Since June 3, the day Rob Thomson took over as interim manager, the Phillies have won 50 games out of 77. Only the Dodgers and Braves have more wins in that span. They wake up Monday morning with an 88.7% chance to make the playoffs, according to FanGraphs. Those odds stood at 21.1% when Joe Girardi was fired.
The former farm director, third base and bench coach has done enough to be in the conversation for the National League Manager of the Year Award. Does he even think about it?
“No.”
Does he even care a little bit?
“No.”
Does he think he deserves any credit for the team’s turnaround?
“Not at all.”
To him, the MOY discussion is “embarrassing.”
“I just think it’s about the players and it’s about the whole community of people that pull together and win games and that’s that. That’s what I believe,” Thomson said Sunday.
Considering all the challenges Thomson and the Phillies have had to overcome in the last three months, including losing Bryce Harper for a significant amount of time, it’s a miracle that the playoffs are on the radar, let alone a remote possibility.
The bullpen became much more dependable, young players such as Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott began seeing results and playing with more confidence and some veterans who underachieved in the early months began picking up the pace. Even the defense, which posted a -18 outs above average in May, was among the best fielding clubs in baseball in July.
The players, along with the help of a coaching staff that also deserves a ton of praise, have all driven that change. But just like anyone else who is not self-employed, they have to respond to a superior. Phillies players have made it clear that they really like their new boss.
Their admiration for Thomson dates back to his arrival on the Phillies coaching staff as bench coach for Girardi and Gabe Kapler.
Even though he didn’t have the title, he was always “the guy,” according to Phillies reliever David Robertson, whose time with Thomson dates back to his first tenure with the Yankees.
“These guys love Rob. They loved him before he was the manager,” Robertson told Phillies Nation. “He was here in ’19 when I came over and I said this before, but Rob has always been ‘the guy.’ Even when he wasn’t the manager, he was ‘the guy.’
“He knows everything that’s going on in the field, he keeps up with everybody, he’s ahead of the curve on a lot things that are going on in baseball and he’s just got a great baseball IQ. He sees what’s going on in the field, he sees what’s going on in your everyday life and understands what the best possible situations are to put you into a game. That’s one of his biggest strengths. He has that ability to see what’s going on and read in between the lines a lot better than most do.”
Embed from Getty ImagesBryce Harper has offered his stamp of approval too. He didn’t request the Phillies to sign a certain free agent like he did the previous year last offseason. Instead, he wanted to see an improvement in young talent coming from the minor leagues. Some young players have found their place on the club with Thomson as manager and whether that’s coincidental or not, Harper praised Thomson’s role in making that happen.
“They’ve been able to come up here and really be successful,” Harper told the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast after Friday’s game. “We have a manager that wants them to be successful as well. I mean, you guys have seen that with Rob Thomson. Giving them the opportunity, giving them the chances to play and giving them the chances to be successful in every single spot that they’re in.”
Charlie Manuel finished in the top three in MOTY voting three times from 2007 to 2011. Larry Bowa is still the only Phillies manager to win the award back in 2001. No manager has taken home the award in the same year his team has won the World Series since 2005. It’s an award driven around the narrative of the team and the 2022 Phillies do have a good story to tell so far.
Maybe one day Thomson will warm up to the praise. For now, he’ll continue on a day-to-day basis being “the guy” or whatever else his job entails.
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