ORLANDO, Fla. -- Not long after a source told MLB.com that Kyle Schwarber had agreed to a five-year, $150 million contract with the Phillies, the team announced that Rob Thomson’s contract had been extended through 2027.
The timing was a coincidence.
The deals were expected.
Everybody believed Schwarber would re-sign with the Phillies, just like everybody knew the club would extend Thomson’s contract at some point this offseason.
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said as much in October about Thomson’s future with the team. He said again on Monday at the Winter Meetings that an extension would happen at some point.
“It always comes back to me, 'Are you having fun? Are you enjoying it? Are you getting in somebody's way? Are you getting in the way of winning?'” Thomson said Tuesday at the Winter Meetings. “I'm still enjoying it. I love the organization. This is the only place I want to go. I don't want to go anyplace else whenever I'm done, because I love the people and I love the organization from the owner to Dave to all our player development people. It's just a group of people that really come together and want to win baseball games and want to win a championship. That's what I like.”
Thomson, 62, has the second-most wins (346) and second-best winning percentage (.580) by any manager in Phillies history. Since he replaced Joe Girardi on June 3, 2022, Thomson guided the Phillies to the postseason every season, including NL East titles in each of the past two years.
They won the NL pennant in 2022.
Thomson, Dave Roberts, Aaron Boone and Mike Matheny are the only managers in MLB history to make the postseason in each of their first four seasons as a manager. Thomson, Charlie Manuel and Danny Ozark are the only Phillies managers to win consecutive division titles.