Sixty is generally not an age notorious for 180-degree reversals in career trajectory, yet that’s about where Rob Thomson finds himself. Life has come at him fast, and in a good way. Less than a year and a half ago, Thomson had effectively made up his mind that 2022 would be his last season before retirement. It was a good run, 34 years of coaching in professional baseball, but it was time.
Until it wasn’t. A promotion from bench coach to interim manager, a full-time promotion, two postseason berths, a World Series appearance and the brink of another later, Thomson’s plans have changed. Understandably so.
2024 will be Year 3 of Thomson’s managerial tenure in Philadelphia.
But there’s a clock on that, too, at least according to the two-year extension he signed with his full-time promotion after winning the 2022 Wild Card Series. Thomson’s contract expires after next season. And while the Phillies have a litany of more urgent questions to address this winter — Aaron Nola’s free agency chief among them, followed closely by Bryce Harper’s defensive positioning, its implication on Rhys Hoskins’ future and even perhaps a Zack Wheeler extension — their skipper’s status will eventually become an elephant in the room they need to confront.
“That’s something we haven’t even approached as of yet,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski (also understandably) said in his end-of-season press conference at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday. “The season just ended. So that’s one of those things that we’ll have to discuss.”
Thomson’s job is safe for 2024, despite perhaps the wishes of the most impassioned callers on WIP. But given the turnaround that’s taken place under his watch, beginning immediately when he took the reins, it wouldn’t be completely unreasonable for him to want a little more than just 2024 in ink.
“That doesn’t really bother me,” Thomson said of his uncertain future (beyond next year) in his end-of-season press conference Thursday. “My whole career, I’ve never worried about my contract. I’ve never worried about the length of my contract. I’ve never worried about getting fired. ‘Cause I can’t control it. I just can’t. So I leave it alone, I put my head down and do my work. And whatever happens happens.”
Of course, an ascension like the one Thomson has experienced in the past couple years will naturally make anyone think twice about retirement plans. The fact that he weighed hanging up the clipboard (if you will) after his eighth straight year as a bench coach doesn’t necessarily mean his interest in the managerial post is fleeting.
But it is true, at the very least, that Thomson is closer to the end of his baseball career than he is to the beginning. So as he and the Phillies mull what their future together might look like, the ultimate agreement will hinge not just on how long the Phillies are interested in continuing the partnership or how much winning they do in the meantime, but also on the skipper’s degree of interest in sticking around.
Thomson, for his part, seems unambiguous.
“Absolutely,” he said Thursday when asked whether he could envision himself managing the Phillies for years to come beyond 2024. “Believe me — I love this city and this organization, this team. I’ve never had as much fun in my life as I have the last couple years. So, yeah. I can envision that.”
Must-read (or listen) Phillies content
Also from Thursday’s end-of-season media availabilities:
- As far as how the Phillies approach the offensive side of things this offseason, everything starts with Bryce Harper. Where he plays in 2024 will have huge ramifications for how the rest of the lineup shakes out, and it sounds like the decision will include plenty of input from Harper himself, our Tim Kelly writes.
- More from Tim Kelly: Taijuan Walker still has three years left on his Phillies contract, making the relationship between him and the organization an important one to uphold. But though he seemed awfully frustrated on social media after the NLCS, Thomson and Dombrowski don’t seem terribly concerned about the future.
- The Phillies issued two dismissals from their coaching staff on Thursday. Our Destiny Lugardo wrote about who was let go and what Thomson had to say about the moves.
And a roundup of content in the wake of the Phillies’ postseason exit:
- On the latest episode of the Phillies Nation Podcast, Nathan Ackerman and Ty Daubert react to the Phillies’ shocking NLCS loss, how it came to be, what lasting images will stick and plenty more.
- Three key Phillies came up especially short in the waning moments of the season, as Tim Kelly writes.
- Aaron Nola hopes Game 6 of the NLCS wasn’t his last start in a Phillies uniform — also from Tim Kelly.
- From our Matt McAllister: Game 7 was one of the worst losses in franchise history, and the “what if” will sting for a while.
- It was a tough scene in the Phillies’ clubhouse on Tuesday, writes Destiny Lugardo.
- Craig Kimbrel told Tim Kelly that Craig Kimbrel also booed Craig Kimbrel.
- Is your trust in the Phillies damaged, too?
MORE FROM PHILLIES NATION
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