The Philadelphia Phillies on Friday announced a series of front office moves that won’t much alter the direction of the franchise but might prove to be notable down the road. Club president Dave Dombrowski remains in place atop the baseball operations structure under principal owner John Middleton, but below that, there has been movement.
Most notably, vice president and general manager Sam Fuld is shifting to the business side from the baseball operations side. He’s currently pursuing a business degree at Penn and once he graduates he’ll become the Phillies president of business operations.
“I look forward to taking on this new challenge with the same passion, competitiveness and respect that I’ve applied throughout my professional career,” Fuld said in a statement. “The opportunity to collaborate across baseball and business operations is an exciting one, and I’m honored to be entrusted with helping to build upon the many great elements of this organization.”
Fuld had been pretty widely regarded as a rising star among front office executives and might’ve been on track to running a team in the near future. This doesn’t take that off the table, obviously, but it’s a noteworthy move.
As a result, Preston Mattingly will now move into the position vacated by Fuld as the vice president of baseball operations and general manager, essentially the No. 2 to Dombrowski.
Mattingly is only 37 and is also considered a bit of a rising star in the front office ranks. This is a nice promotion for him. For those curious, yes, he is the son of Don Mattingly.
“The continued growth of Sam and Preston is remarkable,” Dombrowski said in a statement. “Both of them do a fantastic job, and these promotions provide continuity in the organization for years to come.”
After emerging from a rebuild, the Phillies won the NL pennant in 2022, returned to the NLCS in 2023 and won 95 games and the NL East championship in 2024. They haven’t won the World Series since 2008, but have a team capable of doing so in the next few years.
