The trade with Seattle is really what served as the springboard for the rest of our offseason,” Klentak said. “Had it been a different first move that we made, had we signed [free-agent pitcher] Patrick Corbin, for example, it would’ve taken us down a different path. Not necessarily a worse path, but a different one, and I don’t know what that would have looked like.”

The Phillies followed the Segura trade by signing free-agent outfielder Andrew McCutchen (four years, $60 million) and reliever David Robertson (two years, $23 million), and trading for lefty Jose Alvarez. But it wasn’t until the Thursday before spring training opened that Klentak really pushed his chips into the middle of the table.

A few days earlier, he had checked back in with Marlins GM Michael Hill about the availability of catcher J.T. Realmuto. Hill was ready to talk. He wanted top pitching prospect Sixto Sanchez, young catcher Jorge Alfaro and one other minor leaguer. It was a lot, Klentak thought. But it also made sense in the timeline.

“Two years ago, we wouldn't have made that trade,” Klentak said. “Our organization, our major-league roster, was not set up to support that. It would not have made sense for us. Sometimes the hardest thing is recognizing when is the time to get over the hump and start pushing some chips in, whether it's free-agent dollars or trade capital. And there's no playbook for this. You just have to evaluate it as you see it.”

Klentak took the chance. It was time.

It was a Thursday, eight days after Machado agreed to terms with the Padres and four days after Middleton and his wife, Leigh, returned from their private visit with Harper in Las Vegas. Negotiations with agent Scott Boras were so hot that Klentak didn’t even leave his Clearwater Beach condo.

Even without Harper, the Phillies’ direction was clear: Win now. But they still needed their superstar, and Middleton wasn’t going to be denied.

The final numbers: 13 years, $330 million.

Deal done.

Rebuild over.

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“I am more excited for this opening day than I have been at any time in my professional life,” Klentak said. “There’s a buzz about this team that’s really exciting. Not to say that we’ve not been looking forward to prior opening days, but there’s a different feel to this one.

"That said, in the years that I’ve been here, we still haven’t posted a winning record. It’s never a finished product, and I don’t ever want to fall into the trap that it is. But knowing what our goals were at the beginning of the offseason and where we sit today, I feel good that we have addressed what we wanted to address. Now we get the season going, we see how things play out.”

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