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Six Major Points from Dave Dombrowski and Rob Thomson’s Season-Ending Press Conferences
By Luke Arcaini
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Dave Dombrowski and Rob Thomson spoke to the media on Thursday afternoon following the Phillies’ elimination from the postseason exactly one week ago.
1) entire coaching staff returns
When teams need a “shake up,” that tends to first come at the coaching level. While Thomson is returning, many expected Dombrowski to announce some potential coaching changes, which did not happen.
All Phillies coaches will be returning in 2026.
That includes hitting coach Kevin Long. The Phillies will be adding a role to their coaching staff, which is a Major League Field Coordinator. Mike Calitri, the current Phillies bench coach, will take on that role, which Dombrowski didn’t go into much detail on. Other teams have added this position in years past, which is basically someone who oversees daily operations and serves as a conduit from the manager outward, basically a communicator and coordinator at the same time. Other teams use the position as an expansion of the bench coach job, and the Phillies will do an out-of-house search for their new bench coach.
Thomson said it isn’t needed, but the Phillies could look at someone with manager experience to take on the bench coach role in 2026.
2) youth movement coming
The Phillies have Andrew Painter, Justin Crawford, and even Aidan Miller all ready to contribute to the major league team at some point in 2026. They’re expecting all three to compete for a roster spot in Spring Training. That’ll be a little easier for Painter and Crawford.
It’s not extremely likely that Ranger Suarez is back with the Phillies, as Spotrac currently projects Ranger to land a long-term deal over $150M. Zack Wheeler probably won’t be ready for Opening Day, barring a quick comeback from thoracic outlet surgery. As of now, the Phillies rotation in 2026 will probably look something like Cristopher Sanchez, Jesus Luzardo, Aaron Nola, and Taijuan Walker, if he is back for the last year of his contract. That leaves a spot for Painter to earn a spot, but as Dombrowski noted, that spot will not be gifted to the young righty and he’ll have to earn it.
The Phillies outfield needs a shake-up. Harrison Bader will soon decline his mutual option and seek a multi-year deal. Could Bader be back? Yes, but it’s not a guarantee. Dombrowski said on Thursday that it’s not likely that Max Kepler returns to the team next year. The future of Nick Castellanos, who is entering the final year of his 5-year, $100M contract, is extremely unknown.
“Well, we’ll see what happens. I don’t know. I mean, I’m not going to get into specific players that are on our roster, under contract, but the things that you talked about are accurate,” Dombrowski said about Castellanos’ future with the team, and issues with Thomson and playing time this past season.
The Phillies will most likely have a spot for Crawford to win an everyday job next year. Thomson and Dombrowski have both said all year that when Crawford comes to the majors, they want him to play every day.
3) Jose Alvarado’s future
Jose Alvarado has a $9M club option with the Phillies for the 2026 season. Dombrowski was not yet ready to announce if the plan is to pick up that option or not, and noted that they have up until five days after the conclusion of the World Series to officially make that decision.
“I’d be surprised without making any announcements that (Jose) Alvarado’s not back with us. But we’ll see what ends up happening,” Dombrowski went on to say.
Thomson said that he’s extremely bullish on the club, but even more bullish when it comes to Alvarado.
“I love him. I love his energy. I love his stuff. I think wherever he’s at, he’s going to have a really good year next year.”” said Thomson.”
4) push back on Matt Strahm’s comments
After the NLDS Game 4 loss, in response to Orion Kerkering’s season-ending error, Matt Strahm said that the Phillies did not do PFP (pitcher fielding practice). Dombrowski and Thomson both confirmed that the team did work on pitcher fielding before the NLDS.
This is a tweet from September 30th, a workout that the Phillies had that the media attended. The Phillies did situational fielding drills, pitcher coverage, and more:
Thomson noted that the Phillies obviously can’t practice a situation while matching pressure of a postseason game, with 55,000 screaming fans in extra innings. But both Thomson and Dombrowski were both right by pushing back against Strahm’s PFP comments.
5) Dombrowski on Bryce Harper
“Well, I don’t think, I mean, in Bryce’s case, of course, he’s still a quality player. He’s still an all-star caliber player. He didn’t have an elite season like he has had in the past, and I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or he continues to be good. I mean, it’s not like he’s like, if you say to me, I look around the league trying to think Freddie Freeman, he’s a really good player, right? He still is a good player. Is he elite like he was before? Probably not to the same extent. Can (Bryce) rise to the next level again? I don’t really know that answer. I mean, really he’s, he’s the one that will dictate that more than anything else. I mean, it’s what it comes down to. So I don’t think he’s content with the year that he had. And again, it wasn’t a bad year, but when I think of Bryce Harper, you think an elite right? You’re thinking one of the top 10 players in baseball, and I don’t think it fit into that category. But again, very good player.”
Woof. Don’t love that answer! I wrote a big story Wednesday on Bryce Harper and some comments that have been thrown out over the past few days about him. Bryce didn’t have an elite season and he’d be the first one to tell you that. But I thought this was a bit of an odd answer to hear from the President of Baseball Operations about the star player of a playoff team.
6) Thomson on the “lefty-heavy” Phillies lineup
Everybody knows that the Phillies need another right-handed threat, even Thomson. Nick Castellanos had a disappointing season. JT Realmuto had streaks, but didn’t put together a fully-elite season at the plate. Alec Bohm had a good year, but isn’t any team’s ideal cleanup hitter. Thomson made it pretty clear that he’d like another big right-handed option in the lineup in 2026.
“Our lineup is pretty deep, we’re awfully left-handed, I can say that. Where that comes from? I don’t know. Is it out there? I don’t know.”
Luke Arcaini writes about the Phillies for Crossing Broad, covers the Phillies for FOX Sports The Gambler, and co-hosts "Phillies Digest" on YouTube. The wave is the worst thing in all of sports. Contact: lukearcaini8@gmail.com