ATLANTA – The Phillies got to Truist Park on Sunday morning feeling good about themselves.
They won a game on Saturday. It was their first since April 13, before they started a 10-game losing streak, the franchise’s longest since an 11-game skid in September 1999. The poor play sparked conversations and questions about the short-term and long-term futures of the franchise.
Those conversations and questions will continue following Sunday’s 6-2 loss to the Braves. Phillies manager Rob Thomson is on the hot seat following the team’s 9-19 start.
“Well, I mean, that’s natural, right?” Thomson said. “It’s normal. And I’ve never worried about that in my entire career. I worked for a guy for 28 years [Yankees owner George Steinbrenner] who, as the ‘Seinfeld’ episode will tell you, ‘Fires people like it's a bodily function,’ and it never bothered me. It didn’t. I don't have time to think about it. I’m a person that thinks about other people and what can I do to help them? And it's out of my control. So that's where I'm at.”
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski answered questions on Tuesday at Wrigley Field about Thomson’s job status. He said a change is “not being pondered at this point.” But other changes came and could come in the coming days and weeks.
It’s how baseball has worked for more than 100 years.
The Phillies gave right-hander Taijuan Walker one more opportunity to prove himself on Wednesday at Wrigley. It didn’t go well. They released him on Thursday. They will pay him about $15.3 million not to pitch.
The Cubs swept the four-game series. The Phillies got to Atlanta on Friday, and three of Dombrowski’s top advisors – David Chadd, Charley Kerfeld and Brad Sloan – had flown into town to assess the situation.
The Phillies lost on Friday.
Then, before Phillies ace Zack Wheeler made an encouraging and uplifting season debut in an extra-inning victory on Saturday, the Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora and several coaches.
Dombrowski hired Cora as Boston’s manager in October 2017. They won a World Series together in 2018. They remain close.
Boston’s stunning decision fueled immediate speculation about a potential reunion between Dombrowski and Cora in Philadelphia. It would be surprising, but not unprecedented. Seventeen managers in baseball history have managed two teams in the same season. It hasn’t happened since 1991, when Buck Rodgers managed the Expos and Angels.
Asked Sunday morning if he wanted to address the Cora speculation, Dombrowski declined.
The Phillies are off on Monday. They open a three-game series against the Giants on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park, before they play a four-game series beginning Friday in Miami.
Despite Dombrowski’s comments last week about Thomson, speculation about a change at manager or in the coaching staff has persisted.
Dombrowski fired Joe Girardi in June 2022, following an off-day. The Phillies were 22-29 then.
This team has played worse despite a $300-million-plus payroll.
The offense has been particularly bad. It ranks amongst the worst in baseball in every significant offensive category, which is why hitting coach Kevin Long’s performance has been scrutinized as well.
Thomson said he backs Long, who got a contract extension following the ’25 season
“Absolutely,” Thomson said.
Why?
“Because they’re good coaches,” he said. “Kevin’s one of the best in the game. There’s a couple of Hall of Famers out there who will tell you that. Yeah, I’m all on board with them.”
Kyle Schwarber was in Philly in 2022, when Dombrowski elevated Thomson from bench coach to interim manager to manager. The Phillies not only rallied to make the postseason for the first time since 2011, but they also made the World Series.
Schwarber said Sunday he doesn’t think changes are needed.
“You feel as a player, you feel responsible for that,” he said. “We’re the ones who are out there. … All of our coaches are here to support and put us in the best positions that we can [be in]. Even though we’re not playing like we feel like we should be playing, that hasn’t changed their attitudes toward us. They try to come in on a daily basis to continue to get us better, and they continue to put us in great positions to succeed.”
Schwarber thinks success will come in time.
“We’ve gone through those types of spells through different years,” he said. “Right now, it just kind of feels like we’re all grinding together. Obviously, you don’t want to be in these positions, but I feel like the more that we keep coming together, the more that we’re going to find a way out of it. The more that you keep building, building, building to it, it will be that much sweeter at the end of it. But it doesn’t mean that it’s guaranteed. No guarantee. You’ve just got to keep working for it.”