That acknowledged as a side-entrance variety of compliment, the last 12 months did include a Super Bowl, an MVP, an NLCS, plentiful star-level players and ownership willing to inside-out pockets to acquire talent.

Could have been worse. At least no one was willing to postpone winning in order to draft Jahlil Okafor.

So before it fades into the mist as another parade-free waste of parking-lot fees, here is the top 10 list of sports figures who made 2023 captivating on or around Pattison Ave. For the record, the individual who decided Craig Kimbrel deserved his own cockamamie light show finished dead last.

1. Jalen Hurts: While there is no printed rule for choosing the essential Philadelphia Sports Figure of the Year, having an MVP candidacy and leading a team to within a possession of a Super Bowl championship works. And while the Eagles’ quarterback finished the year performing as something less than the highest-paid footballer ever, as he was for a moment earlier this year, he still has the Eagles likely to finish 13-4 and contend in more games that end in Roman numerals.

2. Joel Embiid: Don’t remember who first declared in print six years ago that the center was the most talented player, skill for skill, ever to play for the Sixers — wait a minute, it was right here — but by 2023 there was no disputing Embiid was the best player in the NBA. Finishing as the leading scorer for a second consecutive season, Embiid was named the 2022-23 MVP, then went on a statistical rampage of historic proportion to help the 2023-2024 Sixers win 21 of their first 30 games.

3. Howie Roseman: After stitching together the Eagles’ second Super Bowl team in six years, the most effective personnel director in the NFL chased the achievement with a Draft Night for the ages, winding up with the player said to be the best in the draft in Jalen Carter and a linebacker he wanted in Nolan Smith, while rolling some capital to Detroit for D’Andre Swift to upgrade the running game.

4. Bryce Harper: It is one thing for a player to blabber about how hard he wants to play in order for a city to enjoy a championship. It’s another to insist on coming back from complicated elbow surgery in such record time that hair-combing still brings pain, then learn another position, then bang clutch, late-inning hit after clutch, late-inning hit to push a team into the postseason.

5: Tyrese Maxey: In addition to his continued rise to All-Star-level backcourt play, the 21st overall pick in the 2020 draft came to embody the reality that it takes scouting instincts — not lost games — to add franchise-changing talent. Nightly displaying breathless joy for his job, he’s made himself into a reliable three-point shooter and is maturing into a winning point guard.

6: Nick Sirianni: Only four coaches have led the Eagles to a Super Bowl, and he did so by winning 14 games in just his second season largely by committing to and benefiting from the development of Hurts as an MVP candidate. And even if he did take it one Sixers throwback jersey too far, he did exhibit an appreciation for the city and its sports history.

7: Dan Hilferty: After too many years of lost leadership and cheap, rarely to be delivered promises, Comcast-Spectacor finally turned to a proven business leader with a life-long grip on what works in Philadelphia to restore relevance to the Flyers. That, he did by trusting the institutional knowledge of Keith Jones and Daniel Briere while promising to rebuild without tanking. By December, the Flyers already had their image cleansed. To boot, the Saint Joseph’s grad breathed life into the wheezing Big 5 with a one-day, Wells Fargo Center tournament successful beyond expectation.

8. Jaron Ennis: At 26, he scored impressive victories over Karen Chukhadzhian and Roiman Villa — who were a combined 47-2 — to finish the year as the IBF welterweight champion. At 31-0-0, the North Philadelphia product was named Philadelphia’s Most Outstanding Pro Athlete by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association.

9: Jim Curtin: As he has through his nine-plus seasons in charge, he did more with less and managed the Union into its sixth consecutive postseason, reached the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League and finished third in Leagues Cup play.

10: Zack Wheeler: He struck out 212 batters in 32 games, earned a Gold Glove and allowed six earned runs over three postseason starts, reinforcing his status as one of baseball’s more reliable and dominating starting pitchers.

Next up, 2024. Nick Nurse and John Tortorella already have their hats in the ring. Hats are never the problem, though. Rings are.

Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@delcotimes.com.

Yamamoto is set to join Japanese countryman Shohei Ohtani with the Dodgers, who signed the two-way superstar to a record $700 million, 10-year deal last week.

The Dodgers did not confirm the agreement with Yamamoto on Thursday night. MLB.com and ESPN were among the outlets citing anonymous sources in reporting the deal.

The New York Yankees and New York Mets were among the many clubs that pursued Yamamoto.

It’s the third major pitching coup for the NL West champion Dodgers this offseason. In addition to Ohtani, the team signed right-hander Tyler Glasnow to a $136.5 million, five-year contract after he was traded from the Tampa Bay Rays to Los Angeles.

Ohtani made a video pitch to Glasnow to join him in Hollywood.

“It was important to Shohei that this wasn’t the one move we were going to make,” Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman said at Ohtani’s introductory news conference last week.

Yamamoto was 16-6 with a 1.21 ERA this season, striking out 169 and walking 28 in 164 innings. He is 70-29 with a 1.82 ERA in seven seasons with the Orix Buffaloes. Yamamoto struck out a Japan Series-record 14 in a Game 6 win over Hanshin on Nov. 5, throwing a 138-pitch complete game. Orix went on to lose Game 7.

Orix posted the 25-year-old right-hander on Nov. 20 and Major League Baseball teams had until Jan. 4 to sign him.

