Hill, Byrnes reportedly receiving second interviews with Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies appear to be making progress as they rebuild their front office.

Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia says that both Michael Hill and Josh Byrnes are receiving second interviews with the Phillies, as they search for someone to lead the front office, seemingly under the title of president of baseball operations.

Hill and the Marlins parted ways after the 2020 season, though he left the organization in a tremendous position. The Marlins reached the postseason in 2020 for the first time since 2003, and have a bright future because of their army of young pitching. At the forefront of the team’s bounty of arms is Sixto Sánchez, who the Marlins acquired from the Phillies in the February of 2019 J.T. Realmuto trade.

Meanwhile, Brynes is currently the Los Angeles Dodgers’ senior vice president of baseball operations, a position he’s been in for six seasons. He worked under Theo Epstein in Boston in the early 2000s, and parlayed that into stints as the general manager in Arizona San Diego. A former high-ranking executive told Phillies Nation this week that Byrnes would be a better fit in Philadelphia than he had been in either of his two stops as general manager, but did say that he’s more the type of executive to travel with the major league team than embed himself in a foreign country and meticulously scout 16-year-old prospects. The executive said Byrnes is more like Dave Dombrowski than Chaim Bloom, both of whom have had tremendous success in the sport, but with different strategies.

Joel Sherman of The New York Post reported Friday that Minnesota Twins’ general manager Thad Levine is “a significant player in the search for the Phillies’ head of baseball operations job.” It’s unclear where Levine stands in regards to Hill and Byrnes, and if there is a favorite at this stage.

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