Phillies just made a BIG move...

The moment has finally arrived. Dave Dombrowski faced the Philadelphia media for the first time since being eliminated from playoff contention, explaining some of the decisions that went into this Phillies season and overall laying the groundwork for expectations moving forward. There are a few key changes on the coaching staff, headlined by Carlos Mendoza, now earning a spot on this Phillies roster, and Kevin Long and a couple other key figures saying their goodbyes. I do want to dive into what was said from Dave Dombrowski, talk a little bit about his messaging, his tone. I will say I was largely encouraged in a way that I have not felt in the past. When Dave Dombrowski does step to the microphone that I would say in past years, you kind of knew the script that he was going to lean on. We have a good team. The margins are so slim. We're right there knocking on the door. Today felt a little bit more direct. Last year was not acceptable. There's a lot of guys who did not live up to the standard that we as a Phillies organization have for them, and the pressure is now on them to reach that. So I do want to reflect on a little bit on what specific Dombrowski did say, but maybe the biggest storyline that he led with right off the bat here is that the Phillies have hired former Mets manager Carlos Mendoza as third base and infield coach. They've also re-signed lefty Tim Miza to a one-year deal. Shout out to Tim Miza. Not quite the headline story of this offseason. Kind of funny that was the leading message from Dombrowski. Now, this comes on the heels of last night, and it was after I recorded before I posted as far as the timing of these videos here, that we did see the news that ultimately that Kevin Long and Bobby Dickerson would see their roles on this Phillies team ultimately taken. We got the news from Phillies tailgate, originally from NBC Phillies, saying hitting coach Kevin Long and infield coach Bobby Dickerson will not return to the coaching staff in 2027. Now, I did get a chance. I was overworked by shift at 97.5. Shout out to the fanatic over there and hope you guys do tune in. Kind of work in the back end of making sure this broadcast got on air for Dombrowski specifically. I also had a chance to sit in on the Don Mattingly interview and chop up the audio for that. I will say it was kind of an interesting different tone. And the reason that I say that is the way that it was presented from the Dombrowski side of things He really spoke about the utmost trust in Mattingly, that he understands kind of these storylines of Alex Cora being a talking point, the job being offered, or the wandering eyes, you know, looking for the best candidates, and basically brushed it off to that was just more the formalities of things. That per MLB rules, we have to go down this checklist. You cannot just remove an interim tag. And when you talk about what was kind of brought to the table from the Don Mattingly side of things, he did not act like he was offended in any way and he seemed honestly pretty humble in the mindset of I just want what's best for the Phillies and I'm hopeful that I am that guy I like what I heard from Mattingly today as well but what was fascinating about these specific moves is that the Kevin Long and Bobby Dickerson firing were both presented from Dave Dombrowski that this was a decision led by Don Mattingly now on the other side of things the Mendoza conversation was something where Mattingly said I don't really have much of a relationship with him don't know him very well that was a Don Mattingly decision or that was a Dave Dombrowski decision right there so that does bring me to kind of wonder a little bit of is this Dombrowski sort of stacking the deck for his next manager in case Don Mattingly doesn't work out I mean this is exactly what he did last offseason by bringing Mattingly here with Rob Thomson beginning to you know come a little stale in the organization for what he brought to the table and I will say the Alex Cora conversation I do not think is going away that there was nothing that really was said to me that convinced me that Dave Dombrowski really feels that Don Mattingly is the guy moving forward. Now, there were a couple other storylines that I do think we're touching on here. For starters, as we've sort of talked about all offseason, Dave Dombrowski ain't going anywhere, man. We did get his commitment to the long haul with the question being asked of kind of how long do you plan on continuing to work, sticking around in Philadelphia? And this article coming from MLB.com states, Dombrowski is expected to receive a contract extension at some point if it hasn't happened already. Regardless of the length of the extension, those in the know expect Dombrowski to run the Phillies baseball operations department indefinitely he said quote yes i want to do the job dembrowski said i plan on being here for a while it's not my liberty to announce contracts but it's a situation i plan on being here for a while i enjoy it i'm healthy i have quality people around me and if i if i don't feel that way at some point i wouldn't do it so i i would really put it more on that time frame but it's one of those uh where yeah i do plan on being here for a while and i will note as far as the formalities and announcements he did sort of reflect on this Don Mattingly decision was made a little bit