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UPDATE, 10/23: Jerry Crasnick is now also listing Yankees special assistant to Brian Cashman Jim Hendry as an interviewee for the Phillies' GM job.
FROM EARLIER:
Fumigators have removed the tent over the Phillies clubhouse, having successfully cleared the place of the toxic smug levels left behind by their former general manager. Ruben Amaro is long gone at this point, having moved on to an as of now purely hypothetical managing career.
So, over the past few weeks, Andy MacPhail and his entourage-but-with-nerds have been reviewing resumes and looking potential candidates to fill Amaro's old job in the eye.
Here is a quick rundown of a few of the known targets, and they definitely talked to Kim Ng about the role. But as ESPN's Jerry Crasnick has reminded us, the team said they hoped to have a new GM installed before the start of organizational meetings.
The #Phillies are down to 3 GM candidates and a decision is expected soon, says industry source. Team org meetings start Monday.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) October 23, 2015
A time that is basically upon us.
Who will it be? The league renown Kim Ng? The Buster Olney-predicted J.J. Picollo? Matt Klentak and his experience working alongside MacPhail? The aggressive Larry Beinfest? Don't forget Russ Atkins! You forget Russ Atkins, didn't you? C'mon.
Add #rays executive Chaim Bloom to the list of people who've interviewed for #Phillies GM job. MLB source confirms.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) October 23, 2015
And good lord, they're still interviewing people! Bloom is the Rays' first-year vice president of baseball operations who also specializes in international scouting and minor league development, having clawed his way up from an internship with Tampa a decade ago. That's another well-qualified guy; I'm beginning to wonder if the Phillies are going to interview Larry Bowa for this job at all.
How did they pick the final three? How will they pick the winner? Paint ball? Garbage-eating contest? Wake them each in the middle of the night, thrust a phone into their hands on which another GM's home number has already been dialed, and force them to move Ryan Howard's entire contract in a 15-minute window or the room fills with noxious gas? I don't know, I'm not an industry insider.
There hasn't been a truly detestable candidate interviewed for the position, so the second part of the Andy MacPhail-[Insert GM's name here] Phillies will hopefully not infuriate too many people.