According to sources close to Howard Eskin, Andy MacPhail has begun the process of recommending a replacement for Matt Klentak in the Phillies front office and his first choice is Jim Hendry of the Yankees.

Let’s not even get into the matter of whether we believe blowhard Eskin and whether his sources are credible. But alas, we will ponder the rumor anyway.

Hendry has spent the past nine seasons as Special Assistant to the GM for the Yankees working directly under Brian Cashman. Before his current stint in New York, Hendry was hired and subsequently promoted by MacPhail to the GM position with the Chicago Cubs. Hendry was fired by the Cubs in 2012 to make room for forward thinking Theo Epstein.

Hendry was the first general manager in Cubs history to oversee three postseason clubs (2003, 2007, 2008) and was the first Cubs general manager to lead the franchise to consecutive postseason berths since the 1930s.

As I recently wrote, it would be a mistake to retain the services of MacPhail, let alone give him the power and responsibility of choosing the next GM or president of baseball operations. Hendry conveniently fits into a pattern for the Phillies where the majority of their front office hires are based on comfort and previous working experience with MacPhail.

This feels a bit like last month when Dave Dombrowski was floated as a potential candidate for the job but ended up declining to continue working with a group aimed at bringing a franchise to Nashville, TN.

Despite all the rumors of potential hires in the past month, the Phillies continue to move toward a very important offseason with a lame duck president and interim GM in Ned Rice.

Do you feel comfortable sending that team to JT Realmuto’s house to convince him to re-sign with the club. No? Me either.