Oct 15, 2024, 12:01 PM ET
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies signed manager Rob Thomson to a one-year contract extension through the 2026 season after he led the team to three straight trips to the playoffs.
The 61-year-old Thomson guided the Phillies to the 2022 World Series and the 2023 National League Championship Series and led them this season to their first NL East title since 2011. The Phillies were eliminated in four games by the New York Mets in the National League Division Series.
Editor’s Picks
1 Related
Thomson’s .575 winning percentage is the best for any manager in franchise history. His contract was set to expire after the 2025 season.
“Year by year is good with me,” Thomson said Tuesday of the extension. “I’ve mentioned many times this is the only place I want to be. This will be my last stop.”
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said the entire coaching staff — which includes polarizing hitting coach Kevin Long — will return next season, as well.
“Many managers will say it, but I truly believe we have the best coaching staff in baseball,” Thomson said.
Coming off a 95-67 season, Dombrowski made clear he was happy with the direction of the team under the manager affectionately known by his players as Topper.
“I think we have a good coaching staff, primarily,” Dombrowski said Tuesday. “They do a very efficient job. They did lead us to 95 wins.”
Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto, Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and a handful of other players are locks to return in 2025. As for Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, Bryson Stott and trade deadline pickups Austin Hays and Carlos Estevez, it could be an intriguing offseason for their Phillies’ fate.
“I do think it’s a good roster,” Dombrowski said. “I think it’s a club that’s capable of winning a world championship. We’ve been close. We won 95 games. However, you’re also open-minded to making adjustments. I think that’s a necessity.”
The Phillies ended the season with a $249 million payroll, topped only by the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets — three teams still alive in the playoffs.
“I don’t think we need to have more star players,” Dombrowski said. “We have as many stars as about anybody in baseball. I don’t think necessarily that we need to add more.
“I think you have to be a little concerned. John [Middleton, Phillies owner] is very accommodating and giving, but you’re also in a position where you’re still working with the payroll and trying to make things work going into the future with what you have.”
Thomson has a 280-155 record since the veteran bench coach replaced Joe Girardi as Phillies manager on June 3, 2022.
Dombrowski said it was important for the team not to enter the 2025 season with a lame-duck manager.
“He’s done a good job for us, been a very successful manager,” Dombrowski said. “There’s been very few clubs in baseball that have made the postseason three years in a row. He has done that. We’ve been a very good club under his guidance. It’s also one where I think stability in the manager’s spot, I don’t think going into the manager’s last year is ever good situation to be in, if you can prevent that from happening. He deserves the extension in that regard.”
Thomson has been with the club since the 2018 season when he was first hired as bench coach under former manager Gabe Kapler.
He spent 28 years as a member of the New York Yankees organization (1990-2017), including 10 seasons on the major league coaching staff as bench coach (2008, 2015-17) and third base coach (2009-14).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
