One of the Phillies young coaches is getting hype on the manager carousel.
Phillies Major League Player Information Coordinator Sam Fuld is reportedly a hot name this offseason for teams looking to hire a manager.
From San Francisco to Chicago to Pittsburgh and everywhere in between, Fuld’s name keeps coming up as a potential candidate.
Jon Heyman of Fancred reports that the former Rays outfielder is in the mix for the Pittsburgh Pirates manager position.
Mike Bell, Diamondbacks director of player development, son of Buddy, grandson of Gus and brother of David, is also in mix for Pirates manager. Other known candidates there: Banister, Shelton, Fuld. Bell’s Mets interview is tomorrow.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 13, 2019
Fuld was mentioned by Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (subscription required) as a possible fit for the Giants job, which is also where Gabe Kapler is interviewing. Joel Sherman of The New York Post mentioned Fuld as an “off the beaten road” candidate for the Mets job.
Even the Cubs, who are looking at former players such as David Ross and Will Venable, have been connected to Fuld, who was drafted twice by the Cubs and for whom he played his first 98 big league games.
Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com reported that Fuld could be an internal candidate for the Phillies, who have publically stated their search will not be restricted to candidates with managerial experience.
Majority owner John Middleton acknowledged that the next Craig Counsell (Brewers manager who had no prior experience after a long playing career) is out there and that the Phillies won’t limit their search.
Fuld is no stranger to rumors surrounding his future as a big league manager. Last year he was mentioned as a dark horse for the Rangers job before Chris Woodward was hired. It would hurt if the Phillies let him go during their own manager search and he went on to be the next Counsell or Aaron Boone.
Fuld’s role on Gabe Kapler’s staff was to “integrate the use of information in all areas of on-field performance and preparation and make recommendations regarding the most effective areas of future research and analysis.”
Essentially, he told the players which analytics could help them during the game.
Like Counsell, Kapler, and Boone, Fuld was one of those players who never solidified himself as an everyday player, but held his own as a role player. In the cases of Boone and Counsell, their life sitting and learning on the bench helped develop them into successful big league managers.
Fuld played nearly 600 major league games over parts of eight seasons for Chicago, Oakland, Tampa Bay, and Minnesota before retiring in 2015. It sounds like someday he will be a manager, but it likely won’t be in Philadelphia.
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