By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Though the Philadelphia Phillies filled their hitting coach vacancy this afternoon by announcing that former playoff hero Matt Stairs will be their new hitting coach, they created another one for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia to fill.
Stairs had spent the past three seasons as a color commentator on the team's television broadcasts, a role that he will obviously leave to become the team's hitting coach.
According to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia isn't wasting any time attempting to lure in his replacement:
Sources told MLB.com that Kruk and CSN are discussing a deal. Kruk spent the past 12 years as an analyst with ESPN, but they mutually parted ways in October. At the time, Kruk said he wanted to continue his broadcasting career.
Kruk would seem to be overqualified for this role, but it's possible that if he joined the team's broadcast booth it would be in a role that would allow him to become an analyst for a network like FS1 or TBS as well. In fact, Zolecki says that if Kruk joins the team's announcing booth, it won't be in a very frequent role:
If Kruk and CSN strike a deal, it is expected to be for a limited schedule.
"Limited" is a rather vague term, because it could mean limited in the sense that Stairs was, where he would work some series' and trade off other ones with either Jamie Moyer or Ben Davis, or it could mean limited in the sense that Mike Schmidt currently is, where he only announces weekend home games.
Kruk was at Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia during the 2003 season in a studio analyst role. It's possible that if a better opportunity doesn't materialize, Kruk could both travel with the Phillies as a color commentator at times and work as a studio analyst for the network.
While Tom McCarthy remains under contract as the team's play-by-play man through 2017, it's unclear if Comcast SportsNet plans to bring back the aforementioned Davis, who has served as a color commentator on the team's broadcasts since 2015.
