When you manage the fifth-highest payroll in baseball to the worst record in the majors, humor is probably your best coping mechanism.
Right, Rob Thomson?
“I worked for a guy for 28 years that, as the Seinfeld episode will tell you, fires people like it’s a bodily function, and it never bothered me,” the embattled Phillies manager said Sunday. “It didn’t. I don’t have time to think about it.”
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OK, fair. But Thomson’s reference to sitcom George Steinbrenner brought to mind another scene from the same show. Remember when George Costanza tied the World Series trophy to his bumper and drove around the parking lot to try to get fired by the Yankees?
Well, did you see the Phillies’ lineup Sunday in Atlanta?
A rookie (Felix Reyes) with five games of major league experience in the cleanup spot. A utility man (Dylan Moore) making his first start in center field since 2023. A third baseman (Alec Bohm) with a .412 OPS.
But before you presume Thomson was trying to get canned, consider this: Against Braves ace lefty Chris Sale, it might’ve been the Phillies’ optimal lineup.
And that’s an indictment of Dave Dombrowski’s roster.
Look, the Phillies have a $317 million luxury-tax payroll and a 9-19 record, which qualifies as a full-blown crisis. For years, they leaned in to extreme continuity. The core — Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Kyle Schwarber, and Trea Turner — hasn’t changed, even as the players aged into their 30s. Thomson’s coaching staff stayed intact, too, year after year.
It’s clear now that something must change, more than demoting reserve outfielder Otto Kemp and releasing No.6 starter Taijuan Walker. It won’t be Dombrowski, a two-time World Series-winning president of baseball operations who has owner John Middleton‘s full trust. It won’t be that core of players.
If the ax falls — and team officials surely discussed all possibilities Monday and whether to take action before the start of a three-game homestand Tuesday night — it usually comes down on the manager. Fair or not, it’s part of the gig.
» READ MORE: Dave Dombrowski is ‘responsible’ for this reeling Phillies roster. And these decisions helped get them here.
Nobody understands that better than Thomson.
Mild-mannered and humble, he was poised to retire after the 2022 season if Dombrowski hadn’t tapped him in June to replace Joe Girardi, who was fired after a day off that led into a series at home. The Phillies have the third-best record in baseball since Thomson took over. He has led them to four consecutive postseason appearances and back-to-back division titles.
Thomson, 62, likes to say these last four years have been the time of his life. A public challenge from Nick Castellanos last June didn’t change that. Neither will the threat of losing his job now.
Maybe Thomson will be spared. Dombrowski said last Tuesday that there was “nothing to ponder at this point” about a managerial change.
Yet the losing continues. The Phillies have been outscored by 54 runs, the majors’ worst differential. And Alex Cora, Dombrowski’s handpicked manager in Boston and partner in the Red Sox’ 2018 World Series triumph, is suddenly available after getting fired Saturday night.
(Regarding Cora: He’s due to get paid by the Red Sox through 2027 and likely will want a longer contract if he takes another job. A manager hasn’t led two teams in the same season since Buck Rodgers in 1991. It’s unclear if Cora wants to manage again this year. A source close to him said he’s “good” with being let go because his vision for the Red Sox’ direction differed from that of the front office.)
In any case, before the Cora saga, Dombrowski invited three trusted scouts — David Chadd, Charley Kerfeld, and Brad Sloan — to meet the Phillies in Atlanta over the weekend and encouraged them to hang around the dugout and clubhouse before games. It’s evident he wanted their firsthand input into how to fix what’s wrong.
Maybe they told him to look at the roster he built.
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Because although Thomson is hardly blameless (not having a lefty ready to face pinch-hitting Michael Harris II proved costly Friday night in Atlanta), it’s difficult to find solutions that aren’t there.
Thomson has juggled the batting order, and still, the Phillies rank 29th, 25th, and 27th in OPS from the Nos. 4, 5, and 6 spots. Their right-handed hitters have a historically bad .505 OPS against left-handed pitching, which would be the lowest mark for any team since the 1918 Red Sox.
“Yeah, we’ve got to fix that, for sure,” Thomson said.
OK, how?
Bohm has barreled one ball all season and is batting .083 against fastballs. As a player with more than five years of major league service, he can’t get sent to the minors without his consent. Maybe Edmundo Sosa could eat into his playing time, though.
Thomson said Brandon Marsh would get more starts in left field against lefties. Maybe J.T. Realmuto will move up in the order when he returns from the injured list, although like many Phillies hitters, he profiles better in the bottom third of the order.
The real difference-making move should have come in the offseason. Dombrowski threw $200 million at free agent Bo Bichette to add a right-handed bat to the middle of the order. After Bichette took a shorter-term, higher-salary offer from the Mets, the Phillies re-signed Realmuto and stuck with Bohm.
And now, the roster is the roster.
Not much Thomson can do about that.
But he might wind up taking the fall for it.
