00:00And now I want to talk about Rob Thompson, who is being retained for 2026.
00:04There was some conversation about the Phillies and this possibly being their last dance in 2025.
00:12They've got some guys that hit free agency.
00:14JT Real Muto, Kyle Schwarber hits free agency.
00:17Ranger Suarez is a free agent as well.
00:20They've got plenty of guys that are going to test the open market.
00:23They have a lot of questions that need to be answered.
00:26And this really felt like it was Philadelphia's best opportunity to win the World Series.
00:31They fall in four in the NLDS to the Dodgers.
00:34And all of a sudden, there were questions about Rob Thompson coming back.
00:38And I understand that this is a certain level of failure this year for the Philadelphia Phillies because they won the National League East.
00:45They were the second best team in the National League.
00:48And they had World Series aspirations and they fell short of that.
00:51But I found that whole conversation to be a little weird.
00:54And the fact that they retained him, it's like, okay, good move.
00:58I would extend a guy like Thompson, I think.
01:01You just won back-to-back NLE's titles.
01:03I have no idea why the questioning around Rob Thompson was negative.
01:10Hey, what do you think?
01:11Should the Phillies bring him back to Bryce Harper, to Real Muto, to Schwarber, to Stott?
01:16Like, all these guys answered questions about Rob Thompson right after they got bounced by the Dodgers.
01:21I just found that bizarre.
01:22Yeah, you know, and teams don't really like operating with a lame duck manager anymore.
01:28I think one of the teams that I can think of that's doing it right now going into next year is the Diamondbacks with Tori Lavello.
01:34And that makes more sense, right?
01:35Because you want to give them the benefit of the doubt.
01:38Sure.
01:39Yeah, it was a lot of injuries, stuff like that.
01:41But there's been some streakiness the last couple years, and they want to wait, and we'll see what happens this year.
01:46Maybe even midseason they can extend it.
01:48But with the Phillies situation, like you said, they've won the division, and they're consistently great in the regular season.
01:56And I don't think you can look at Rob Thompson and say there's something he could have done in this postseason to push this team across the finish line.
02:03You could look at maybe Nick Cassiano's lack of communication between him and Cassiano's, but that seemed like an isolated issue, right?
02:13Like it didn't seem like something that affected his relationship with – or Thompson's relationship with other players.
02:20It didn't seem like it was something that affected Cassiano's relationship with his teammates.
02:23Like it was just one of those where you're not going to see eye to eye with every single player.
02:26And, yeah, I think a lot of people could understand why Cassiano's was faced out of the situation a little bit anyways.
02:33It's just a tough spot to beat.
02:35But other than that, the whole talk, even since he took over his interim and eventually got the gig, is that he's been the right guy for this ball club and for this group.
02:44And I don't really see that changing.
02:46But I just – I think it's weird when this team probably has – and it's already going to look different.
02:53But, again, another team that you're not going to fully rebuild, like already has a couple more years of shelf life of really going for it.
02:59Like are you really going to have a new manager with this group anyways?
03:01I know you may lose a couple guys, but we imagine Schwarber is going to come back.
03:05But let's say he doesn't.
03:06Even with the Turner, Harper, Nola just grouping there.
03:11Wheeler, yeah.
03:13You're going to just drop in a totally new manager.
03:15What's that going to fix?
03:16Yes, I just – I think giving a little bit more consistency and continuity, especially as maybe Schwarber doesn't sign.
03:23Maybe they trade Boehm.
03:24I think it would be good to show that, hey, we have Rob for more than a year and we don't have Rob managing for his job in 26.
03:31I just – I don't know.
03:32I'm not a huge fan of that.
03:34And Dave Dombrowski has a great feel for these things, so I trust they'll figure it out.
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