Joe

Girardi

Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia was first to report that a managerial change could be coming and the team has since confirmed that they are indeed moving on from Girardi after two-and-a-half seasons. The Phillies have gone 132-141 under Girardi, including 22-29 so far this season. It’s certainly up for debate as to how much blame Girardi should shoulder for that, but obviously higher-ups determined a shakeup was needed. Bench coach Rob Thomson will be the interim manager.

This confirms what was reported last week. Dickerson rejoins the Phillies after a two-year stint with the Padres where he served as third base coach and then as the team’s bench coach. Joe Girardi’s staff is getting a makeover this offseason, as Kevin Long recently joined as hitting coach. We’ll soon see what moves they might have in mind for the personnel side.

The makeover of the Phillies’ staff continues after they hired Kevin Long as hitting coach last week. Dickerson had been with the Padres since 2020 and in 2021 served both as the team’s third base coach and bench coach.

Britt Ghiroli and Matt Gelb of The Athletic were first to report the news on Monday and now the Phillies have made it official. Long will be reuniting in Philadelphia with manager Joe Girardi after the two worked together with the Yankees between 2008-2014. He had been serving as the hitting coach for the Nationals since November 2017, so there is a tie-in with Bryce Harper as well.

The game is currently tied at 2-2 in the 10th inning, but downpours in Philadelphia will cause the game to be postponed in extras. The game will be resumed at 1:05 pm eastern, and the regularly schedule game between the two clubs will begin after the conclusion of that contest.

Meacham also worked as an assistant for Philadelphia after being hired last January. Prior to joining the Phillies, he managed Triple-A Buffalo in the Blue Jays’ organization for three seasons.

Dombrowski moved to Nashville this summer to head up a group aiming to bring a Major League Baseball team to the city and had turned down interviews for other front office openings around the sport, but it sounds like the Phillies have convinced him to leave that effort and take command of their organization. Michael Hill, the former general manager of the Marlins, was also said to be in the running for the job in Philly. Dodgers senior vice president Josh Byrnes was a candidate too, but he pulled himself out of the running this week.

Jayson Stark of The Athletic was first to report the surprising Dombrowski news on Thursday. The feeling had been that the Phillies might take a step back in the spending department and perhaps even shed some payroll, but Dombrowski’s reputation would seem to suggest that might not be the plan after all.

It sounds like Byrnes simply decided to stay with the Dodgers in the end. Stark notes that former Marlins general manager Michael Hill remains under consideration for the head front office job in Philadelphia, along with “other candidates.” This search has probably gone on a lot longer than Phillies ownership would prefer, but the team doesn’t seem all that interested in spending money this winter anyway.

Heyman notes that Levine preferred to remain in Minnesota as he loves his situation there and wants to stay working on the Twins successful turnaround. Josh Byrnes and Michael Hill -- and possibly others -- remain in the mix to lead the Phillies front office.