Phillies: Sam Fuld among finalists for Red Sox manager job

The Phillies could soon lose Sam Fuld to the Boston Red Sox

The Philadelphia Phillies have already lost their pitching and bullpen coach this offseason, among other notable subtractions including general manager; soon, they could lose another key member — this time from their analytics department.

Phillies Director of Integrative Baseball Performance, Sam Fuld, is a finalist to become the next manager of the Boston Red Sox, according to MLB insider Jon Heyman.

Joining Fuld on the short Red Sox managerial candidate list to replace interim manager Ron Roenicke includes Carlos Mendoza, New York Yankees Bench Coach; Don Kelly, Pittsburgh pirates Bench Coach; James Rowson, Miami Marlins Bench Coach; and Alex Cora, who Heyman claims is the most likely to land the position.

Cora previously managed the Red Sox to a World Series championship in his first season as a manager in 2018, but was fired last January amid Major League Baseball’s investigation into the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. Cora served as the Astros’ bench coach during the 2017 World Series.

The Phillies first hired the Stanford University economics grad following the 2017 season as their Major League player information coordinator and was assigned to work players, coaches, the team’s research and development department, as well as fellow front-office staff.

Three different employees currently work under Fuld in the Phillies’ integrative baseball performance section of their baseball operations department. They include Michael Czahor, lead quantitative analyst; Josh Lipman, coordinator; and Frankie Scimeca, assistant.

The 38-year-old Fuld played eight seasons in Major League Baseball that began in 2007 with the Chicago Cubs and ended in 2015 with the Oakland Athletics; in between, the Durham, New Hampshire, native also played for the Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins.

Spanning 598 career games, Fuld slashed just .227/.307/.325 with 60 doubles, 18 triples, 12 home runs, 112 RBI, 67 stolen bases and 153 walks; he played all three outfield positions, including in 2015, when he turned the fifth-most double plays (3) among American League outfielders.

Losing Fuld to the Red Sox would be a notable subtraction from the analytics-side of the Phillies’ major-league staff. Heyman recently said on MLB Network that he believes the Red Sox will make a final decision sometime this week.