Minnesota acquired veteran outfielder Sam Fuld off of waivers from the Athletics very early in the 2014 season. The 32-year old was hitting just .200 through seven games with Oakland, and carried a career OPS+ of 79.

Fuld then began to play some of his best baseball during his time with the Twins. He collected two hits in his Twins debut, including an RBI single against Rays reliever Brandon Gomes. That was followed up by two more multi-hit games, and a five game hitting streak to begin his Twins tenure. Fuld quickly became the team’s regular centerfielder, replacing a struggling Aaron Hicks.

He never hit for much power, but Fuld played good defense and had a .370 on-base percentage over 53 games in Minnesota. This is compared to the .307 OBP that Fuld sports for his eight year Major League career. His performance made him good enough to flip at the deadline. Ironically, the team who traded for him was the same team who had waived him in April. Oakland sent Tommy Milone back to the Twins for a guy they let leave for nothing just three months earlier.

Fuld would remain in Oakland during the 2015 season, batting .197 over 120 games. That would be the end of his big league playing career. He slashed .227/.307/.325 (.632) over 598 games with the Cubs, Rays, Athletics, and Twins. Fuld was also worth 30 defensive runs saved in the outfield.

The end of his playing career was not his final chapter in the Majors though. He was hired as the Phillies player information coordinator in 2017, and the industry immediately identified him as a rising front office star. The Blue Jays interviewed Fuld for their managerial job after the 2018 season, and he was seen as a strong candidate until withdrawing his name from consideration. Pittsburgh also showed interest in hiring Fuld as their general manager in 2019, but the job went to Ben Cherington instead.

Philadelphia eventually did promote Fuld to general manager in December 2020, making him the number two man for President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski.