Phillies Taking Own Sweet Time in Hiring Someone to Run Team

Despite the madness of 2020, it remains safe to assume the 2021 MLB season will start on time. It's not quite as safe to assume that the Philadelphia Phillies will have someone running their front office by then, though.

It has been two months since Matt Klentak got out of dodge and stepped down as Phillies general manager -- and it seems as if the Phillies are about as close to filling his role as they were then.

Which is to say, they apparently aren't close at all.

There's more. According to NBC Sports Philadelphia's Jim Salisbury, the Phillies are actually looking to hire a president of baseball operations, who will then hire a GM to work under him. So the Phillies are trying to make two hires. Right now, they can't even seem to make one.

On the bright side, they do finally seem to have some names attached to the vacancy. Heck, they're even lining up some second interviews. Salisbury reports both Los Angeles Dodgers president Josh Byrnes and Florida Marlins president Michael Hill are in line for another visit.

Along with that, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported Minnesota Twins GM Thad Levine is drawing "significant" interest for the role of Phillies main baseball man.

Oh, and let's not forget Phillies assistant GM Ned Rice, who was promoted to the role of interim GM during the search. Word is, he could land the gig on a permanent basis.

The Phillies finished 28-32 under manager Joe Girardi last season, good enough for third place in the NL East. Any GM job is a good job because there aren't very many of them. But it appears the Phillies want to take their sweet time in getting someone to take charge and handle the all-important offseason.