Former Phillies general manager Ed Wade has returned to the team as a special consultant to the baseball operations department.
The Phillies had an opening in their scouting department when highly-regarded scout Jim Fregosi Jr. left the organization to join Kansas City. Wade will assist with arbitration consultation and scouting at both the major and minor league levels.
"Ed had a very positive impact on the success we had in 2008 and his experience and knowledge will be a solid addition to what I feel is as good a baseball operations staff as there is in the game," general manager Ruben Amaro said in a statement released by the team.
Wade served as the Phillies general manager from 1998 to 2005. It was during that time that he hired Amaro as an assistant when he was winding down his playing career. Wade was fired after the 2005 season and went on to spend a year as a scout for the Padres. From there, Wade was hired as the general manager of the Astros.
When new ownership took over in Houston last month, Wade was fired.
Wade began working for the Phillies in 1977 as an intern in the public relations department. He joined the Astros as a PR assistant a short time later before taking over as the head of the Pirates PR department in 1981. Following three years as an associate for Tal Smith Enterprises, a firm that provided consulting services to big league teams in arbitration cases, Wade returned to the Phillies in 1989 as the assistant general manager.
As a general manager Wade was involved in several big trades with and for the Phillies. In 2000, he traded Curt Schilling to Arizona. In Houston he traded Brad Lidge, Eric Bruntlett, Roy Oswalt and Hunter Pence to the Phillies. He also hired managers Larry Bowa and Charlie Manuel and gave big contracts to Bobby Abreu, Mike Lieberthal, David Bell and Jim Thome for the Phillies.
MLB
Wade was with the Phillies when the club drafted Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell, Brett Myers, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels. He also got Shane Victorino in the 2005 Rule 5 draft