Phillies fire manager Rob Thomson, Don Mattingly takes over

But the winning stopped for Phillies skipper Rob Thomson, who couldn’t justify keeping his job after a brutally bad 9-19 start. Even after signing an offseason extension, the coach became the scapegoat for a team desperate for some kind of change.

He’s been fired, the team announced Tuesday ahead of their evening bout with the Giants. Don Mattingly will take over in the interim.

Thomson has led the Phillies to four straight playoff berths and has a .568 win percentage — the best for any modern Phillies manager. His clubs have won 85 more games than they lost and he nearly won the city’s third World Series title in 2022.

However his postseason decisions left many wondering if he was the right strategic mind for a ballclub in 2026. The Phils are near the bottom in every single statistical category, from pitching to hitting to defense and their MLB worse run differential doesn’t help.

“Philly Rob” was famously named interim manager in 2022, after Joe Girardi was fired after a similarly (but not quite this bad) start.

Mattingly is about as good a replacement as the Phillies can get in the interim. He’s been an MLB coach in some capacity for 23 years, including seven seasons as skipper for the Marlins. Before that he managed the Dodgers for five campaigns, winning manager of the year as well as a COVID-impacted World Series title in 2020. Last season he helped the Toronto Blue Jays win the AL Pennant.

Mattingly is also known for playing career. The 1985 MVP with the Yankees has nine Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers. 

A few other coaching changes also were announced. Third base coach Dusty Wathan has been promoted to bench coach (Mattingly’s previous position). Triple-A manager Anthony Contreras will take Wathan’s spot as third base coach. And Chris Adamson, Lehigh Valley’s bench coach, has been promoted to manager of the IronPigs.

If this is anything like 2022, perhaps this will spark the Phillies and Mattingly will be managing in October.

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