Philadelphia Phillies to hire Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball ops

Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The Philadelphia Phillies are finalizing an agreement to make Dave Dombrowski the team's next president of baseball operations.

League sources told ESPN, USA Today Sports and The Athletic on Thursday that Dombrowski, who was working with an investor group to bring an expansion team to Nashville, has been engaged in serious talks with the Phillies in recent days to take over the franchise. Both sides are hoping to finalize a contract by Friday.

The 64-year-old Dombrowski, who guided the Boston Red Sox, Miami Marlins and Detroit Tigers to World Series appearances, is the only MLB executive to lead three different teams to the Fall Classic in modern baseball history. He won titles with the Red Sox (2018) and Marlins (1997) and helped the Tigers reach the World Series twice.

The Red Sox fired Dombrowski in September 2019 after he clashed with ownership over the future of the organization. He then joined the Music City investor group in July as a consultant and adviser in Nashville's attempt to bring a major league team to its city.

Dombrowski showed no interest in abandoning that pursuit until Phillies owner John Middleton redoubled his efforts to convince him this week, according to the outlets. He will take over a team that has failed to finish with a winning record in nine straight seasons.

Dombrowski will replace Matt Klentak, who was fired by the Phillies in October after five seasons. Dombrowski also is expected to assume general manager duties like he did in Boston and Detroit.