If Dave Dombrowski's Phillies can't be fixed, Alex Cora might think twice about taking a second offer

AL EastBlue JaysOriolesRaysRed SoxYankeesAL CentralGuardiansRoyalsTigersTwinsWhite SoxAL WestAngelsAstrosAthleticsMarinersRangersNL EastBravesMarlinsMetsNationalsPhilliesNL CentralBrewersCardinalsCubsPiratesRedsNL WestDiamondbacksDodgersGiantsPadresRockiesScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsThe Windup NewsletterFantasyMLB ProspectsMLB OddsMLB PicksPower RankingsFans Speak UpPhillies The Phillies' president of baseball operations acted shrewdly with the timing of Rob Thomson's firing. On other fronts, not so much. Doug Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Share articleAlex Cora passed on jumping back into managing just days after getting fired by the Boston Red Sox. The Philadelphia Phillies almost certainly will try to hire him again once the season is over. But while the Phillies’ job is one of only 30, and one of even a smaller number in big markets, it’s not as attractive as it once was. Cora might want to reunite with Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski regardless. He considers Dombrowski a mentor. Together, they led the Red Sox to the 2018 World Series title. And Phillies owner John Middleton, invested both financially and emotionally, is the polar opposite of the Red Sox’s John Henry. A better fit for Cora might not come available for some time, if ever. Still, the current collection of Phillies just got a good man fired with their putrid 9-19 start. They figure to play better for interim manager Don Mattingly than they did for Rob Thomson, if only because they can’t play worse. Their schedule also will ease after 13 straight games against the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves. Dombrowski, then, acted rather shrewdly with the timing of this move. On other fronts, not so much. The first head of baseball operations to lead four different franchises to a World Series, Dombrowski is far more accomplished than another top executive who just fired his manager, the Red Sox’s Craig Breslow, and one who might follow suit shortly, the New York Mets’ David Stearns. But the 2026 Phillies, at least to this point, are not Dombrowski’s finest work. Dombrowski excels at persuading owners to spend and, as his nine division titles attest, putting winning clubs on the field. But he isn’t the most creative of executives, and he wasn’t proactive enough in retooling this group. He could have used the same justification for Thomson’s firing – the need for “a new voice, a little different feeling” – to shake up his roster last offseason. Yet, amid much consternation among Phillies fans, he essentially ran it back. As The Athletic’s Jayson Stark noted in March, the Phillies are trying to become only the third team to win a World Series with four regulars – Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and J.T. Realmuto – all playing the season at 33 or older. But those four carried teams that won 95 and 96 games the past two seasons, extending the Phillies’ run of consecutive playoff appearances to four years. And it’s not as if they looked old doing it. The signing of Bo Bichette – a free agent the Phillies thought they had with a seven-year, $200 million offer, only to get trumped by the Mets’ three-year, $126 million deal – would have injected a badly needed right-handed bat, and one who is only 28. True, Bichette’s slow start might contribute to his new manager, Carlos Mendoza, meeting the same fate as Thomson. But the Phillies’ roster, without Bichette, is seriously flawed. Consider: The Phillies are 0-10 in games started by left-handers, not including openers. Their slash line against lefties entering Tuesday was .179/.270/.293, the worst in the majors in each of those categories. Their only significant right-handed hitting addition, right fielder Adolis García, appears the latest in a long line of mediocre one-year free-agent signings by Dombrowski. Felix Reyes, a rookie right-handed hitter, batted cleanup last Tuesday in only his second major-league game. Meanwhile, the Phillies are paying a combined $34.2 million this season to two players they released, outfielder Nick Castellanos and right-hander Taijuan Walker. If Dombrowski had better managed the payroll, perhaps the Phillies would not have opened with Otto Kemp, a player they demoted after 19 games, as their right-handed portion of a platoon in left field. Thomson had his faults. He was just OK managing a bullpen. He also seemed to lose his fight as he sensed the inevitable, which Dombrowski clumsily signaled last weekend by inviting three of his top advisors into the visiting clubhouse and dugout in Atlanta, under the premise of evaluating the club. Yet, even as his dismissal neared, Thomson conducted himself with dignity and grace. He spent 28 years with the New York Yankees, the majority of them under the late George Steinbrenner. He knew how this worked, knew he wasn’t getting the most out of his team. But why should anyone expect things to be dramatically different under Mattingly? Dombrowski offered the usual GM-speak when explaining his decision, saying, “this isn’t a blame game” when that is exactly what it was. It also could be described as change for change’s sake. The low-key Mattingly is much closer in personality to Thomson than Thomson was to the high-strung Joe Girardi. The return of ace right-hander Zack Wheeler should help. But this is on the players now. The Phillies already were in regression, at least when it came to their postseason results – a loss in the World Series in 2022, in the National League Championship Series in ‘23 (after losing the last two games to the Arizona Diamondbacks in Philadelphia) and then back-to-back years in the Division Series. Turner is signed through 2033, left-hander Cristopher Sánchez through 2032, Harper and left-hander Jesús Luzardo through 2031, Schwarber and fading right-hander Aaron Nola through 2030. Of that group, perhaps only Sánchez and Luzardo are in their primes. And as pitchers, both come with the usual risk of injury. Two former first-round picks, second baseman Bryson Stott and third baseman Alec Bohm, did not develop into the players the Phillies envisioned. If Dombrowski had traded Bohm after his career-best 97-RBI season in 2024, he could have taken two cracks at Alex Bregman in free agency. Or found a more cost-effective solution. And that’s just one example of how things could have been different. The Phillies’ farm system, ranked 15th by The Athletic’s Keith Law, produces enough talent for Dombrowski to trade for players like Luzardo and closer Jhoan Duran. This season, it also spit out two players drafted in the first round under Dombrowski, right-hander Andrew Painter and center fielder Justin Crawford, to the major-league club. A third top prospect, infielder Aidan Miller, might have joined them, if not for a back issue that has sidelined him all season. But beyond the first rounders, the system isn’t producing much. The Phillies’ position is not hopeless, not with all the talent on the roster. They entered Tuesday 10 1/2 games back in the NL East, but only 6 1/2 games out in the wild-card race. If their stars begin performing closer to their career levels, not an unreasonable expectation, they might again factor into the playoff picture. If not? Then this season could mark the beginning of the end of one of the great eras in franchise history. And Cora, when evaluating his options, might think twice about joining a team that isn’t what it was, and might not reach that level again. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms