The Philadelphia Phillies announced on Tuesday morning that they are parting ways with manager Rob Thomson after a disastrous 9-19 start to the season.
Whether the manager with the highest winning percentage in Phillies history is actually to blame for the slow start or not, Rob Thomson is the second manager to fall victim to scapegoat season after Alex Cora and several other members of the coaching staff were fired by the Boston Red Sox just a few days before the Phillies announced their managerial change.
Thomson lead the Phillies to the postseason four times in his first four seasons, winning two division titles and making an unlikely run to the World Series in 2022 after a rough start to that season led to Joe Girardi being fired and Thomson taking over as interim manager.
Thomson’s 355-270 record at the helm was not enough to save him as the organization desperately tries to ignite something in a team that already finds itself 10.5 games back in the division in April and has approximately a 33% chance to make the postseason.
The Phillies released a statement Tuesday morning confirming that Thomson has been relieved of his duties and will be replaced by bench coach Don Mattingly, who just joined the organization in the offseason after a World Series run with the Toronto Blue Jays. When Mattingly originally came on board, many speculated this could be an escape hatch should Thomson run into trouble this season, though no one could have possibly known the struggles would be this severe.
The statement went on to say that Don Mattingly will serve as interim manager through the end of the 2026 season, squashing the swirling rumors that Dave Dombrowski may look to bring Alex Cora, the recently fired Boston Red Sox manager, on board. Dombrowski’s relationship with Cora had been talked about repeatedly since Cora’s firing, and stoked rumors that he could find a quick landing spot in Philadelphia. According to Bob Nightengale, the Phillies offered Cora the position and he declined, deciding instead to spend time with his family. Of course this report has already lead to speculation by some in the Philadelphia media that he did not find the job attractive, while others argue he is simply waiting until the end of the season to entertain more offers and hope for a bidding war as he’ll be one of the top managerial candidates on the market for next year.
Dusty Wathan, the Phillies’ long-tenured third base coach, has been promoted to bench coach and Anthony Contreras, who has been the manager of the Phillies’ triple A Lehigh Valley Ironpigs since 2022 will be promoted to the big leagues and take over as third base coach, with Chris Adamson moving from bench coach to manager for the Pigs.
Kevin Long will remain the hitting coach for the Phillies, which will come as a surprise to many who speculated his job may be one of the more precarious in the coaching staff based on the team’s early offensive struggles and his strange comments that seemed to blame their awful numbers against left-handed pitchers this season on the fact that they do not currently have someone that can throw left-handed batting practice on the staff.
With the Braves taking a commanding division lead this early, the Phillies make the move just as the team gets set for a favorable upcoming schedule, with four of the next five teams they face having records under .500, beginning tonight with the San Francisco Giants. Don Mattingly and the Phillies will have all eyes on them to see how they respond to the shakeup and the message it sends. It will be interesting to see how Mattingly takes to the new role as he recently stated in March of this year that he was not interested in managing again, citing a lack of energy at this stage of his life.
Energy is going to be exactly what he and this Phillies team need if they are going to have any chance at righting the ship before the season is lost.
