Phillies end the sensitivity bus

As reported here a few days ago, the Phillies pitching staff was using a toy bus to denote players deemed especially “sensitive.”

The precise nature of what this consisted of was not made clear, but the conversation surrounding it was mixed. Was it good-natured ribbing gone too far, was it a harmless team-building exercise, was it hypermasculine bullying? All of the above? This writer deemed it problematic, others called it worse.

In any event, Phils manager Gabe Kapler announced Friday on Angelo Cataldi’s Podcast that, very emphatically, “We are not doing it this year.”

The bus is dead.

“We are not doing it. It is not in line with our core philosophy to make people feel themselves, it’s not inline with our core philosophy to make people feel open and be whoever they are in the moment.”

So that’s that. The Bus was a gimmicky idea that they were playing with last year, he adds, but that it is not happening again. Kapler made it abundantly clear that the concept of the bus was incompatible with the “Be Bold” idea of genuinely putting the players in a position to succeed.

I like this guy.