Phillies' immediate replacement candidate for Rob Thomson exposes harsh truth about former Cubs manager

The Chicago Cubs may have played a hand in Rob Thomson's firing as the Philadelphia Phillies manager. Over the span of the last two weeks, the Cubs have won six of their seven games played against the Phillies, including a four-game sweep at Wrigley Field last week. The Phillies announced Thomson's firing on Tuesday, and an immediate report confirmed who they wanted to be their next manager.

USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported that before naming Don Mattingly their interim manager, the Phillies offered the job to Alex Cora. Cora was fired by the Boston Red Sox over the weekend, and that would have been quite the turnaround. Instead, Cora turned down the offer, opting to spend time with his family.

There is an annoying trend happening with Cubs fans each time there is a managerial vacancy in baseball. Every time there is a sudden firing, the cool thing is to suggest the reasons why David Ross would be the perfect candidate. Ross certainly had the appearance of being an ascending manager during his stint with the Cubs, but he was done no favors by how quickly Jed Hoyer and Co. discarded him once Craig Counsell became available after the 2023 season.

David Ross has lost his shine as a managerial candidate

Intentional or not, by dumping Ross in the fashion they did, the Cubs were announcing to the world that he wasn't a manager capable of leading a team to the playoffs. It's why Ross hasn't really been a popular candidate for managerial vacancies over the past two years.

That is probably the reason why the Phillies paid no mind to Ross' availability, circling Cora as the ideal candidate before he said no. Even for the Red Sox, where there are more direct connections to Ross, it doesn't sound like the former Cubs manager is a candidate at this time.

The more time that passes, the less appealing Ross looks as a managerial candidate. There certainly might be a team that gives him another chance, but it looks far less likely now than it did at the time of his departure from the Cubs.

Instead of Ross, all eyes should be on Cubs' bench coach Ryan Flaherty. Flaherty has been the leading candidate for several jobs over the past two years, and it feels like it's only a matter of time before he finds the right opening.

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