Phillies Dave Dombrowski is not 'pondering' firing his manager originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Philadelphia Phillies are in a tailspin, as they lost their seventh straight game on Tuesday to the Chicago Cubs. At 8-15, the Phillies are second-to-last in the National League East and are only a game better than the New York Mets (7-15), who have lost 12 straight games.
These struggles to open the season have Phillies fans calling for manager Rob Thomson to be relieved from his duties. In his fifth season as the Phillies manager (354-266), Thomson is on the hot seat. However, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski poured cold water on anything of that nature.
After the Phillies' 7-4 loss to the Cubs, Dombrowski told reporters that the thought of Thomson getting fired is “not being pondered at this point."
“We're not, but if we were, I wouldn't even ... that's not something we'd ever share,” Dombrowski told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. “Rob Thomson's been a good manager for us for since 2021. We always look at everything that's taken place, but no that’s not being pondered at this point."
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Since taking over for former Phillies manager Joe Girardi, Thomson has led the Phillies to one World Series — lost to the Houston Astros 4-2 — and made the postseason four straight times. Thomson as the manager is not the issue; it's the offense and the pitching staff.
The Phillies' offense is the third-worst in Major League Baseball in team batting average (.218) and runs (80). For a team built to slug and hit home runs, the Phillies have failed to do that, as they have 24 home runs (15th) and a .360 slugging percentage (24th).
The pitching staff has been just as poor, with the third-worst team ERA (4.99), and 27th in WHIP (1.47).
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