Phillies players express guilt, remorse as Rob Thomson era ends in Philadelphia

That leaves the Phillies in a fascinating situation, one oddly similar to what Thomson inherited almost four years ago. The 2022 Phillies were scuffling, an underwhelming amalgamation of superstars. In early June, manager Joe Girardi got the boot, with Thomson, his bench coach, taking over the job.

Thomson immediately earned respect — not for what he was but for what he wasn’t.

Girardi had been tightly wound, overly involved, omnipresent in a bad way. Thomson offered the opposite. He identified a veteran clubhouse that didn’t need his shadow lurking over their lives. And so, he took his hands off the wheel and kept things refreshingly simple.

“The one thing that I tried to do throughout my four years here is let the players play and let the talent take care of itself and try not to get in the way,” Thomson told reporters on a Tuesday zoom call.

Accordingly, the beginning of his tenure provided a much-needed exhale. The Phillies caught fire, authoring a storybook season that ended just two games shy of a World Series title. Thomson, who had intended to retire after 2022, stayed on as skipper. He went on to post the highest winning percentage of any full-time Phillies manager since the 19th century.

“We love Topper in here,” Phillies star Bryce Harper said Tuesday, referring to his former manager by his nickname. “Steady-eddie in here every day. Really good for the clubhouse, really good for the team.”

Other players expressed feelings of guilt. Many clearly understood the sobering reality that their poor play directly led to Thomson’s dismissal. They liked their skipper, respected him, wanted to win for him. Yet few were surprised by Tuesday’s news. While the Red Sox players, in the wake of Cora’s recent ouster, expressed a sense of furious shock, the Phillies spoke with a more mournful, solemn, almost remorseful tone.

“As a player, you take accountability,” injured catcher JT Realmuto told NBC Sports Philly’s John Clark. “We all feel responsible for what happened to him. We know we are the ones on the field not doing our job.”

Too little, too late perhaps, but the Phillies did their job Tuesday, besting the San Francisco Giants by a score of 7-0. Shortstop Trea Turner notched three hits. Struggling third baseman Alec Bohm had two. Starter Jesus Luzardo threw seven scoreless, dropping his ERA from 6.91 to 5.50. It was a thorough, orderly, balanced performance — the kind Thomson had led the Phillies to for years, the kind he believed would return at some point this season.

“I think that we haven't really played synchronized baseball yet,” he said Tuesday. “There's a lot of areas where we're down in the rankings. But I think that that will change, and when they — we — do start to sync up, I think there's a really hot run in there someplace.”

We.

That word choice was easily the most telling part of Thomson’s presser. Us. Our. We. Despite no longer being employed by the Philadelphia Phillies, he used those words early and often. That he was even conducting an exit interview — very much not protocol for departing managers — further emphasized that dynamic. And Thomson, according to Phillies personnel, requested the session, not the other way around.

“I think if you're an accountable person and you're a leader, you're gonna stand up in front of people and answer the questions when it's all over,” he said. “And I just want to make sure I did that in the right way. I just hope that people feel like, whether I did a good job or a bad job, I represented this organization properly, with class and with dignity.”