It certainly wasn’t the biggest news pertaining to the Phillies last week, but shortly after the official announcement that Matt Klentak was onboard as the team’s new general manager, word came from south Philadelphia that
bench coach Larry Bowa would return in 2016.
What little reaction this generated was, of course, negative. To many fans, Bowa embodies a legacy of baseball stupidity that was once almost universal in the game, and persisted with our favorite team much longer than it should have. Where data should be determinative in making decisions, Bowa goes with his gut; where a player-friendly approach might yield best results, the foul-mouthed senior citizen will call a guy out for lack of effort or deficiency of character.