Phillies add Wade to baseball operations staff

Former Major League general manager Ed Wade has re-joined the Phillies as a special consultant to the Baseball Operations department, the club announced today.

Wade, 55, served as general manager for parts of 13 years for both the Phillies (1998-2005) and the Houston Astros (2007-11), where his teams combined for a record of 942-1,010 (.483). In his final five seasons as Phillies GM, the team went 426-383 (.527), the sixth-best record in the National League in that span, ahead of teams such as the Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds, among others.

During his time as GM in Philadelphia, Wade acquired players such as Jim Thome, Shane Victorino and Billy Wagner through free agency, the Rule 5 draft and trade, respectively, while the June amateur drafts under him produced Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell, Cole Hamels, Ryan Madson and Brett Myers, all of whom were contributors on the 2008 World Series championship team.

"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," said Amaro.

In his new role with the Phillies, Wade will assist in salary arbitration consultation, while also scouting at both the Major and minor league levels.