The Philadelphia Phillies fired manager Joe Girardi on Friday, severing a relationship that began with the 2020 season. In the two-plus years since, Girardi had accumulated a 132-141 record, including a disappointing 22-29 mark in 2022. The Phillies, who had entered the spring with aspirations of making the playoffs for the first time in a decade, now find themselves 5 1/2 games out in the race for the National League’s third wild card spot.
Bench coach Rob Thomson has been named the interim manager. He’s expected to hold the position for the rest of the season, meaning the Phillies won’t officially begin their search for a new skipper anytime soon. Still, we’re not going to let that inconvenient truth prevent us from reckless speculation.
Below, we’ve identified six individuals who could in time emerge as candidates to become the Phillies next manager. As always, keep in mind that this is more of an art than a science. The individuals are presented in alphabetical order.
1. Brad Ausmus, Athletics bench coach
A general belief that is widely held in professional sports is that teams who fire their manager tend to prefer the inverse profile when hiring a successor. The Phillies followed that path when they replaced Gabe Kapler, a younger and more progressive individual, with the safe veteran Girardi. For all anyone knows, they’ll do it again when they replace Girardi. Ausmus, himself an experienced big-league manager, wouldn’t seem to fit the profile. He was hired by Phillies executive Dave Dombrowski in Detroit, however, and he was considered a serious candidate to land the New York Mets job over the winter. Ausmus would not be a particularly inspired choice, but he was once considered a top managerial prospect and he seems certain to get a third chance at the helm somewhere, be it in Philadelphia or elsewhere.
2. Joe Espada, Astros bench coach
Espada is overdue for a shot at managing. He’s been viewed as a future skipper for years now, having previously served as a base coach on Girardi’s Yankees staffs before moving on to the Astros, where he’s been since 2018. Espada has interviewed with the Cubs and the Rangers in the past.
3. Matt Quatraro, Rays bench coach
Quatraro is similar to Espada in that it seems like it’s only a matter of time before either one lands the big job. Both come from progressive organizations and both have interviewed for other gigs in the past. Phillies executive Sam Fuld is likely familiar with Quatraro from their shared time with the Rays organization, and he would represent a sharp contrast to Girardi.
4. Mike Scioscia, Team USA manager
Scioscia would seem like an odd choice given he hasn’t managed in the majors since 2018, when he was fired by the Los Angeles Angels after 19 years of service. He’s certainly not a great divergence from Girardi, but look around the league. Did anyone expect to see the likes of Buck Showalter or Tony La Russa back in dugouts? At minimum, Scioscia’s connection to Philadelphia — he went to high school in Springfield, or a 20-minute drive from Citizens Bank Park — would make for delightfully easy copy. Always root for the easy copy.
5. Rob Thomson, Phillies interim manager
We feel obligated to include Thomson given the circumstances. If the Phillies play well enough heading forward to make the playoffs, then it seems plausible he would be handed the gig on a more permanent basis. Of course, it’s possible that the Phillies would still want a clean break from the Girardi era, which means not elevating someone who is viewed as a longtime Girardi associate.
6. Dusty Wathan, Phillies third base coach
As with Thomson, it seems unlikely that the Phillies will promote from within. That would seem to rule out Wathan, though it shouldn’t surprise anyone if he at least gets an interview out of it. He nearly landed the Phillies gig when they hired Kapler, and has been in the running for other managerial posts since.
