The 2018 season marked the end of a career for one of the best players as Chase Utley decided to hang up his cleats at the end of a fourth year with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Utley, of course, spent the first 13 years of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he was named an All-Star six times in addition to winning the World Series in 2008.
He got the opportunity to finish out his career with his hometown Dodgers after being traded to Los Angeles in 2015, and he built some strong bonds in his short time with the organization.
While Utley’s playing days are over, it looks like he may not be done helping out the organization as he was seen in the lobby of the Mandalay Bay at the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed that Utley is there to work with the team’s front office and the hope is that he will take on a more official role in the future, via Jorge Castillo of the L.A. Times:
Chase Utley retired as a player after this season, but he is with the Dodgers this week at the winter meetings and the club expects to officially hire him for a job in baseball operations, Friedman said.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations with Chase,” Friedman said. “I think he’s really curious and trying to figure out what life after baseball looks like, but I’m optimistic we’ll figure it out.”
In addition to turning 40 next week, the biggest reason that Utley retired was to spend more time with his children and family.
So while the Dodgers are currently without a general manager after Farhan Zaidi left to become the president of baseball operations for the San Francisco Giants, it is hard to envision Utley taking on a role that is that time-consuming this soon after retiring.
Utley has one of the best baseball minds in the sport though, so anything he can offer the Dodgers will be welcomed with open arms.
