Philadelphia Phillies fire manager Rob Thomson after 9-19 start to 2026 season
The Philadelphia Phillies, tied for the worst record in baseball with the New York Mets at 9-19, fired manager Rob Thomson on Tuesday after the club lost its sixth straight series and 11 of its last 12 games.
Bench coach Don Mattingly will serve as interim manager through the end of the 2026 season.
"At this time, I felt we needed a new voice in there, a little different feeling in the clubhouse," Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. "Rob was the first to admit that he doesn't know what's really going on. He was a little bit surprised by how we performed. He's been a little bit surprised. I just thought at this time, it was the right time to get a different voice."
How did the Phillies come to the decision of firing Thomson?
The Phillies snapped a 10-game losing streak Saturday in Zack Wheeler's return from thoracic outlet surgery in Atlanta. The 10-game skid was their longest since 1999.
But then, on Sunday, Aaron Nola allowed six runs in the first two innings, and the Phils lost again. The 6-2 loss to the Braves dropped the Phils to 9-19, moving them into a last-place tie with the Mets in the NL East. It also wrapped up a 13-game stretch against two of the hottest teams in the National League, the Chicago Cubs and Braves. The Phillies won just two games.
"We went through a very difficult stretch, playing two of the best teams in baseball that were really hot and we weren't playing well," Thomson said. "That's my responsibility when we're not playing well."
Dombrowski had his top scouts with him for the Phillies' series in Atlanta ahead of a staff meeting. Dombrowski said the scouts will remain around for the San Francisco series that begins Tuesday night.
The staff meeting happened around 1 p.m. on Monday. Dombrowski said they discussed how the club was playing, whether it was worth seeing how the club would fare against teams not named the Braves and Cubs and if they should still make a managerial change since former Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora was no longer an option.
"I came to the final conclusion that we were going to make a change," Dombrowski said. "I think it was the best for the club."
"He was the right voice for the club that we had"
Thomson, 62, took over as interim manager of the Phillies in 2022 after the club fired Joe Girardi following a 22-29 start. Thomson's leadership sparked a Phillies run that ended with the 2022 National League pennant and World Series loss to the Houston Astros.
His Phillies managerial career ends with him as one of the best in franchise history. He finished with a 355-269 record. His 355 wins are the 10th most by a Phillies manager, and his .568 winning percentage is the highest in franchise history.
The Phillies made the playoffs every year Thomson was the manager, including back-to-back NL East titles the last two seasons. But the club failed to live up to expectations since their 2022 World Series appearance and hasn't won a playoff series since 2023.
"Four years ago, he was the right voice for us for the club that we had," Dombrowski said. "There was no question about it. I think we needed a different voice with this group."
Thomson first joined Philadelphia's staff under former manager Gabe Kapler, who was fired after the 2019 season. Thomson stayed with the organization as a bench coach on Girardi's staff before he became manager.
The Phillies fired Thomson as the team ranks last or in the bottom part of the league in several statistical categories, like run differential, ERA, batting average and OPS, largely with the same roster as the previous four seasons.
"We haven't played well for whatever reason," Thomson said, "and when you're not playing well, and you're the manager of a ballclub, you're held accountable. And rightly so. I still think, and I hope because I love these guys, that this team is going to turn this thing around. They're going to get hot. I have a bunch of different reasons why, but one is the fact that there's a lot of talent in there."
If the Phillies make a playoff push in 2026, they'll have a steep mountain to climb. FanGraphs currently gives the Phillies a 33.9% chance to make the playoffs.
"This isn't a blame game. It's not that. We collectively are not doing well. This is a whole group," Dombrowski said. "Just the way things were going, they're not going well enough. I don't think we're playing up to our capabilities. I think we're a much better club than we played, so we make decisions that are tough at times."
Dombrowski said Thomson has a standing offer to join the organization as a special assistant.
Thomson said he hasn't officially been offered anything, but he remains open to staying within the organization.
"Maybe right now isn't the right time, maybe we give it a little bit of a break here," Thomson said, "but I'm all in on that. … I said throughout my four years as manager here, I don't want to go anywhere else. I love this organization. I've been treated with class and dignity in the last eight years, ever since I came here. Not only the organization but the city of Philadelphia as well."
"Found out the same time everyone else did"
Thomson becomes the second manager to be fired this season, just days after the Red Sox axed Cora. Cora's firing came with backlash from the players, notably from Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story, who said "some of the direction needs to be cleared up."
After the Phillies fired Thomson on Tuesday, Bryce Harper said he "found out the same time everyone else did."
"I think everyone kind of felt that something was going to happen, especially everything that happened in Boston," Harper said. "It's just kind of a matter of time if we didn't start playing well, then something was going to happen. That's just kind of how sports work, how the game works. I felt Topper thought something was coming. I thought the team felt something was coming, and obviously, they made their decision. We just go to put it behind us and start playing better baseball."
Harper added that he spoke with Thomson on Tuesday morning and told his now former manager how much he appreciated him.
"He wasn't supposed to be around that long. Everybody knows that he kind of took the job and then was like, 'I don't know if I'm going to do this for a long time,'" Harper said. "Then we started winning, and obviously, he's done great things for us, and we all had a lot of fun in here and a lot of great memories."
Why did Don Mattingly take the interim job?
Dombrowski said the Phillies tried to hire Cora after the Red Sox fired him Saturday. Dombrowski and Cora are close. Dombrowski hired Cora when he was Boston's president of baseball operations, and Cora guided the Red Sox to a World Series in 2018.
But Cora turned the job down, leading the Phillies' front office to collectively decide Mattingly would be the best person to take over on an interim basis, Dombrowski said.
After Mattingly was hired as the Phillies' bench coach in January, he indicated his managerial days were likely over. He said Tuesday he accepted the interim job "because Dave asked, honestly, that's pretty much it."
Dombrowski said Tuesday that the former face of the New York Yankees agreed to take it.
"I did not ask him to manage the long term. I asked him to manage this season. Who knows what goes beyond this year?" Dombrowski said. "I think he has plenty of energy. He had not planned on managing. … We're not asking him at this point to manage for five years. I would like for him to manage us successfully for the rest of this season."
The Phillies' interim manager said when he was hired as bench coach, he said he thought his managerial days were behind him because he didn't want people to think he was coming to Philadelphia to "do anything like this."
"I don't know if I'm a whole lot different than Rob, honestly," Mattingly said. "I trust players, I believe in players, I like players. I want us to play better baseball."
What changes are being made to the Phillies' coaching staff?
With Mattingly being promoted to interim manager, the Phillies filled out the new skipper's staff from within.
Third base coach Dusty Wathan will take over as bench coach while Triple-A Lehigh Valley manager Anthony Contreras was promoted to the big leagues to take over as third base coach.
"For me, I felt that it was good to promote someone within the organization, guys who have worked hard and have done a good job for you, you want to reward those guys," Mattingly said. "My conversations with Dusty since I've been here have been good baseball conversations. I felt him very knowledgeable. … We're all fighting for the same thing."
Chris Adamson, the IronPigs' bench coach, will replace Contreras as manager in Triple-A.
Dombrowski said the Phillies did not consider making any other coaching changes, meaning Kevin Long remains the hitting coach.
"I have confidence in everyone in there," Mattingly said. "Kevin Long, if you ask around the big leagues, is one of the best hitting coaches in baseball. Has been for a long time."