Phillies manager Pete Mackanin has a young team that’s gonna make a lot of mistakes. He also has a team that, Ryan Howard notwithstanding, isn’t making a lot of money. So he’s fining them, but only a little bit, for the mistakes they make during spring training. From Todd Zolecki of Phillies.com:
It’s kind of neat in that it allows him to sort of act like a hard case but with a funny twist to it. Because, as he notes, who is going to complain about 50 cents? I imagine that guys laugh about it and joke and bond over each fine, even if their competitive side is actually trying hard to avoid getting fined. It’s a nice balance, which is only the latest of many data points suggesting that Mackanin is the perfect guy for this particular Phillies club. Sandberg would probably have them running wind sprints.
Only thing here: Zolecki says the fine pot is up to $1,000. Which, boy, that’s a lot of mistakes. Gonna be a long year, Phillies fans.
