Alex Cora will not be the next manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. League sources confirmed to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki that Cora told the organization in recent days he isn't interested in managing in 2027, even with the chance to reunite with longtime friend and Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. It is the second time in less than six months that Dombrowski has put the job in front of Cora, and the second time Cora has walked away from it, a sequence first reported by USA Today and confirmed by ESPN.

The decision throws the Phillies' plans for interim manager Don Mattingly back into question. Dombrowski fired Rob Thomson in late April after a 9-19 start, and within 48 hours offered the job to Cora — who had just been let go by the Boston Red Sox, where he and Dombrowski won a World Series together in 2018. When Cora passed the first time, bench coach Mattingly took over on an interim basis and promptly steadied the ship, guiding Philadelphia to the fourth-best record in baseball the rest of the way before the club's season ended in the NL Wild Card Series against Atlanta.

Mattingly stays quiet, players back him

Mattingly has so far declined to discuss his own future. "It's not the time to talk about it," he said after the season-ending loss, though he had said earlier in the summer he wanted the job permanently. His players have made their preference clear — catcher J.T. Realmuto said simply, "Donnie was great," while ace Aaron Nola added, "We love Don."

DOMBROWSKI HAS COMPARED Cora's managerial ceiling to Hall of Famers Tony La Russa and Jim Leyland — which only underscores how much the Phillies wanted him instead of sticking with Mattingly.

Complicating matters further is the looming expiration of the collective bargaining agreement on December 1, which could trigger a work stoppage and make it difficult for a brand-new manager to build rapport with players before a lockout. That dynamic, reported by ESPN, makes simply removing Mattingly's interim tag the most logistically sensible path for Philadelphia, even if it wasn't the front office's first choice. Mattingly remains under contract as the Phillies' bench coach for 2027 regardless of the decision. The Phillies have not yet made a formal announcement on his status, and Dombrowski's own job is considered secure no matter which direction the team goes.