Murphy: Manuel thinks Stairs has what it takes as hitting coach

DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer Matt Stairs, Phils' new hitting coach, talks with outfield prospect Nick Williams CLEARWATER, Fla. – It doesn't matter what you know if nobody will listen. The man who made this point on Monday afternoon has spent most of his life talking hitting with players, enough to know that the first part matters just as much as the second.

"You've got to be a communicator," Charlie Manuel said as he stood in the shadow of the foul pole behind the leftfield fence at the Phillies' training complex. "You let them talk and you listen to them, too."

When the Phillies announced in the offseason that they'd hired their new hitting coach straight out of their own broadcast…