Ruben Amaro Jr. cries after firing Charlie Manuel (Video)

When word first surfaced that Charlie Manuel was out as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, many people expected the 69-year-old to announce he had resigned. That clearly was not the case. Like most other teams who have fallen well short of expectations would have done, the Phillies fired their manager.

On Friday afternoon, Philadelphia GM Ruben Amaro Jr. and Manuel met with the media to address the move. Amaro Jr. was very emotional before turning the floor over to his former manager.

“You people may not know the relationship I’ve had with Charlie,” he said while fighting back tears. “He’s a special person. This is difficult for me. I hope he stays in our organization.”

Manuel had been with the Phillies for more than eight seasons. He led the team to its first World Series title in 28 years when they won it in 2008. We have no way of knowing if Amaro Jr.’s emotional display was genuine, but I’m sure he would have rather been able to keep Manuel around if the team was doing well.

As Jonathan Papelbon indicated in a not-so-graceful manner a few weeks ago, the Phillies are in need of major changes. Firing the third-longest tenured manager in Major League Baseball certainly qualifies as a major change.

H/T The 700 Level