Phillies reportedly close to hiring Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball operations

Update 5:00 p.m. ET: The Phillies will hire Dombrowski. Read more here.

Original Story

In a rather shocking twist, Jayson Stark of The Athletic reports that the Philadelphia Phillies “are in the advanced stages” of negotiations that would make Dave Dombrowksi their new president of baseball operations.

That Dombrowski would have interest in this position isn’t especially shocking. There were whispers of such a possibility last offseason, and Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported at the outset of this offseason that Dombrowski would be interested in heading the Phillies’ front office, but “only if he has complete autonomy.”

Still, by early November, Dombrowski, 64, seemingly pulled himself out of the running for any executive positions, reaffirming that he was committed to helping bring a major league team to Nashville in an interview with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

So what changed? MacPhail has expressed a willingness to leave his post as club president a year early if the right candidate for president of baseball operations emerged. It would appear it has. Additionally, both Minnesota Twins’ general manager Thad Levine and Los Angeles Dodgers’ senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Brynes have withdrawn themselves from consideration, which Stark says led to managing partner John Middleton reaching back out to Dombrowski.

Dombrowski has had stints at the general manager for the Montreal Expos, Florida Marlins and Detroit Tigers, while most recently serving as the president of baseball operations for the Boston Red Sox. His teams in Miami and Boston won World Series titles, while the Tigers won two American League pennants. That said, his reputation has largely been to maximize what’s on the major league roster for a window of contention, often leaving organizations to go through some lean seasons after the cores he built age.

We will have more on this story as it comes in…

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