Phillies rumors: Club eyeing Dodgers’ Jeff Kingston for GM

The Phillies are reportedly interested in the Dodgers’ Jeff Kingston to become GM

The Philadelphia Phillies recently hired Caleb Cotham as their next pitching coach; now, their offseason search could turn to their open general manager position.

According to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, Jeff Kingston — assistant general manager and vice president of the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers — is a candidate to replace Matt Klentak.

“Kingston was a finalist for the Angels GM job earlier this offseason,” Morosi writes. “Kingston has Pennsylvania ties, as an [economics] graduate of Dickinson College, about 130 miles west of Philadelphia.”

Kingston has spent the past two seasons in his current position with the Dodgers, after spending the previous nine in the Seattle Mariners organization — first as an assistant general manager and later with the expanded title of assistant general manager and vice president of baseball operations.

While with the Mariners, Kingston worked closely with player acquisitions and contract negotiations, as well as oversaw their player development and baseball analytics departments.

A married father of three children, Kingston began his professional baseball career with the San Diego Padres in 1999 as a summer intern in their corporate development department under Theo Epstein; he was hired full-time in 2001 as an assistant to the director of player development, before being promoted to director of baseball operations a year later — a position he held through 2009.

Kingston seems to be a blend of both analytics and old-school baseball, a similar philosophy the recently hired pitching coach Cotham brings from the Cincinnati Reds organization. For a Phillies organization that relied heavily on the former under Gabe Kapler, this approach could be the perfect formula for the organization to return to the postseason and maintain success.

The 2021 season will mark the second under skipper Joe Girardi, and the third with star outfielder Bryce Harper. The clock is ticking.