Rob Thomson says this is his “last stop” after being extended through the 2026 season as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Rob Thomson and his coaching staff will get another crack at it in 2025.
The Phillies retained all of Thomson's coaches and extended the manager through the end of the 2026 season, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced at Tuesday's year-end press conference.
Thomson's contract had previously been set to expire after next season.
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"First of all, he's done a good job for us, been a very successful manager," Dombrowski said. "There are 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.
"I think stability in the manager's spot, I don't think going into a manager's last year is ever a good spot to be going in if you can prevent that from happening. He deserves the extension in that regard. I don't really want the focus -- I've been in the position sometimes willingly, sometimes unwillingly, where your manager goes into the last year of his contract and right off the bat you lose three games in a row and there's speculation on his job status. I think it secures it, people know how we feel about him. He's deserved it, he's done a great job for us."
Thomson has a .575 winning percentage, the best-ever for a Phillies manager. The team has improved its win total three years in a row, from 87 to 90 to 95, though it has also moved backward in the playoffs each season, losing in the World Series, NLCS then NLDS.
The Phillies' season ended meekly with them losing three of four to the Mets and hitting in only one of the games. Hitters didn't hit. Relievers struggled. From the front office's perspective, the blame did not lie with the coaches.
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"Anytime you have a disappointing end, which we did, but it's also hard to put that on their backs in that case. I think we all share collectively in what happened," Dombrowski said.
"They're very efficient, they do their jobs well, we have a good manager. He would have liked all his coaches back. To me, it's pretty simple in that regard."
Dombrowski and Thomson spoke separately Tuesday and there was much talk during the 72-minute Q&A about the Phillies' need to use the entire field. That is clearly the team's offensive message leading into the offseason and next spring. Whether it's Trea Turner, Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh or anyone else, the Phillies' emphasis will be not veering into pull-happy power mode.
"To a man, we've seen at times, all of them be able to use the field," Thomson said. "I think that they need to take that approach a little bit more and I think they can do it."
Hitting coach Kevin Long provided constant reminders throughout the season but it's on the players to be able to implement them in high-pressure moments.
"If you go around baseball and you talk to every baseball person and say, OK, give me your top five hitting coaches, he's going to be on almost every list and he'd be number one on a lot of lists," Thomson said. "It's a random game. People get sped up. You've got to be able to slow them down, and even if they have the opposite-field approach, still they get sped up at times. We have to make sure we do the little things, pass the baton, trust your teammates, keep the line moving."
Thomson, who took over for Joe Girardi 51 games into the 2022 season, is 250-185 as the Phillies' manager. He's been in the organization since 2018 when he was hired as Gabe Kapler's bench coach after nearly 30 years with the Yankees.
Now 61, he didn't quite foresee this managerial chapter of his career, but it will be the final one whenever his run with the Phillies comes to an end, World Series or not.
"I think year by year is good with me," he said. "I've mentioned many times, this is the only place I want to be. And this will be my last stop."
