Phillies front office shuffle

[Philsmania]

[Austinfan]

I think this either sets Fuld up to replace DD or a top position in another organization.
And it locks in Mattingly.

[zambonir]

Or it sets up Mattingly to replace Dombrowski. With Fuld essentially being his equal on the business side. He and they must be really interested in having him work on the real estate development and future of the stadium, and media deals etc. instead of baseball ops.

[andyb]

Not sure this sets up anybody to succeed DD. It actually sounds like Fuld is taking the year off and wants a career on the business side rather than the baseball side. They would not be promoting Mattingly into his job if he was going to be actively around this year. They clearly want to hold onto Fuld organizationally, but I think this is more about Mattingly here and also promoting a couple of Mattingly's deputies.

[zambonir]

You never know of course, but Fuld was assumed to be the heir as GM, and now Mattingly replace him in that line of succession. Doesn't mean the next guy can't be someone else (both on the inside or out) but so long as the team continues to be successful and DD leaves of his own accord an internal hire is more likely.

It's a lot more than a year off, that's two years in school and by the time he graduates and returns in May of '26 there won't be much left to do for the '26 season (which is also when they have the All-Star Game). But President of Business Operations is a big title. Dave Buck, who essentially took over the business side of Monty's job when MacPhail took over the baseball side, is an Executive VP.

The NBC Philly story actually says Fuld isn't vacating the job per se, that he'll be part-time/sharing GM duties with Mattingly until he starts the new role.

[zambonir]

Here's Gelb

Phillies promote Preston Mattingly to GM; Sam Fuld to move to business side with...

For now, at least, the Phillies will have two general managers working under Dave Dombrowski, the club’s president of baseball operations. This unusual arrangement, one that was announced late on a Friday when the Phillies promoted Preston Mattingly as Sam Fuld transitions to a job leading the franchise’s business side, is confusing.

It is a transition that will happen over 16 months — and it still could result in Fuld, seen as the eventual successor to Dombrowski whenever he steps aside from running the Phillies, atop the whole organization years from now.

But, for now, Dombrowski has two general managers.

And some clarity here:

Fuld will eventually replace Dave Buck, a longtime Phillies business executive who is retiring at the end of December. The Phillies have not said who will run the business side in the interim until Fuld finishes his degree. Middleton will assume some of those responsibilities.

Keep in mind also that these are still the Philadelphia Phillies. They only very rarely do outsiders. Reading the whole Gelb thing it sounds like the plan is all but locked in, so long as neither of them leave for a PBO job before Dombrowski is ready to pack it in.

[Austinfan]

I think it makes it difficult to poach Mattingly now that he's GM.
And if Hurd wants to focus on business, that sounds like he's basically just going to handle the transition to Mattingly and then move on.

[zambonir]

Fuld.

But no - Fuld is going to be Mattingly's boss, as he's already been. It will just be as president of the entire team instead of on the baseball-only side of the command chain.

But you are correct that neither of them are likely to leave and Dombrowski said that was explicitly the goal. Fuld will be replacing Buck and Mattingly will be replacing DD. If all goes well (but, even if it doesn't, because it's still the Phillies).

[Philsmania]

Here in the age of POBO's, I've never quite figured out what a GM's job is anymore. Back in the day, the GM was the guy who built the team, to put it in the smallest possible nutshell. Now, it seems like the POBO does that.

[zambonir]

GM in 2024 is just an assistant GM with more money and better title. (Or, if you prefer, POBO is a GM with that).

But every team is different. It depends how hands-on the POBO is (and the owner too) and who your direct reports are. In corporate terms Fuld is the COO. And on a daily basis the assistant GMs (including the player development and scouting bosses) probably interact more with him (and now Mattingly) during the season.

While Fuld was GM, all major decisions ran through Dombrowski. Fuld assisted on transactions and negotiations. But many of his responsibilities focused on everything but the 26-man roster.

[Austinfan]

The size of the scouting and development staff is probably an order of magnitude greater than a couple decades ago, facilities, minor league and int'l rules, salary cap tiers, free agency, the costs of running and upgrading facilities.

So the management demands on both the "President" and "GM" are far greater, which is why a lot of authority has to be delegated.

Teams were run like "Ma and Pa" shops in the past, now they're corporations.

[zambonir]

Just the number of names on the Phillies front office masthead these days is overwhelming, in a good way. Before they finally started doing analytics it was single digits (besides the Assistant GMs and department heads).

Don't forget too, that while results were mixed, Fuld originally helped run the analytics under Klentak and then headed up the sports science department beginning in 2020. I am sure both of those things are still big parts of his job, both as a supervisor and the primary point of contact between the front office and the clubhouse.

Seriously, I hadn't looked in a while, it's mind-boggling! There are a dozen different baseball operations departments (including the executive level).

https://www.mlb.com/phillies/team/front-office

[Philsmania]

I noticed just a few years ago that the Phillies built a separate building in what used to be a parking lot just east of CBP. Perhaps that was to provide space for this expanded front office.

[zambonir]

Yeah I walk by there sometimes. Probably looks like Silicon Valley in there.

[Ryles]

I've always wondered what that building was for. Same to assume that it is extra office space? Anyone able to confirm?

[fish]

If I had heard the name Alex Nakahara before I forgot it (their R&D director)- but that’s some resume, his undergraduate degree is from Penn in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, master’s in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, and five years as a systems engineer at Northrop Grumman