Sam Fuld won’t be taking over the Athletics’ baseball operations department after all.
The Phillies president of baseball operations has turned down Oakland’s offer to become the A’s new president of baseball operations, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported. Fuld had emerged as a candidate earlier this week, but he’s now out of the mix and will remain in Philadelphia.
The A’s search still has plenty of moving parts. Passan, in a separate post, echoed earlier reporting from The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney and Ken Rosenthal that Cardinals assistant general manager Rob Cerfolio is expected to stay in St.
Louis rather than chase the top job in Sacramento. Passan also identified Cerfolio and Red Sox assistant GM Taylor Smith as finalists, though it remains unclear how many other names were actually on the club’s short list beyond Fuld.
Fuld’s connection to the A’s goes back to his playing days. He spent the final season of his eight-year major league career with Oakland in 2015, then moved into front-office work after retiring in 2017. He joined the Phillies that November as a player information coordinator and climbed steadily, eventually becoming general manager in December 2020.
That promotion placed him directly behind Dave Dombrowski on Philadelphia’s decision-making ladder. A twist came in 2024, when Fuld stepped away to pursue an MBA at Wharton. He returned this year as the Phillies’ president of business operations after earning the degree, while Preston Mattingly has served as the GM under Dombrowski for the past two years.
There has been speculation that Philadelphia is preparing for the long term, especially with Dombrowski expected to get another extension once his current deal expires after the 2027 season. Dombrowski is 70, and both Fuld and Mattingly have been viewed as possible successors. Fuld’s move into the business side, though, suggests the Phillies may prefer to keep both men in place, with each running a different side of the organization.
Whatever the reasoning behind his decision, the Athletics are back to searching. They had reportedly hoped to have the president of baseball operations job filled within a week, but that timetable could shift now that Fuld - likely their top target - is no longer in play.
The remaining known candidates include Mike Rizzo, James Click, Billy Owens, Jared Banner, Matt Kleine and Mike Groopman.
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