ago and sort of laid out the timeline of Mattingly had these plans to go away with this family. They wanted to make sure that they got it in the right news cycle for when it was announced and kind of wanted to give a little bit of a buffer, but it did not drag out as long as it felt and was publicly, you know, displayed that way as ultimately was the case. So there was a little bit of a, you know, dotting the i's and or dotting the i's and crossing the T's maybe a little bit more than we realized when that did go down. Now, the other stories that I did want to hit on here is the clear messaging from Dave Dombrowski that it was not good enough this year that what he stated plainly when speaking to the media was we're not happy with the season that we had and he spoke directly about the World Series the goals that we understand that we are still a good team but we have to reach another level he did not lean on the we're a good club the margins are thin any of those kind of excuses that I think he brushed off at way too regular of a rate in past years and the guy who was front and center of those criticisms frankly was Trey Turner and this was music to my ears now when speaking about what specifically he said about Trey, that Dave Dombrowski went on to say that it's mandatory that he's better defensively at shortstop. And Dombo said, quote, if he plays shortstop as he did in 2025, then he can play the position. If he plays as he did in 2026, he can't. Dombrowski added that Turner is very willing to do what's best for him for the organization if he doesn't play shortstop. And another portion or another quote from Dombrowski on Turner specifically is, quote, Trey still has his fast twitch muscles. He did not have a good year, but I think he can bounce back from an offensive perspective. From a defensive perspective, we were very clear. He knows he has to be better at shortstop, and I told him that it's really mandatory. Now, I love that they're actually putting this pressure on Trey Turner. One of my biggest frustrations for this year following Luis Uriah's trade was it felt like Trey was handled with such kid gloves that you're willing to move Bryce Harper from first base back to the outfield. You're willing to move Bryson Stott from second base to third base. Alec Bowman gets his position kind of thrown up in flux as he plays in first base sometimes we see all these shifting parts in the infield and Trey Turner was never touched and that's especially crazy to me when just straight up he's the worst defensive player in the infield those are the facts that is the reality and I understand that he is this high priced player the expectation is this would be a foundational piece of the team that has the goal of winning the World Series but the reality is he has not lived up to that billing and we are now far enough along in the Trey Turner contract cycle that it should be addressed as such. And that's exactly what Dave Dombrowski is doing. This should not be, you're afraid to bother this guy's mentals or worry that it's going to make him break down or whatever the case may be. You need to do what's best for the Phillies. And if that means removing Trey Turner, that absolutely should be the mindset. So I love that he's explaining that, putting that out there publicly. And he's talked pretty openly about, he spoke with Trey. Trey flew back from LA. They kind of had a conversation, talked about all these things in the office for a while, that he's already in the gym working, that Dombrowski very much believes that Turner can find his stride again. It was just last year that he led the league in batting average, which is insane. But ultimately, they need more from Trey Turner, and that is the reality. But that is a message that I have not heard loud and clear enough from the Phillies organization. I will also say, I think Dombrowski took a little bit more accountability than I've heard from him in past years. This was not a situation where, you know, injuries happened at the wrong time that he was laying out. He talked about how some of the bullpen moves did not work, that we don't know what happened with Brooks Riley. We thought that that was the right move, but that guy did not pan out. Adolis García, we were really hopeful what he would bring to the table. Brad Keller, a guy who was their big, you know, bullpen arm they brought in this year, and then he got injured right there. But he kind of looked himself in the mirror and said, you know, I have to be better at my job, and that hasn't really been the message that I've heard from Dombrowski. So overall, I would rate him positively for this press conference breakdown. It is nice that there is a little bit of new blood in this organization, and it does feel like Dombrowski has the urge to shake things up in a way that I think is necessary to keeping this train on the tracks and giving this Phillies team a real chance at winning the World Series. Ultimately, what those decisions are, what those moves will be made, we will find out. I'll be breaking down the action here on Phillies Digest. We'd love to hear from you guys below. Drop your thoughts. We'd love to hear what you thought of the press conference today. Make sure you're dropping those in the comments. If you have not already, make sure you smash that subscribe button. Drop a like on this video. We'll be back to talk to you next time. Peace.