Philadelphia Phillies boss Dave Dombrowski wasn’t evasive Tuesday, didn’t try to be politically correct and didn’t bother to soothe anyone’s feelings.
He wanted to hire Alex Cora to be the team's next manager.
He might have even begged Cora at times to be their manager, saying that not only is he one of the finest managers in the game, but a future Hall of Famer.
Dombrowski didn’t even bother to wait 24 hours after Cora was fired by the Boston Red Sox on Saturday to offer him the Phillies managerial job with Rob Thomson still employed.
It wasn’t until Monday morning that Cora, in the second year of a three-year, $21.75 million contract, told Dombrowski that he was sorry, but he was going home to Puerto Rico for the summer. He wanted to be a “full-time dad" for his eight-year-old twin sons with a daughter in graduate school.
“I thought he might take it, but as time went on over the next day,’’ Dombrowski said after making the offer Sunday, “it was apparent from his perspective that he wanted to take time with his family."
Dombrowski, Phillies president of baseball operations, was disappointed, but certainly understood Cora’s reasoning. He then had to make a huge decision himself.
Should he stick with Thomson, or fire him anyway, and determine if there’s anyone in the organization who could make a difference?
“There's no question we have the talent," Dombrowski kept saying.
So, he telephoned Don Mattingly, their bench coach and the son of Phillies GM Preston Mattingly, and asked if he’d please take over the Phillies for the remainder of the season.
Mattingly, 65, who said in January that he didn’t have the energy to manage again after stints with the Dodgers and Marlins, agreed to at least ride out the rest of the season. The Mattinglys make history by becoming the first father and son to be a GM and manager for an MLB team.
Mattingly won’t be around long, just the rest of the summer, but Dombrowski still believes a change of voice is all that’s needed to have this team playing deep into October.
“This isn’t a blame game…," Dombrowski said in his press conference. “I just don’t think we’re playing up to our capabilities. I think we’re a much better club than we played. And so you make tough decisions that are tough at times….
“Four years ago, he was the right voice for us with the club that we had. There was no question about it. I just think we needed a different voice with this group where we are now."
So, Thomson, who had the finest winning percentage in Phillies’ history, leading the Phillies to four consecutive postseason berths, is out the door.
Cora will be waiting at the door and most likely will be the Phillies’ top target after the season, barring Mets owner Steve Cohen from offering a contract so lucrative that he can’t ignore.
And Mattingly is now inside the room, hoping to somehow make a difference with a team that’s grossly underperforming.
Why was Rob Thomson fired?
The Phillies, 9-19, off to their worst start since 1992, may learn quickly if this year is even salvageable. They already are 10 ½ games behind Atlanta in the NL East, and seven games out in the NL wild-card race race. If they’re going to make a move, the time is now.
The Phillies are facing four teams with losing records in their next five series with the Athletics (15-13) the only team with a winning record. The Phillies will face the Giants (13-15), Marlins (13-16), A's, Rockies (13-16) and Red Sox (12-17) in their next 16 games. Those teams have a .462 winning percentage.
The upcoming weak schedule played a factor in Dombrowski’s decision. He could have waited to see how they’d perform in this stretch under Thomson, but decided he didn’t want to take that risk. If he really had any confidence that their fate would change under Thomson, Dombrowski would have delayed a move.
He didn’t want to take that chance.
“I felt that we needed a new voice in there," Dombrowski said, “a little different feeling in the clubhouse. At this point, Rob was the first to admit that he doesn’t know what’s really going on. He’s a little bit surprised on how we performed…
“I just thought this was the right time to get a different voice with some different direction. Don’t been part of our staff here all along, so he’s got a pulse of his feelings and how we can perhaps improve a little bit here and a little bit there."
Well, to be honest, they need to improve a whole lot here, and a whole lot there.
This team, who has averaged 92 victories the past four seasons, has been dreadful. They have been outscored by an MLB-leading 54 runs. Their star-studded and expensive rotation is last in the league in ERA (5.80). They are winless (0-10) against left-handed starters. Their right-handed hitters have the lowest OPS (.505) against lefties than any team since 1920. And they’ve played lousy defense
So, the looming question now is just what kind of team would Cora be inheriting after the season?
Is it a team that needs to be completely overhauled? Or just one that needs tinkering?
Do they make some household changes and perhaps even contemplate the idea of trading Bryce Harper, who has a complete no-trade clause, or shortstop Trea Turner?
Or do they add onto the mix and pursue infielder Bo Bichette again after they thought he was coming their way last winter before pivoting to the Mets?
Can Phillies turn things around?
The truth is that the Phillies have an aging team, with four players 33 or older, and the window to win a World Series is closing quickly, but Dombrowski aggressively pushed back on the narrative they are too old.
“It’s not age that has caught up to us," Dombrowski said. “Our guys are not aged out by any means. Some of the guys who aren’t even our more veteran guys aren’t having a good start to the season. That would be an inappropriate statement to me. In fact, some of the [older] guys there are having better seasons than anybody.
“But I do think we’re better than this."
When asked if there were any regrets the way he built the roster, or whether the Phillies should have made changes during the winter instead of bringing back the nucleus, Dombrowski pushed back again.
“I don’t know anybody that would think we would not have a good starting pitching rotation," Dombrowski said. “To me, it might be the best in baseball. Our bullpen is strong. We haven’t scored runs. We haven’t hit. I can’t predict that some of these guys would have performed the way they have. But on roster construction, we don’t have a gaping hole….
"So I don’t have a regret. Now, if we play the game this way the rest of the year, I’ll have a lot of regrets."
Dombrowski, who wanted to make sure that his own evaluations weren’t off-base, summoned his top three scouts to Atlanta over the weekend. He asked them to closely watch the team, talk to players, and make their own assessments. He said that unanimously, they all agreed that the club is simply underachieving and not deeply flawed.
“This club has talent," Dombrowski said. “There’s no question we have the talent. I don’t want to say the most talented, but talented as most. We just have not played that way…
“Do I think we can play better?
“I hope so.
“If not, we’ll all have made a mistake."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Phillies manager job goes to Mattingly after Alex Cora declined
COVERS INTEL: Buehler’s struggles have largely come on the road (13.50 ERA this year, 6.12 ERA in 2025), but he’s posted a 3.00 ERA at Petco Park this season while giving up just five runs.
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