There's an obvious candidate to replace Rob Thomson with Phillies

Unsurprisingly, the Philadelphia Phillies have decided to part ways with manager Rob Thomson.

According to The Athletic's Matt Gelb, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski pulled the plug on the manager after a disappointing 9-19 start to the season:

"The Phillies have fired manager Rob Thomson, sources told The Athletic. Don Mattingly will be interim manager," Gelb shared on X. "Dusty Wathan is the new bench coach. Anthony Contreras is third-base coach," he added in a follow-up post.

While there were more than enough reasons to justify this move, the timing is rather suspicious. Notably, this comes just days after the Boston Red Sox fired Alex Cora, who happens to have some strong ties to the Phillies' front office. 

Philadelphia Phillies should hire Alex Cora

The Red Sox parted ways with Cora after a 10-17 start to the campaign, prompting strong criticism from some of their stars.

He has a close relationship with the Phillies' president of baseball operations, even winning a World Series together in Boston in 2018. He's got a strong reputation in the league, and he should be near the top of the potential replacement candidate list. 

The Phillies have the largest payroll in franchise history, and given the surplus of talent they boast, the writing was already on the wall.

With Thomson at the helm, the Phillies went through a 10-game losing streak, their worst stretch in nearly three decades.

Ironically, Thomson got his job in a similar fashion when Dombrowski cut the cord on Joe Girardi just 22 games into the season back in 2022. Now, he's on the other side of the axe and with another World Series-winning manager waiting in line to take his spot.