2021 MLB general manager ratings: The NL East
By Bill Felber
Sam Fuld, Philadelphia Phillies vice president and general manager
+3.2 WAA
Fuld was named general manager by Dave Dombrowski, the team’s new president, last December. He aggressively pursued Philadelphia’s pennant prospects, making 49 personnel moves that impacted the team’s roster.
A total of 23 of those moves – 54 percent – worked against the Phillies, which makes Fuld’s debut sound like a failure. What saved it were the quality of the successes, four of which stand out.
The first and most meaningful was Fuld’s decision to ride with Ranger Suarez – a fourth-year player but technically still a rookie—as part of the answer to the team’s perennially questionable mound staff.
Suarez served a vital utility role. He made 39 appearances, a dozen of them as a starter, and went 8-5 with a 1.36 ERA over 106 innings.
That added up to a 4.4 WAA and made Suarez from start to finish easily the Phillies’ most valuable pitcher not named Zack Wheeler.
Fuld’s signing of catcher J.T. Realmuto to a five-year, $112 million contract paid off when Realmuto delivered above-average work both at and behind the plate. It added up to another +1.6 WAA.
Fuld knew who to get rid of as well as who to keep. He declined to try to re-sign veteran pitcher Jake Arrieta, then watched Arrieta stumble through an awful 5-14, 7.39, -3.6 WAA with the Cubs and Padres. Fuld also managed to package pitcher Spencer Howard off to Texas. There Howard went 0-3 with a 9.70 ERA and -1.4 WAA in eight starts.
Those moves weren’t enough to enable Fuld’s Phillies do more than make a run at the defending division Braves. But at least Fuld did create a positive impact, which was more than could be said for virtually all of his peers.