Phillies reportedly interested in farm director candidate with connections to Joe Girardi, Brian Barber

The Philadelphia Phillies are reportedly interested in a candidate with prior connections to both manager Joe Girardi and scouting director Brian Barber as they search for a new director of their farm system.

Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports that David Adams of the New York Yankees “is a serious candidate for the Phillies farm director post.” Phillies Nation‘s Ty Daubert adds that Adams managed the Low-A Tampa Tarpons in 2021 after managing the team’s GCL affiliate in 2018 and short-season Class A team in 2019. Clearly, this would be quite the increase in responsibilities for Adams.

Adams was a third-round pick by the Yankees in the 2008 MLB Draft. The infielder ultimately played in just 43 major league games in his career, all of which came for the 2013 Yankees. Girardi, of course, was the manager of that team.

Still only 34, Adams retired from playing and became a coach in the Yankees farm system in 2017. That was Girardi’s final season as the manager of the Yankees. As Salisbury notes, Barber remained in the Yankees organization as a national crosschecker until being hired by the Phillies in October of 2019, so he probably has an even better feel for Adams’ potential.

In addition to reassigning former assistant general managers Bryan Minniti and Scott Proefrock to roles as consultants, the Phillies announced in August that Josh Bonifay would no longer continue to serve as the director of player development. At the time, Bonifay was offered a job as a professional scout for the 2022 season.

“Change is always difficult but sometimes necessary,” said president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who was hired in December of 2020. “I appreciate and respect Bryan, Scott and Josh for the contributions they have made to the organization, but I believe it is time to take our player development department in a new direction. These staffing changes will provide the opportunity to begin that process.”

While the Phillies have searched for a successor to Bonifay, assistant general manager Jorge Velandia and player development coordinator Dana Parks have assumed the responsibilities that the role requires.

Perhaps we’re reading too much into this, but the idea of hiring someone with connections to the Yankees suggests that regardless of how the final week of the 2021 regular season plays out, the Phillies plan to move forward with Girardi as their manager.

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