Is Thomson the "New Voice" the Phillies Need?

Manager Joe Girardi was fired by the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday. Girardi's Phillies are currently 22-29, a whopping 12 games back of first-place in the NL East, all while owning the fourth highest payroll in the sport.

A swift change was needed if the Phillies wanted to keep their playoff hopes alive much longer. That change came in the form of bench coach Rob Thomson, who will fill in at manager for the remainder of the 2022 season.

"He’s the best coach I’ve ever been around … He has great baseball sense … and was deserving of this role a long time ago," Girardi said of Thomson on MLB Network Radio Friday morning.

Thomson and Girardi go way back. Girardi named Thomson his bench coach prior to the New York Yankees' 2008 season. Thomson remained with the Yankees until 2017, and was then hired by Philadelphia in 2018. He was eventually reunited with Girardi in 2019 when the Phillies hired him as their new manager.

"It has been a frustrating season for us up until this point, as we feel that our club has not played up to its capabilities," said Phillies President Dave Dombrowski. "While all of us share the responsibility for the shortcomings, I felt that a change was needed and that a new voice in the clubhouse would give us the best chance to turn things around."

The Phillies chose to go internal for this "new voice," but is that the correct decision? After all, Thomson has been a part of the Phillies' regime for four lackluster seasons, and been Girardi's right-hand man for quite some time. Will his managerial practices be all that different?

Dombrowski seems to think so. "I believe we have a talented group that can get back on track, and I am confident that Rob, with his experience and familiarity with our club, is the right man to lead us going forward," he said.

While it's understandable why the Phillies chose to go internal with their managerial hire just over a quarter of the way into the season, but it's questionable why the final decision was Thomson. Dusty Wathan was also a plausible option.

Prior to his promotion to third base coach in 2018, Wathan had ample experience in the Phillies' minor league system, even becoming the the winningest manager in Reading Fightin' Phils history in 2016. One of Girardi's biggest flaws was his inability to trust young, budding players. With Wathan's experience in Philadelphia's farm system, he would've been an ideal candidate to manage the young guys. Wathan also seems to possess a great relationship with the Phillies' roster, and he has just enough of a separation from Girardi to be considered more of a "new" voice than Thomson.

Phillies' current general manager Sam Fuld would have also made sense. Fuld was hired as Major League Player Information Coordinator in 2017 and worked closely with the Phillies' players, coaches, front office, and the research and development department in the role. He's been considered a final candidate for manager for numerous teams, including the Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants, and Boston Red Sox.

So, if Dombrowski and the Phillies were ideally looking for someone who's "familiar" with the current roster, why not consider those two as well?

With as many problems as the Phillies have, a bigger shake-up is likely needed in the future. Former Phillies such as Raúl Ibañez, Placido Polanco, and even Jimmy Rollins have been circulating as potential candidates for the job following 2022. All three candidates—especially Ibañez and Rollins—would bring about a culture change to a clubhouse that desperately needs it, as they were a large part of successful Phillies' teams.

Sure, it's a bit unfair to judge Thomson before he's even been given a proper chance to manage this ball club, but it seems like much of the same at the moment. Are the Phillies going to magically turn things around now? Probably not. But, a change was needed, and Philadelphia made their move.

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