Mar 5, 2026; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski walks across the field during Spring Training at BayCare Ballpark. (Grace Del Pizzo/On Pattison)
Even with the Phillies having gotten off to a miserable 8-14 start, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski says moving on from manager Rob Thomson isn't a consideration.
With the Phillies mired in a six-game losing streak, Dombrowski spoke to the media present in Chicago ahead of Tuesday night's game at Wrigley Field against the Cubs. One item of note from Dombrowski's meeting is that he said he isn't considering changing managers, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia's Jim Salisbury:
Dave Dombrowski is “not pondering a managerial change, as has been speculated nationally.”
-@JimSalisbury215 pic.twitter.com/dV1OpD0H2n
Notably, Dombrowski made the decision to fire Joe Girardi after a 22-29 start in 2022, promoting Thomson from bench coach to interim manager. The Phillies wound up going 65-46 (.586) after Thomson took over, ultimately winning the the NL pennant.
That, of course, was the 99th percentile outcome of firing a manager. Most teams that make managerial changes during the season don't wind up playing in the World Series. That doesn't mean there couldn't come a point where making changes to the coaching staff — be it at manager or another position — might be a more realistic consideration, but that time doesn't appear to be now. For what it's worth, Girardi was fired on June 3. It's April 21. Dombrowski also inherited Girardi. Technically, he inherited Thomson as a member of the coaching staff, but he promoted him to interim manager and has since given him multiple contract extensions, so Dombrowski is much more tied to his current manager.
On the latest episode of the OnPattison Podcast, Bob Cooney and I discussed how warm Thomson's seat is after this slow start.
