3 reasons to be excited about the Philadelphia Phillies new-look front office

Mar 23, 2018; Bradenton, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies Sam Fuld (5) against the Pittsburgh Pirates at LECOM Park. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 23, 2018; Bradenton, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies Sam Fuld (5) against the Pittsburgh Pirates at LECOM Park. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 3
Next

The Philadelphia Phillies new front office is exciting.

Earlier this year, the Philadelphia Phillies were labeled as being a “directionless” franchise. The team had shelled out huge money for marquee free agents in back-to-back offseasons, and had nothing to show for it. Their GM had been reassigned, their president had one foot out the door, and their owner was slashing salary left and right

Now, with Dave Dombrowski captaining the ship, the Phillies finally have a sense of direction.

While Dombrowski wasn’t the most popular of hires, he undoubtedly brought a sense of maturity and stability to the Philadelphia Phillies franchise. Domrbowski finalized his front office today – elevating Sam Fuld to the role of GM and Jorge Velandia to the role of assistant GM.

More from Section 215

With a new-look front office now firmly in place, there’s genuinely reason to be excited moving forward:

Analytics won’t be abandoned.

Whether you like it or not, analytics are a huge part of baseball these days.

Teams like the Dodgers, Astros, and Rays have mastered the art of using analytics to spearhead player development and on-field performance, and the results speak for themselves.

When the Phillies hired Dave Dombrowski, the fear was that the team would abandon their analytics department – resorting to “old school” tactics and techniques. However, with Fuld being elevated to the position of general manager, that shouldn’t be the case.

Fuld was the Phillies major league player information coordinator from 2017-2020, essentially tasked with integrating research and analytics with player development. Fuld had a lot of success in this role, and his commitment to the numbers side of baseball is a major reason for his promotion.

By combining his experience with Dombrowski’s, it creates a fun partnership that should in theory value both sides to the game of baseball. Dombrowski gets to wheel and deal, and Fuld gets to study the statistics – the best of both worlds.