Philadelphia Phillies' Next Move is All But Inevitable

The Philadelphia Phillies were eliminated by the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card Series this week and will now enter an offseason full of questions.

However, one of the primary questions may have already been answered.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today has reported that the Phillies will be moving on from interim manager Don Mattingly, which should not come as a surprise.

The general expectation all along was that nothing short of a World Series run would save Mattingly's job, and Dave Dombrowski's lack of public commitment to Mattingly was a clear indication that Philadelphia was prepared to move on.

So, who will replace Mattingly as Phillies skipper?

Well, Nightengale thinks the solution is already obvious: Alex Cora.

Nightengale noted that Dombrowski has wanted Cora for the job all along and even reached out to the former Boston Red Sox champion before firing Rob Thomson back in late April. But after Cora declined, Dombrowski installed Mattingly in an interim role.

Now, it appears that Cora — who Nightengale says "checks all the boxes" — is up.

Cora went 620-541 across two separate stints as Red Sox manager. He began as Boston's skipper in 2018, leading the Sox to a World Series title. After one more year in Beantown, an electronic sign stealing scandal resulted in the two sides mutually parting ways.

Cora then returned in 2021 and managed the Red Sox through a portion of 2026 before being fired and replaced by Chad Tracy.

But the former MLB shortstop logged just one winning campaign over his final five seasons in Boston, so what should make anyone think he is the man for the job in Philly?

And who is to say that the manager is even the problem for Philadelphia?

Mattingly went 79-55 in his tenure as Phillies skipper this season, this in spite of having a maddeningly inconsistent offense and a horrendous bullpen.

Dombrowski did very little last offseason, and while he did add some pieces at the MLB trade deadline, Philadelphia's roster was just too flawed for it to make that much of a difference.

So while Cora may be in line to take the Phillies' managerial job for 2027, it's clear that Philadelphia has tons of other problems that need to be addressed.

The Phillies have been going backward for several years now, and their aging roster is no longer up to snuff. That falls on Dombrowski, regardless of who is managing the club.