According to reports, the Philadelphia Phillies will reportedly announce that they are hiring former Los Angeles Angels assistant general manager Matt Klentak as the team’s new general manager. Klentak succeeds Ruben Amaro Jr., who was fired on Sept. 10 after serving as the club’s GM since 2008.
While the Phillies have not made an official announcement, one is expected by Monday. The news was first reported by Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe on Saturday and confirmed by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal.
Source confirms: Klentak is #Phillies’ new GM. First reported: @nickcafardo.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 24, 2015
Klentak, 35, graduated from Dartmouth with an economics degree, and is said to have a strong background in analytics. This is quite the departure from Amaro, and the Phillies former regime who did not believe in the sabrmetric approach to building a baseball team.
Klentak has been the Angels assistant general manager for the last four years. He also served as the Orioles director of baseball operations from 2008 to 2011. Klentak was hired to the post in Baltimore by current Phillies president Andy McPhail. The two would work together for several years in Baltimore.
Klentak had interviewed for the Angels general manager position, that was left vacant following the departure of Jerry DiPoto, but that job ultimately went to Billy Eppler. Klentak finished the season with the Angels.
Chaim Bloom of the Tampa Bay Rays and Dan Kantrovitz of the Oakland Athletics, were reportedly the two other finalists for the Phillies general manager job. It appears that McPhail’s familiarity with Matt Klentak ultimately made the difference in the final hire.
Klentak has a steep task ahead of him, as he tries to rebuild an aging Phillies club that was one of the worst teams in baseball over the last two years.
Main Photo via Baltimore Orioles.
