Phillies extend Rob Thomson, announce decision about coaching staff for 2025

The Philadelphia Phillies held their end-of-year press conference on Tuesday morning at Citizens Bank Park, and the biggest announcement came right at the beginning. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was quick to put any doubts to rest about his manager's future with the club, announcing an extension for Rob Thomson through 2026.

Thomson was originally extended through the 2025 season during last year's Winter Meetings, but questions were inevitably raised about his future immediately following the Phillies' disappointing elimination from the NLDS.

Phillies extend manager Rob Thomson through the 2026 season

Dombrowski explained why the team decided to extend Thomson despite the early end to the season.

"He’s done a good job for us, he’s a very successful manager," Dombrowski said about Thomson. "There’s very few clubs in baseball that have made the postseason three years in a row. I think stability in the manager’s spot, I don’t think going into the manager’s last year is ever a good situation to be in if you can prevent that from happening. He deserves the extension in that regard."

Thomson has been the Phillies' manager since June 2022 when he took over for the fired Joe Girardi. Before getting the job, Thomson had planned on retiring at the end of that season, but a trip to the World Series convinced him to stay on as the Phillies' bench boss.

After a trip to the NLCS in 2023 and getting eliminated in the NLDS this season, Thomson is taking his career as an MLB manager one year at a time at this point.

"Year-by-year is good with me. I've mentioned it many times, this is the only place I want to be and this will be my last stop," Thomson said.

Entire Phillies coaching staff returning for 2025

It wasn't only Thomson's future that was questioned after the Phillies' NLDS loss to the New York Mets. Many thought that members of the coaching staff would also be on the hot seat. As part of the announcement about Thomson's extension, Dombrowski also announced that the entire major league coaching staff will be brought back for the 2025 season.

It turns out that it was Thomson who made sure that he would have his full staff back with him in 2025. Dombrowski seemed eager to agree to that, indicating that it was hard to place the blame for the team's failings on just one individual.

"We have a good manager, [the coaching staff] work well with the manager. They report directly to him. He would have liked all of his coaches back," Dombrowski said. "To me, it was pretty simple in that regard. Anytime you have a disappointing finish, which we did, it’s also hard to put that on their backs in that case. We all share collectively in what happened.”

Thomson was quick to turn the attention from himself to praising his coaches, calling them the best staff in baseball.

"I'm also very happy that our entire coaching staff is coming back," Thomson said. "Many managers will say it, but I truly believe we have the best coaching staff in baseball. They work hard, they care about the players, they respect the players, and they get results for the most part."

With the full complement of coaches back in the fold next season and a stable core of veteran players anchoring the team, the Phillies will no doubt expect to challenge for a World Series again.

Trending on That Ball's Outta Here