Sam Fuld discusses working under Phillies president Dave Dombrowski.
"“It goes without saying that Dave is one of the best in this generation at what he does. He’s got two rings to prove it. I’ve got so much to learn from him.” – Sam Fuld"
The process of Sam Fuld replacing Matt Klentak (and interim general manager Ned Rice) as the next general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies was quick.
Fuld said he talked to Dave Dombrowski, Phillies president of baseball operations, just a few days after he was hired in early December. Three or four few days later, Dombrowski called with a request to interview him for the general manager role, and the rest was history.
Dombrowski first called Fuld to get a sense of who he was as a person, and what he has done for the Phillies since his November 2017 hire. “We had a great talk, about say well over an hour,” Fuld said. “It was a lot of listening for him, a lot of me just giving a little bit of a backdrop of where I’m at and where my role has been. … He was direct about it, and I think that’s one of the things that we are going to really love about Dave. He is direct, to the point, and doesn’t beat around the bush.”
Being asked to be interviewed for the general manager position was surprising to Fuld, but something he said that he would be “foolish” to turn down, so he “jumped on it right away.”
Fuld noted that he thinks Dombrowski appreciates honest, direct feedback, and that he had several good things to say about the organization. “I could have talked to him for another couple of hours about all the things we do well organizationally,” Fuld continued. “I think he appreciated the conversation.”
“It goes without saying that Dave is one of the best in this generation at what he does. He’s got two rings to prove it,” Fuld told Frandsen. “I’ve got so much to learn from him.”
There has been speculation as to who exactly is “calling the shots” in the Phillies front office. Fuld made a point to note that “we would be living in some kind of bizarro world” if he stepped into the general manager role and called most of the shots over someone like Dombrowski.
For now, Fuld said he is going to learn from him, and everyone else in the Phillies front office, such as Terry Ryan, Pat Gillick, Larry Bowa, Rice, and Bryan Minniti.
“I just talked to Terry and he is willing and eager to help me along this process, which is just fantastic,” Fuld said. “I’m just thankful that I’m surrounded by a lot of good knowledge, good people, good experience.”