Another good manager gets canned. Plus: Odd jobs of minor-leaguers to make ends meet

AL EastBlue JaysOriolesRaysRed SoxYankeesAL CentralGuardiansRoyalsTigersTwinsWhite SoxAL WestAngelsAstrosAthleticsMarinersRangersNL EastBravesMarlinsMetsNationalsPhilliesNL CentralBrewersCardinalsCubsPiratesRedsNL WestDiamondbacksDodgersGiantsPadresRockiesScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsThe Windup NewsletterFantasyMLB ProspectsMLB OddsMLB PicksPower RankingsFans Speak UpNewsletterAnother good manager gets canned. Plus: Odd jobs of minor-leaguers to make ends meetPhillies' Rob Thomson's firing follows that of the Red Sox's Alex Cora, the first two managerial cuts of the season. Matthew Grimes Jr. / Atlanta Braves / Getty Images Share articleThe Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic’s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox. This Phillies situation might not be capital-M Messy, but those ingredients out on the table sure do look like the lids are off and the containers are spinning around pretty fast. Plus: Prepping for a labor fight, Drew Romo’s big night and today’s “Middle Relief” — our newly dubbed section featuring insight from one of our MLB writers — is Spencer Nusbaum, who tells us about the myriad offseason jobs that Nats players worked when in the minor leagues. I’m Levi Weaver, welcome to The Windup! About a month ago, our resident psychic Ken Rosenthal wrote this: “The Phillies’ Rob Thomson and Red Sox’s Alex Cora, like Mendoza and Boone, are managing teams with high payrolls and high expectations. Neither appears particularly vulnerable at the moment, but the heat will rise if either of their clubs starts slowly.” Now … just a few days after Cora’s unceremonious dumping in Boston, the Phillies (10-19) have followed suit, parting ways with Thomson. He was the winningest manager in franchise history at 355-270 (.568). Manager firings are always big news. But this situation has a three-tiered subplot that makes it a little juicier than most: Today we hear from our Nationals writer Spencer Nusbaum with a story about the odd jobs that Nats players did during their minor-league offseasons, before they were making those big-league paychecks. I’ll be back next section. Over to you, Spencer!  PJ Poulin had no idea how much he loved baseball until he had to dig a trench. It was 2020, and he was both a minor leaguer and a construction worker, an employee of the Colorado Rockies and of Bannon Custom Builders. This particular assignment took him and his truck down a narrow road by the ocean in Cape Cod, where vacationers decompress and blue-collar workers toil. While this was not the end of his journey to the majors, on this summer day, it sure felt like it. He and his arm were destined for the big leagues. But that day, the appendage had another purpose. He squeezed his body through the one-foot gap that divided the left side of someone’s house from the fence on the property, then used that left arm to start digging. His final, pristine product: a two-foot-deep, full-of-his-own-sweat, perfectly-passable trench. “It’s stuff I had to do to make a little income and keep playing ball,” Poulin said. When Poulin looks around his clubhouse now, he sees a roster full of late-round picks who share comparable stories. The Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Dodgers play the same sport in the same league. But as the Dodgers stack their $400 million roster with experience and pedigree, the Nationals fill theirs with the dreamers and the grinders like Poulin, who once had to scrounge for the extra paychecks to keep their ambitions alive. The soft-tossing lefty was drafted by the Rockies in the 11th round almost eight years ago. As many late-round picks do, he took his relatively modest $150,000 signing bonus and began a slow climb toward his big-league dreams. That ascent required additional employment as an Uber driver, baseball coach, construction worker (which lasted a year, because the minor league season was canceled in 2020), DoorDash driver, baseball coach again and, for a few weeks, Amazon employee. Construction was as good as it got. His boss was his best friend’s dad. The company let him pick his own schedule and kept him off of roofs that would have put his valuable left elbow in harm’s way. He mostly swept up, made trash runs and delivered tools from site to site. “But that day, they needed a trench around the house, and someone had to dig it,” said Poulin, who stressed that his colleagues back then had it much harder than he did. “I was thankful I had a job, because man, I needed one. … But it was like, ‘Man, I can’t wait to get back to baseball.’” (For the rest of Spencer’s story, which includes Zack Littell’s time working at an embroidery shop, click here.) The posturing for the upcoming CBA negotiations probably began about five minutes after the last one was ratified. But the actual face-to-face meetings between the league and the MLBPA, don’t start until … well, we don’t know the exact date, but it’s soon. Evan Drellich has a primer for what’s at stake, the primary sticking points and what you should know about the negotiation process. It’s a great explainer, highly recommended for the curious. One major theme: For months (years, decades, etc.) we’ve been hearing about the owners’ desire for a salary cap. That’s not new to this set of negotiations, but the rhetoric does seem to be ramped up on the topic in recent months. The union, sticking with a position they’ve held since however long the words “salary cap” have existed, is vehemently opposed. So the question is: Is either side willing to miss games, rather than come off its stance? As Drellich points out, the league is currently in a period of unprecedented prosperity. It’s a tens-of-billions-of-dollars industry that has seen continued and consistent growth in recent years. Would a salary cap (continue to) increase franchise values? If you alienate your entire fanbase by locking out players until they acquiesce? Maybe not. Before last night, the last time Drew Romo got a hit in the big leagues was Sept. 29, 2024, as a member of the Rockies. That was his ninth hit of his season (and career), and he would not add to that total in 2025. Nor in 2026 … until last night. Facing José Soriano, who — as we mentioned yesterday — entered the game with an absurd 0.24 ERA, Romo hit his first career home run to give the White Sox a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning, then hit another one in the sixth inning. The White Sox cruised to a 5-2 win. For Soriano, the outing brought him back to the world of normal, human (but still very good) pitchers. With three runs allowed in five innings, he not only took his first loss of the year, but his ERA ballooned to a whopping … 0.84. The Mets’ performances have already been disastrous. Now the injuries are also piling up. Kodai Senga (back inflammation) is the latest to hit the IL. After Travis Bazzana was called up to the big leagues, how fast did his parents find a flight from Australia to Cleveland? Zack Meisel has the answer. Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz has always been fun. Now it appears he’s finally reaching his superstar potential. After so many injuries, the Blue Jays just needed a win — on and off the field. Trey Yesavage’s return gave them both. New Twins owner Tom Pohlad appears to be undergoing a metamorphosis: It appears he is becoming a Twins fan. I’m really enjoying the “Asking Under Pressure” series. Today, it’s David Cone and Joe Girardi, the batterymates who accomplished a perfect game in 1999. Cubs starter Justin Steele has suffered a setback, and might not return until the second half. Most-clicked in our last newsletter: The video of Olivia Pichardo becoming the first woman to pitch in an NCAA Division I baseball game. 📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms