Keeping Don Mattingly is a disastrous sign for the Phillies' future

Once Alex Cora turned the Philadelphia Phillies down, it felt like a matter of when, not if, Don Mattingly would be given the full-time manager job. And sure enough, The Athletic's Matt Gelb and Charlotte Varnes reported on Wednesday that Mattingly is in fact the team's choice to be their manager for the next two seasons. This is not something Phillies fans should be happy with.

Sure, Mattingly was a great player, and he isn't a bad manager by any means. You can also argue that managers don't make much of an impact result-wise, and heck, I'd agree with that. But this hire still says a lot about where the Phillies and Dave Dombrowski are organizationally — and it doesn't say anything good.

Don Mattingly was the most uninspiring managerial hire the Phillies could've made

Mattingly had some strong results at the helm for the Phillies. He led them to a 79-55 record after taking over a 9-19 team in April, and he has now gotten three different organizations to the postseason in his managerial career. Still, the Phillies were bounced in the Wild Card Round, marking their third straight year without winning a single playoff series.

Yet, even with the disappointing ending to their season, the Phillies still opted to run it back with Mattingly. No, it wasn't all his fault that their season ended when it did, as there's only so much he could've done when his team couldn't hit and his bullpen was as bad as it was. But where's the creativity?

Couldn't the Phillies have at least entertained trying something new? I mean, Dombrowski's plan was seemingly to try to persuade his guy, Cora, to take the job, and if Cora turned them down, turn to his other guy, Mattingly, and beg him to come back. That's exactly what wound up happening. The Phillies did not hire an external candidate, and didn't seem to seriously consider one.

I understand the complexity of the situation given the looming lockout, but sticking with Mattingly feels like a sign of what's to come — and again, it's not good.

Keeping Don Mattingly suggest minimal changes are on the horizon for the Phillies

Phillies fans are eager for change after how things ended this year, and it's easy to see why. Again, it's been three years since they've even won a playoff series. They made it to the World Series in 2022, but have only regressed since. It's pretty clear at this point that this aging and expensive core is not working, yet it feels like Dombrowski has no desire to shake things up.

If he's willing to keep Mattingly as their manager, should we really be expecting him to make major changes this winter? I mean, there's only so much he can do when the team is made up of overpaid veterans on massive contracts, but is nothing going to be different? Are the Phillies really going to run it back with the same manager and core and expect different results?

At the end of the day, this points to Dombrowski's lack of innovation and creativity. He's comfortable with what he's built, and feels no need to adjust despite the clear and convincing evidence that this team just isn't good enough to win a World Series title. This failure is on him, and it's also on owner John Middleton, whose blind faith in Dombrowski is more glaring by the day.

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