Phillies

Phillies Interviewed Dusty Baker a Second Time, Showalter Scheduled for Today, Girardi Monday

By Russ Joy

Published: Oct 18th, 2019 · 8:00 AM EDT

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The Phillies really want us to hate them, don’t they? As an admittedly fallen-away Phillies fan, I asked Bob and Anthony on Crossing Broadcast whether the names Dusty Baker, Buck Showalter, and Joe Girardi might’ve been  a diversion, an elaborate bait-and-switch of sorts, while John Middleton scoured major league coaching staffs for a young bench coach or a minor league manager. They sighed and delivered a deadpan, “No.” And so it should come as no shock that the Phillies have already initiated Round 2 of “Which retread will restore our mediocre team to slightly-above mediocrity 2020”.

That’s because -following a previous report from the Inquirer’s Matt Breen– Todd Zolecki dropped a bit of a managerial search bombshell on Thursday evening:

#Phillies began a second round of interviews today with Dusty Baker. Buck Showalter scheduled tomorrow and Joe Girardi scheduled Monday. An announcement could come soon after that.

— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) October 17, 2019

More after the jump:

My only hope is that the interview order is the inverse of the Klentak/MacPhail/Middleton collective’s preference for the hire. Dusty Baker failed to maximize Bryce Harper’s talent and that of his teammates during his stint in Washington, while Showalter’s final two years in Baltimore netted him a record of 122-202. Girardi is the only name among the three reported finalists who could move the needle and grab the interest of the apathetic, disaffected fans of baseball in this city. Fingers crossed the Monday interview ends with a signed offer and ends this odd saga before Halloween.