By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
While trading catcher Carlos Ruiz to the Los Angeles Dodgers was the most high-profile transaction that the Phillies made Thursday, it wasn't the only move that became public Thursday.
According to Jim Salisbury of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, the Phillies have relieved multiple scouts of their duties, with news breaking just hours after the Ruiz trade was finalized:
According to major league sources, the club recently fired three longtime members of that department, including Mike Ledna, a high-ranking coordinator and national cross-checker. Ledna was the No. 2 man under former scouting boss Marti Wolever, who was let go two years ago and replaced by Johnny Almaraz.
Though the league's waiver trade deadline is next Tuesday, the timing of these firings make sense. The Phillies allowed these scouts to work under Almaraz for multiple seasons and in the front-office of Andy MacPhail and Matt Klentak for nearly a year. It probably didn't take them as much time to realize that they weren't long-term fits with this regime, but good teams don't fire experienced scouts when they hold the No. 1 pick in that summer's MLB draft or plan to have some level of activity at both the league's non-waiver and waiver trade deadlines. Now that the Phillies are presumably done making trades following the Ruiz deal, there is time for Almaraz and company to hire and integrate scouts that they believe fit their view of what the department should be.
It remains to be seen whether the vacant scouting positions will be filled with internal promotions or external hires.
