The Philadelphia Phillies have made a remarkable turnaround after a horrifying 9-19 start to their season that got beloved manager Rob Thomson fired. The same club that looked dead in the water just a few months ago has surged and nearly chased down the Braves under interim skipper Don Mattingly, and the baseball lifer has done everything he can to earn a full-time job next season. Mattingly’s recent comments on his desire to stick with the organization could save the Phillies from themselves and keep them from hiring morally gray former Boston Red Sox helmsman Alex Cora.
One thing needs to be made abundantly clear: Rob Thomson was not the problem for the Phillies. Sure, the team appeared a bit aloof and stagnant in the fifth year of his leadership. Yes, he made plenty of questionable bullpen decisions and stuck with his veterans far too long. His mild mannered demeanor certainly got on fans’ nerves when they wanted to see some fire out of a complacent team. Rob Thomson was far from perfect, but he was not the reason the Phillies stunk. That is the fault of one man: Dave Dombrowski.
Dombrowski is in his sixth season as president of baseball operations for the Phillies and his club has produced diminishing returns in each of the past four postseasons. Dombrowski, not Thomson, is the one who continually failed to acquire even replacement-level outfielders for four straight years. He’s the one who has lit hundreds of millions of dollars on fire in terrible contracts to the likes of Nick Castellanos, Taijuan Walker and Aaron Nola, among others. He failed to plug gaping holes on a team that ostensibly is competing for a World Series, and yet when it came time for someone to pay the price he threw Rob Thomson under the bus.
Dombrowski’s handling of firing his subordinate was indicative of his reign over the Phillies in that it featured zero accountability. The veteran baseball man made clear that he thought it was Topper’s leadership, and not his failed roster construction, that was to blame for his team’s underperformance.
In his press conference following Thomson’s dismissal, Dombrowski told reporters that he reached out to Cora about taking the Phillies job (before he had even done Thomson the courtesy of firing him), which Cora declined. The two men are quite familiar with each other from their time together in Boston, which featured a 2018 World Series victory. Cora is generally regarded as an astute baseball mind who obviously has a championship pedigree, but overshadowing all that are his questionable ethics.
Before his tenure with the Red Sox, Cora served as bench coach for the Houston Astros. That team infamously captured the 2017 World Series largely due to an unprecedented cheating scandal that resulted in year-long suspensions for multiple masterminds, including Cora. Once he became skipper in Boston, Cora continued to operate on both sides of the rulebook, as well as show zero remorse for his role in one of the darkest moments in the history of the game.
And yet, that’s the guy that Dave Dombrowski wanted to take over his baseball team. Any self respecting Phillies fan would find it hard to root for a guy like Alex Cora, and for good reason. Fans don’t simply root for red pinstriped laundry, they admire the men wearing it. What kind of a message does it send when a verbally abusive, unrepentant cheater is appointed the leader of that public facing group?
Don Mattingly can ensure Phillies fans don't have to reckon with a cheater like Alex Cora
Hopefully, the Phillies won’t have to answer that question. Mattingly’s dynamite tenure as the Phillies’ interim skipper has certainly earned him some more rope. The 65-year-old was brought in to be Thomson’s bench coach this past offseason, but has plenty of managerial experience, having served five years in charge of the Los Angeles Dodgers and seven more with the Miami Marlins.
The former New York Yankees star spoke this week about his desire to remain in Philadelphia beyond this season, stating, “I would do it. I kind of committed myself to two years with the Phillies when I came over. So, whatever Dave [Dombrowski] wants to do in that regard. But yeah, I think I would like to do it.”
Mattingly was expected to be a mere placeholder for the rest of this year, with Cora being the presumptive heir apparent for 2026. However, if the Phillies keep rolling under Mattingly’s watch, it would be hard for them to let him walk this winter. With any luck, he’ll save Dombrowski from his own worst impulses and relegate the unsavory Alex Cora to the dustbin of Phillies history.
Add us as a preferred source on Google