Twice this offseason it has appeared that the Phillies were simply waiting for the official word to make an announcement on a new bench coach to join Rob Thomson‘s staff and the return of catcher J.T. Realmuto. Well, Christmas has now come and gone and neither are gainfully employed. So, what’s the hold up?

Donny Baseball

Don’t you think it’s getting a little awkward around the Phillies front office. Dave Dombrowski is waiting for the father of his general manager, Preston Mattingly to decide whether he is going to take the job as Phillies bench coach. And what do you think the discussion was around the Mattingly Christmas tree this year? The father/son relationship would be an interesting dynamic and there have to be at least some concerns about the two Mattingly’s work relationship and their family ties running into each other.

Mattingly was never a leading candidate for any managerial jobs that were open, but at first, there was some thought he would want those opportunities to run their course until he would take the Phillies job. Both San Diego and Colorado now have their managers in place, as do the other clubs who were looking for a new boss, so that’s not it. Don Mattingly and Thomson worked together with the Yankees, so if one or the other didn’t want to revisit that situation, the rumors of the signing being imminent would have never surfaced.

A bench coach from within?

Dusty Wathan was at one time considered to be one of a new breed of managers coming along who understood both analytics and the game of baseball and would make an excellent major league manager at some point. He’s highly respected as the Phillies third bench coach, but would have to be thought of to move next to Thomson.

Triple-A managers often get a look to be bench coach. Anthony Contreras moved into the top spot as the winningest manager in the history of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and should be getting some looks for major league coaching positions. He would have to be on a short list. Minor league coaching assignments are usually announced around this time of the year and while there are no guarantees that Contreras would return to Lehigh Valley, he hasn’t gotten a major league job, so odds are he would return to Lehigh Valley if not promoted. It’s worth mentioning that Wathan also held that job, but was there for just one season prior to joining the major league staff.

Really mute on Realmuto

There hasn’t been a lot of chatter on what’s going on with J.T. Realmuto. After Kyle Schwarber re-signed with the Phillies, the watch began for Realmuto to follow. Not so fast. Realmuto is still unsigned and the Phillies have had an offer on the table to him for a couple of weeks. It is thought to be a two-year deal, but most reports say there aren’t any teams offering the 35-year-old Realmuto a three-year deal that he was hoping for.

Here’s the thing. The last time that the Phillies and Realmuto negotiated it didn’t go well. Realmuto wanted a deal around $200-million and he ended up settling for $115-million, far less than he thought he deserved and far less than what he did deserve. As he looks for what will be his last MLB contract, Realmuto does not seem to be in the mood to give the Phillies a home-team discount. For a while, the plan seemed to be that Realmuto would shop around and bring the best deal he was given back to the Phillies and they would at least meet it and the two sides would agree on a contract. With the perceived snub the last time around, Realmuto is likely going to want at least a little more than what he can find on the market to help make up for the shortfall in his last deal.

The Phillies need to be the one that blinks on this one. Realmuto’s value is not what he does offensively. It is more about what he does defensively and a lot more about how he handles a pitching staff. To a man, the Phillies pitchers want Realmuto back. They trust him to block pitches in the dirt, they trust his game calling and he simply works very well with them. That’s what you are paying him for. You are also paying him to pass that knowledge and skill set on to a young catcher who would become the heir apparent, if the Phillies have one of those right now.

The fact that there aren’t great alternatives in the catching aisle of the free agent market and that teams covet catching and won’t trade one of theirs cheaply, puts the ball in the Phillies court. One option that would have been extremely viable was Danny Jansen, but he has a sold sticker on him after getting two years and $14.5-million with a team option for 2028 tacked on from the Texas Rangers. There are bonuses for games played that seem to favor Jansen getting an extra $250-thousand from the Rangers in each season.

Jansen is 30-years-old, five years younger than Realmuto. Even with the age difference, Realmuto would be in line to ask for at least the same type of deal. After all, the two have very similar numbers from the 2025 season.

Having already lost out on one potential replacement, the Phillies probably need to do what it takes and get Realmuto back to Philadelphia.

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