As the Mets search for a general manager, a rival is on the verge of landing a big-name executive.
The Phillies are set to name Dave Dombrowski their team president, according to The Athletic. Dombrowski most recently constructed the 2018 Red Sox World Series team before being fired the following season as the team readied for a rebuild.
Dombrowsk, 64, had recently told the website that he was not interested in the Phillies or any other current MLB executive position, with his focus on getting an MLB franchise to Nashville.
“I’m staying in Nashville,” Dombrowski said recently. “I gave the (Nashville group) a commitment when I moved here that as we continue to pursue a new team — expansion, relocation or if it goes nowhere — that I would stay here with them.”
Dombrowski spent 14 seasons running the Tigers before moving on to the Red Sox in 2015.
He will inherit a team coming off a disappointing 28-32 season under first-year manager Joe Girardi. The Phillies seem unlikely to re-sign stud catcher J.T. Realmuto, though managing general partner John Middleton aggressively denied trade rumors around Zack Wheeler.
“If they offered me Babe Ruth, I wouldn’t trade him,” Middleton told ESPN.. “I have authorized no one to have a conversation about trading him.”
After Steve Cohen became owner, the Mets hired Sandy Alderson as his team president but have struggled to add top-level people underneath him. The Mets abandoned their search for a president of baseball operations and are still looking for a GM for next season.
It is unclear if the Mets had any interest in Dombrowski.