Phillies close to deal with Don Mattingly to be bench coach

Donnie Baseball could be coming to Philadelphia soon.

Don Mattingly, a Yankees legend and one-time National League Manager of the Year, is poised to join the Phillies as their new bench coach. Team president Dave Dombrowski told reporters Monday that the Phillies and Mattingly have mutual interest, and Phillies insider Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reported that it "sounds like a matter of when, not if."

MLB's annual Winter Meetings are underway in Orlando, which is usually a catalyst for player and coaching movement around the sport.

After the Phillies were eliminated in October by the Dodgers in the NLDS, Dombrowski and Phils manager Rob Thomson said they would seek to add a bench coach this offseason who had managing experience. Former bench coach Matt Calitri was reassigned as a Major League Field Coordinator.

Mattingly, 64, has managed over 1,800 games for the Marlins and Dodgers. He would join Thomson to give the Phillies a Yankees flavor on the bench. Thomson spent nearly 30 years in the Yankees organization from 1990-2017, serving in a variety of roles before becoming Joe Girardi's bench coach in 2008. Mattingly, who played his final season in 1995, spent the next seven years with the Yankees as a hitting instructor before becoming the organization's hitting coach in 2003, so he and Thomson have several overlapping years together in the Yankees' system.

Mattingly's son, Preston, is the Phillies' general manager, a position he was promoted to last month after being assistant general manager for the club since 2023. Preston has been in the Phillies' front office since 2021.

Don Mattingly most recently had been the bench coach for the AL champion Blue Jays, who lost to the Dodgers in a thrilling seven-game World Series. He stepped away from the position after the season.

Before that, the six-time All-Star first baseman and 1985 AL MVP had been manager of the Marlins from 2016-2022 and for the Dodgers from 2011-2015. His overall record is 889-950 (.483), though with the Dodgers it was 446-363 (.551) and LA finished first in the NL West in each of his last three seasons. His postseason record is 10-14.

The year he won NL Manager of the Year, Mattingly managed the Marlins to a 31-29 record in a COVID-shortened season, falling to the Braves in the NLDS in five games.

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Phillies close to deal with Don Mattingly to be bench coach

At the Winter Meetings, Phillies president Dave Dombrowski told reporters that the team and Yankees legend Don Mattingly have mutual interest in the Phils' bench coach opening.

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