After Phils, Gillick not sure what future holds

PHILADELPHIA -- Pat Gillick plans to officially hand the reins as Phillies president to Andy MacPhail sometime before the end of October.

The exact date seems insignificant at this point. MacPhail relieved Ruben Amaro Jr. of his duties as general manager on Thursday. MacPhail will be making any significant baseball decisions from this point forward. He already informed the baseball operations staff it will return in 2016, and it seems very likely Pete Mackanin will return as the manager next year, too.

So what's next for Gillick, who turned 78 in August?

"I don't know," Gillick said. "At this point, I haven't even thought about it."

Gillick has a small ownership stake with the Phils, so if he wanted to join a different organization, he would have to sell his portion.

But Gillick's legacy with the Phillies is secure. He replaced Ed Wade as general manager following the 2005 season, and three seasons later, the Phils won the '08 World Series. Gillick remained in an advisory role until he replaced David Montgomery as president in August 2014.

"I've been here 10 years now, one of the longer periods [with an organization]," Gillick said. "I was in Toronto, and this is second."

Gillick declined to discuss the characteristics needed in the Phillies' next general manager. He deferred to MacPhail on that, but he said the job remains the same as it was when he served in that role through 2008.

"The job is hiring the right people," Gillick said. "You can talk about everything you want to talk about, but it's hiring the right people and slotting them in the right spots so they can be successful. That's the whole gig."

Gillick seemed to be an Amaro supporter until the end. He touted Amaro whenever he could. Asked if Amaro had his hands tied at times over the past few seasons, Gillick declined comment. But Gillick also acknowledged it would have been tough for MacPhail to bring back Amaro.

"I don't think ... the public really would accept that," Gillick said. "That wasn't the reason the decision was made, but certainly the fans and the public play into every organization in the sports industry."