The Phillies’ offseason is here, and the biggest question hanging over it is the one at manager.
After Rob Thomson was fired following a 9-19 start, Don Mattingly stepped in on an interim basis and helped steady a team that had been in real trouble. Philadelphia went 79-55 under him, a .590 winning percentage, and climbed back into the National League playoff picture to grab the No. 3 Wild Card spot.
That turnaround has made Mattingly a legitimate candidate to keep the job, even if nothing is settled yet. And inside the clubhouse, several of the Phillies’ biggest names have already made their feelings clear.
“I liked him a lot,” Trea Turner said, via Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic (subscription required). “I just felt like he was just calm, man.
He was easy to talk to, talked to him about anything hitting (related). … If he needed to let you know something was wrong, he’d let you know.”
Turner’s own season was a rough one by his standards, with struggles at the plate and in the field helping drag the team down at different points. He wasn’t the only player who found the year difficult, but he was still among those backing Mattingly.
J.T. Realmuto, who also had arguably the worst season of his career, echoed that support.
“It’s not for me to decide, obviously,” Realmuto said. “But yeah, we love Donnie.
We played well for him. He’s a great manager.”
Kyle Schwarber pointed to the way Mattingly handled the early-season chaos after the Phillies lost their manager and were trying to dig out of a brutal hole.
“He did a great job for us when we were in that tough spot (in April), and the way that he was able to get us to turn that page from a really hard time where we lost our manager who brought us to a lot of important games,” Schwarber said. “… His demeanor was great for us and the way that he was able to get us to move on and … even when things got hard, the way he was able to keep things that even-keeled pace for us.”
Mattingly’s presence clearly resonated with a roster built around stars, and his playing background as a former Yankees standout helped him relate to that group. The Phillies still have issues to sort through, especially in the bullpen, but the players responded to him and played much better after the rocky start.
There will still be outside noise around the opening, especially with Dave Dombrowski’s connection to Alex Cora, but for now the Phillies’ own players are making the case for Mattingly.
Mattingly didn’t want to get into the discussion after Philadelphia was eliminated by the Atlanta Braves, but it remains one of the defining stories of the offseason until the club makes its choice.
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