Dave Dombrowski’s pursuit of former Red Sox manager Alex Cora was no secret around baseball. He had offered the job to Cora prior to even firing former manager Rob Thomson and the speculation was that Cora, who wanted to step away from baseball for a while, would take over in 2027. Now, Cora has decided that he can live very nicely on the $7.25-million that Boston owes him for 2027 as the final installment of a three-year deal that he had with the Red Sox.
Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY, noted the the two had talked and that Cora informed Dombrowski that he was going to stay out of baseball for the 2027 season to spend time with his family. The decision leaves the Phillies managerial situation in flux for the upcoming season.
Don Mattingly took over as the interim manager and has a contract for 2027 as a bench coach, but it was widely thought that he would not continue as the team’s manager, especially if Cora made himself available. It was widely speculated that the only way Mattingly would return to manage the team next season was if the Phillies won the World Series, or at least reached the Fall Classic. Their exit in the NLWCS doesn’t help his odds of returning.
Mattingly’s Return?
Don Mattingly took over the team knowing that he was Plan B. He has said that he would like to return next season as the team’s manager and he did a good job overall as he led the team to a 79-55 record after taking over for Thomson. Some of his bullpen moves were questioned throughout the season and especially in Game 1 of the NLWCS when he went to Jhoan Duran in the seventh inning and looked to get two innings out of his closer. In fairness to Mattingly though, he didn’t have a lot of reliable choices to go to in the bullpen, which comes back to Dombrowski’s work as the team’s president of baseball operations.
Since Mattingly was already in the organization, the Phillies could simply hand him the job without doing any further interviews. They would have had to go through some interviews, albeit completely for show, if they were to hire Cora, because of MLB protocols.
Phillies majority owner John Middleton had a simple three-word response recently when he was asked to assess the job that Mattingly did, saying “pretty damn good.” While that should carry some weight, Middleton has been known to defer to Dombrowski when it comes to personnel matters.
Please scroll down to comment!
We appreciate your feedback!
Disclaimer: Some of the products featured or linked on this website may generate income for Philly Baseball News through affiliate commissions, sponsorships, or direct sales. We only promote items we believe in, but please assume that PBN may earn a cut from qualifying purchases that you make using a link on this site.
© 2026 LV Sports Media. All rights reserved.
