\u201cI plan on being here for a while. I enjoy it. I\u2019m healthy. I have quality people around me.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a town whose football team has lost three straight and whose coach blew the last game in the last 8 seconds; whose basketball team hasn\u2019t gotten past the second round of the playoffs in 25 years; and whose hockey team is winless in its first nine games, Dombrowski is, by far, the most despised sports figure.<\/p>\n
And he\u2019s here for the long haul.<\/p>\n
![\"Inquirer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792228814_493_I_circle_black.png\")
<\/p>\n
Marcus Hayes alerts<\/p>\n
Weekly<\/p>\n
Bold opinions and must-read commentary from Marcus Hayes, delivered right to you.<\/p>\n
During his 61-minute, end-of-season news conference, Dombrowski addressed important issues: Trea Turner<\/a>\u2019s pending and overdue removal from the shortstop position<\/a>; his unwillingness to trade from among the starting pitching but his willingness to trade star hitters if those hitters were willing; announcements that Don Mattingly<\/a> will return as manager<\/a> and turnover on the coaching staff<\/a>; and his faith in a minor-league system that he believes is incorrectly rated among the worst in baseball.<\/p>\n But his own future, both long- and short-term, was the most significant issue of the day.<\/p>\n Is that a bad thing? Most Phillies fans, in this moment, would answer, resoundingly, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n The backstory<\/p>\n Dombrowski took the Phillies to the World Series<\/a> in 2022, his second season, but playoff collapses in the following four seasons authored mainly by Dombrowski\u2019s porous bullpens and choking hitters put a target on his back that even Jos\u00e9 Alvarado<\/a> could hit. This year, as the Phillies faded from the top wild-card slot to the final wild-card slot to a three-game wild-card exit in Atlanta, Dombrowski\u2019s star sank lower than ever in every corner of Philadelphia … except one. It\u2019s the only corner that matters.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the office of John Middleton<\/a>, the Phillies\u2019 managing partner.<\/p>\n Middleton adores Dombrowski. Last month, following up a report by The Athletic that Dombrowski will soon receive an extension beyond his current deal\u2019s expiration in 2027, I was told by a Phillies source, \u201cMiddleton will never fire Dombrowski.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Don Mattingly \u2018carried the stick.\u2019 That helped make him the best choice as Phillies manager.<\/a><\/p>\n A few days later, USA Today reported that the Phillies will offer Dombrowski a lifetime contract, presumably to fill whatever role he desires. Right now, at the age of 70, he still desires to decide who\u2019s on the roster and who\u2019s managing them.<\/p>\n Has he earned it? Not in Philadelphia, no. But elsewhere, Dombrowski won two World Series and went to two more. Middleton adores him; essentially, in Middleton\u2019s eyes, Dombrowski can do no wrong.<\/p>\n In my eyes, Dombrowski\u2019s been about average. He inherited an organization that included Bryce Harper<\/a>, Zack Wheeler<\/a>, Cristopher S\u00e1nchez<\/a>, Aaron Nola<\/a>, J.T. Realmuto<\/a>, Alec Bohm<\/a>, and Bryson Stott<\/a>. <\/p>\n He\u2019s extended some of those deals, signed Kyle Schwarber<\/a> (twice), enhanced the roster with trades for Jes\u00fas Luzardo<\/a> and Jhoan Duran<\/a>, and hit on deadline deals for Harrison Bader in 2025 and Luis Arraez in 2026 (both were hurt in the playoffs, though). <\/p>\n He also has consistently failed to replace the right-handed power of Rhys Hoskins<\/a>, has shown abominable judgment in bullpen construction, and, in seeking optimal offensive output, has inexcusably and illogically devalued defense, especially for a team so heavily invested in big-money starting pitching: He has four $100 million starters.<\/p>\n Further, the contracts of outfielder Nick Castellanos<\/a>, a defensive liability, Turner, a defensive liability, and starter Taijuan Walker, the ultimate defensive liability, proved utterly indefensible.<\/p>\n Still, as Middleton loves to point out, any president who takes a team to the playoffs five years in a row must be doing something right.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: To Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies\u2019 problems begin an arm\u2019s length away<\/a><\/p>\n Counterpoint: In Dombrowski\u2019s case, so far, most of what he\u2019s done right is that he hasn\u2019t messed with what former GM Matt Klentak left him.