In the midst of Brodie Van Wagenen and the New York Mets gathering several managerial candidates, Sam Fuld says, “Thanks but no thanks.”
MLB Trade Rumors contributor Tim Dierkes is reporting that Philadelphia Phillies’ major league player information coordinator Sam Fuld has declined to interview with the New York Mets, Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres for each club’s open manager position.
Fuld was a career fourth-outfielder during his time in MLB. He spent part of his nine-year career with the Rays, A’s, Twins and Cubs. He retired in 2017 after missing two years due to a torn rotator cuff suffered in spring training of 2016.
The day Fuld officially announced his retirement, he was hired by the Phillies in his current role.
Fuld, like Carlos Beltran and Mark Kotsay, has become a hot managerial candidate with no coaching experience. That stems from his reputation as a player and his excellent analytic mind.
According to reports, Fuld is loved in the Phillies front office for his ability to break down analytic information for their players. In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Hoskins said, “I think a lot of the times, the information can get overwhelming. It’s hard to sift through and pick ’OK, what’s important for this game? To have Sam, he’s recently out of the game, kind of act as that bridge just makes it so much easier on us players.”
This ability to communicate with young players and his strong understanding of analytics is likely what drove the Mets and other teams to want to interview him. However, according to MLB Trade Rumors, Fuld is unsure where his future in baseball lies.
Fuld has a degree in economics from Stanford and has enjoyed his time in the baseball operations department with the Phillies. It’s possible that Fuld sees his future in the front office rather than on the field in a coaching or managerial role. Either way, Fuld is likely to have a bright future in whatever role he ends up taking in the future.
Fuld may not be interviewing, but it is interesting that this now makes six of the seven known candidates for the Mets managerial position have no MLB managerial experience. Four of the seven have no managerial experience at all. While two of the seven have no coaching experience whatsoever.
Despite early reports, it seems that the Mets have no issues going with an inexperienced candidate to replace Mickey Callaway. If that Mets do go that way it would be a bold choice after ending a disastrous two year run with a first-time manager.
