With a president of baseball operations that believes reaching the playoffs is good enough and a majority owner who loves his president of baseball operations and is rumored to be considering an extension for him, what do you do if you are under the BOPO? You look elsewhere.
Sam Fuld, the Phillies president of business operations and former general manager under Dave Dombrowski is being considered by the Athletics to become their president of baseball operations. Fuld, who stepped away from his job as GM to get his business degree from the Wharton School and then put the education to good use when he was named the Phillies president of business operations this past May, is a front-runner for the Oakland job.
Fuld was widely respected as a talent evaluator and GM prior to adding the business degree to his resume. At 44, Fuld is one of the young executives who are highly thought of around Major League Baseball. He would give Oakland a baseball and business talent as they prepare to move to Las Vegas for the 2028 season. In the past, Fuld had also been interviewed for managerial jobs with Toronto (2018) and Boston (2020). It’s not likely that Fuld would consider becoming a manager at this point in his career.
The Athletics fired GM David Frost after this year’s trade deadline. They are also reported to be considering Chicago Cubs assistant GM Jared Banner. There is also reported interest in a pair of Red Sox assistant GMs, Matt Kleine and Taylor Smith.
Preston Mattingly
Current Phillies GM Preston Mattingly is also highly thought of around baseball. He started his front office career with the San Diego Padres with three years as their manager of scouting and then two years as their coordinator of major league advance scouting and game planning. He jumped to the Phillies as their director of player development in September of 2021 and moved to the assistant GM position two years later.
Mattingly could also become a target for other teams to poach from the Phillies as a potential GM or president of baseball operations.
Mattingly is credited with reshaping the player development department to work with pitchers not just on how to change their mechanics, but on why those changes were important and using numbers such as spin rate to show the change. He is also credited with unifying the departments so that players were being given the same instruction at each level rather than having each pitching coach work on different aspects with pitchers. He is widely seen around baseball as a strong communicator and take charge leader.
A Lifetime Contract?
John Middleton reportedly offered Dombrowski a lifetime contract with the team a few years ago but the offer was declined. It has also been reported that Dombrowski turned down a fourth-year on his current contract which ends after the 2027 season. The idea of an extension and a potential return of the lifetime deal are reportedly being considered by majority owner John Middleton with an extension being highly likely.
Dombrowski’s contract reportedly includes an opt-out should a group named Music City Baseball be awarded an expansion team in Nashville. It also reportedly also allows him to continue his advisor role with the group seeking to being a team to Nashville in the next round of expansion.
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