<\/p>\n Also: If the Phillies are such a quality team with such a bright future, why did Alex Cora, the manager who won Dombrowski the 2018 World Series in Boston, turn down the manager\u2019s job twice in six months? Does he want to win Puerto Rico the Father of the Year this badly? <\/p>\n Furthermore, if Dombrowski was such a hotshot executive, why did the Sox fire him less than 11 months after winning it all?<\/p>\n None of those questions matter. What matters is, John hearts Dave.<\/p>\n Madness ensues<\/p>\n I, for one, am happy that Dombrowski is sticking around. That\u2019s mainly because I, for one, don\u2019t care if the Phillies win every game, lose every game, or have every game rained out, as long as they\u2019re interesting while doing it.<\/p>\n Also, I enjoy talking to Dombrowski. He\u2019s smart, intriguing, and his hair has its own aura, as the kids say.<\/p>\n Besides, how can I endorse firing a guy who I\u2019m giving a grade like \u201cC?\u201d You know, average. You fire guys who get D\u2019s and F\u2019s.<\/p>\n That \u201cC\u201d grade means Dombrowski probably does a better job at roster building than, say, I, who am a connoisseur of shortstops (and point guards); a far better job than, say Mike Sielski, whose expertise is limited to hockey centermen; but probably not as good a job as David Murphy, who obsesses on wRC+ and FIP (and who, incongruently, is a quarterback aficionado, too).<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Phillies will keep Trea Turner at shortstop for now: \u2018He knows he has to be better\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Also, Dombrowski says crazy stuff.<\/p>\n He fired Rob Thomson<\/a> and, after being turned down by Cora, the fired former Red Sox manager, he replaced Thomson with Mattingly, the bench coach, as interim manager. <\/p>\n Dombrowski said Thursday that, while he\u2019d followed a baseball mandate and interviewed other candidates, he had never offered the job to anyone but Mattingly. He said this with a straight face … after both USA Today and the Phillies\u2019 own website reported that, early last week, Cora had turned him down again.<\/p>\n Dombrowski on Thursday also said he actually signed Mattingly to a deal last Saturday, but, with the Eagles playing Sunday (24 hours later) and with Mattingly lacking solid internet service at his vacation lodgings, they delayed leaking the news until Wednesday … so as to have better Wi-Fi on Thursday for Mattingly\u2019s Zoom news conference.<\/p>\n I am not making any of that up.<\/p>\n Old MacDonald\u2019s farm<\/p>\n Dombrowski also tried to convince listeners that their farm system is better than the experts rank it, which is generally between fifth-to-last and second-to-last. He asserted that major league rookies Andrew Painter<\/a>, Justin Crawford<\/a>, and Alex McFarlane should count toward their farm depth, and that they should be credited for using prospects to acquire Luzardo and Duran. <\/p>\n Dombrowski ignored the fact that Painter and Crawford did not factor into the current rankings at all, and he ignored the fact that teams ranked higher than his also traded prospects to improve. For instance, the Dodgers traded three prospects at the deadline to acquire Tarik Skubal from the Tigers, two of them ranked in the top 100 by MLB.com, and still had an elite system at the season\u2019s end. The Brewers also traded prospects for bullpen help at the deadline, and their farm system remains as good or better than the Dodgers\u2019 \u2014 whom they just swept out of the NLCS.<\/p>\n Coup de grace<\/p>\n The nuttiest thing Dombrowski said in his hourlong State of the Union regarded Turner. By most metrics, Turner was, by far, the worst defensive shortstop in all of baseball. Dombrowski\u2019s solution:<\/p>\n He forced Turner to leave his home in Florida and travel to Philadelphia for a two-hour meeting with Dombrowski, which is like a kid on summer break getting called back to school to go to the principal\u2019s office. What did they talk about for two hours? Some of it concerned Turner\u2019s career-worst offensive performance, which is weird, since that\u2019s kind of the job of the manager and the hitting coach. Some of it concerned Turner\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n Dombrowski warned Turner that Turner would have to audition in spring training if he hopes to retain the shortstop job. Otherwise, he will be moved, most likely to left field, though Turner would prefer staying on the infield, most likely at second base.<\/p>\n