Yeah the Dodgers were more recently a disaster. Just as good teams are always ultimately about good players, good teams don't happen without good owners. When they didn't have that, they were poorly run, particularly under McCourt but under Fox too. Literally bankrupt until the sale and TV deal. But they still had talent and winning seasons and spent money during that time (including the years against the Phillies) and Coletti was still able to build something. But what they've been doing the last few years is definitely on a whole other level, both under the hood (in the front office) and with the checkbook. Unfortunately I don't think the people who run the Phillies have that kind of Magic Johnson/LA swagger. It is fair to say that they, like Houston, still behave like a small-market team (though unlike Houston, I still don't doubt they'll spend money).
MLB Trade Rumors, as always, is aggregation, not original sources. The big news there is that Nightengale claims Wathan is the guy. In any case I don't think the five names are all finalists, just people who haven't been confirmed as eliminated.
If true, I am certainly cool with it. As I said above I don't think they were actively looking to make the easy, internal, inherited choice, so if he's the guy that means he made the case in the interviews, and if (like the Mets) they cancel the second round of interviews, it must have been a strong case. But we shall see.
