Report: Phillies Could Make Surprising Move This Offseason

The Philadelphia Phillies stumbled down the stretch of the season, nearly missing out on the playoffs with a final week swoon that saw them lose four straight before getting in on the final day. They then went down quickly, however, in the postseason once again, in three games to the Atlanta Braves.

Many pundits around the team felt that without some playoff success, interim manager Don Mattingly would almost certainly not be back in the dugout with the team next season. 

But a new report from Matt Gelb and Jayson Stark in The Athletic suggests that the Phillies might indeed bring back the former NY Yankees great, and remove the interim tag. 

As the Philadelphia Phillies continued to assess the wreckage from last week’s postseason exit, league sources said their initial managerial search started with one person: Alex Cora. But sometime in the last few days, Cora informed the club that he doesn’t plan to manage in 2027, leaving the Phillies to reconsider whether the right answer is within the organization. 

... They could turn to Don Mattingly for another season, according to the sources. 

Of course, the fact that Mattingly's son, Preston, is the team’s general manager, doesn't hurt the interim manager's chances. Besides, the elder Mattingly is still under contract through 2027 as the bench coach. One way or another, he's expected to remain in the organization in some capacity, perhaps as a front-office advisor, say Gelb & Stark. 

The other complicating factor of trying to do an outside search is that with the high probability of a lockout/strike, any new managerial candidates wouldn't have the ability to talk with players after a pending shutdown on Dec. 1st. Mattingly already knows the lay of the land with this group. Besides, star Phillies players like Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber both gave Mattingly a vote of confidence after their season ended. 

As for Alex Cora, he was thought to be president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski's first choice to replace Rob Thomson back in April. And the relationship the two have was still considered a deciding factor once the season was over. But this past week, Cora "informed the Phillies he wants to spend another year with his family, according to multiple sources," per Stark & Gelb.