Phillies target snagged by family time. Alex Cora rejects Philadelphia's managerial offer, prompting an interim appointment and a winter hunt.
On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Phillies made the decision to fire manager Rob Thomson amid a 9-19 start.
The Phillies are tied with the New York Mets for last place in the National League East. They are 10.5 games from the Atlanta Braves.
Don Mattingly has been named the interim manager. Dusty Wathan will take over as the bench coach. Anthony Contreras will coach third base.
Last week, Phillies president Dave Dombrowski suggested the team would be patient with Thomson amid a slow start to the campaign just months after an early exit in the postseason.
While Dombrowski made public statements supporting Thomson, the Phillies appeared to be plotting for a change much sooner than Tuesday, and they wanted to land a big-name hire as Thomson's replacement.
Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Philadelphia offered the manager position to Alex Cora, who was fired by the Boston Red Sox over the weekend. Cora declined the offer from the Phillies.
"Alex Cora, who was fired Saturday by the Boston Red Sox, was officially offered the Philadelphia Phillies managerial job on Monday afternoon but rejected it, two persons with direct knowledge of the decision told USA TODAY Sports, instead deciding to spend time with his family," Nightengale wrote.
Cora's decision prompted the Phillies to name Mattingly as the interim manager. It's a role that should be safe after Cora rejected the job.
Nightengale suggested on Sunday that Cora would have potential offers from the Mets and Houston Astros to manage their teams. It doesn't appear that Cora rejected the Phillies' offer to land with the Mets or Astros.
Per Nightengale, Cora plans to take the remainder of the season off to spend time with his family and be a ‘full-time dad.'"
Cora could have offered Philadelphia an upgrade as manager as the team looks to make a turnaround in May.
Cora won the World Series in 2018 with the Red Sox. He was a coach in 2017 when the Astros won the World Series.
The Phillies have to wait until the offseason to try and hire Cora. However, Philadelphia won't be the only team looking for his services.