Yamamoto’s deal with the Dodgers would be the largest and longest ever guaranteed to a big league pitcher.

Ohtani was a two-time AL MVP with the Los Angeles Angels before becoming a free agent this offseason and moving to the Dodgers.

Yamamoto pitched his second career no-hitter, the 100th in Japanese big league history, on Sept. 9 for the Buffaloes against the Lotte Marines. The game, watched by MLB executives, extended his scoreless streak to 42 innings.

A two-time Pacific League MVP, Yamamoto also threw a no-hitter against the Seibu Lions on June 18 last year. His fastball averaged 95 mph and topped out at 96.6 mph in Japan’s semifinal win over Mexico at the World Baseball Classic in March. He threw 20 fastballs, 19 splitters, six curveballs, six cutters and one slider in a 3 1/3-inning relief outing. Batters swung at 11 of his splitters and missed four.

Following hard-throwing 21-year-old sensation Roki Sasaki, Yamamoto gave up two runs and three hits in 3 1/3 innings with four strikeouts and two walks, allowing Alex Verdugo’s RBI double. Yamamoto was charged with a second run when Isaac Paredes hit an RBI single off Atsuki Yuasa.

Under the MLB-NPB agreement, the posting fee will be 20% of the first $25 million of a major league contract, including earned bonuses and options. The percentage drops to 17.5% of the next $25 million and 15% of any amount over $50 million. There would be a supplemental fee of 15% of any earned bonuses, salary escalators and exercised options.

___

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com

PHILADELPHIA  — The Phillies have signed manager Rob Thomson to a one-year contract extension through the 2025 season after he led the team to two straight trips to the NL Championship Series.

The 60-year-old Thomson has a 155-118 record since the veteran bench coach replaced Joe Girardi as Phillies manager on June 3, 2022. Thomson led the Phillies to the 2022 World Series, where they lost in six games to the Houston Astros. The Phillies returned to the NLCS this season but blew series leads of 2-0 and 3-2 with Games 6 and 7 at home against Arizona.

Thomson led the Phillies to a 90-72 record in 2023 and their first 90-win season since 2011. This past October he became only the third manager in MLB history to win 18 of his first 25 postseason games, joining Hall of Famers Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel.

Thomson has been with the club since the 2018 season when he was first hired as bench coach under former manager Gabe Kapler.

Thomson had said he planned to retire after the 2022 season until he was promoted to the manager’s job. Thomson said after this season he had no plans to quit and intended to manage as long as the Phillies wanted him.

With Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber among the sluggers returning in 2024, the Phillies again seem primed to contend for the World Series. The Phillies had 10-1 odds Monday to win the 2024 World Series, per FanDuel SportsBook.

The Phillies signed ace Aaron Nola to a $172 million, seven-year deal last month.

“We’ve got a good ball club,” Thomson said after the Phillies were eliminated in the NLCS. “But our goal isn’t to get to the playoffs. Our goal is always to win the World Series.”

The Phillies last won the World Series in 2008.

Thomson spent 28 years as a member of the New York Yankees organization (1990-2017), including 10 seasons on the major league coaching staff as bench coach (2008, 2015-17) and third base coach (2009-14).

The Phillies also hired Dustin Lind and Rafael Peña as assistant hitting coaches.

John Tortorella should be Coach of the Year in the NHL.

Nick Nurse should be Coach of the Year in the NBA.

Jim Curtin is the sitting MLS Coach of the Year.

All right, it’s early, even in an NFL season with 41 percent of the games still to play. At that level, all coaches are one losing streak away from a plane dragging a banner demanding that so-and-so must go. But on a weekend set aside for the purpose, Philadelphia sports fans should be thankful for such a rare convergence of coaching wisdom on Pattison Ave., west of Broad.

Not that Doc Rivers didn’t win games, but Nurse has bettered the locker-room atmosphere, defensive commitment and ball-movement to set the Sixers on an early pace to win 63 games.

Not that the Flyers are ready to inspire the placement of tin-foil Stanley Cups on every lawn in the region, but Tortorella has taken less than two years to rid his roster of players otherwise assumed to be special while pushing his club close to the front of the Metro division race.

Sirianni wins all the time and, with a victory in Kansas City, has shown his team is championship-ready.

Curtin has done more with less for 10 years than any other coach in his league and in modern Philadelphia sports history.

A title from one of them would not be rejected. But that takes a little luck. All that has been proven recently, though, is that Philadelphia has assembled enough sports brainiacs to preserve that hope.

• • •

You get the lion up on his hind legs featured in every family crest?

• • •

Unless the NFL forgets why it exists, the tush-push will become illegal by next season.

Nothing against the Eagles, who have run it to near-perfection for two years, but the short-yardage endeavor has robbed fans of a genuine football treat: A tense, evenly matched, fourth-and-inches defensive stand.

If the rule is not changed, every coach will find a way to run the play as successfully as the Eagles. It’s just how natural selection works in sports. But the NFL – and all pro and high-level college sports – exists to provide entertaining suspense. Once that begins to be chipped away, there is less reason to charge admission.

Free the goal-line stand.

• • •

John Middleton this week invested $172,000,000 in a 30-year-old 12-9 pitcher with a 4.46 ERA who just surrendered 32 home runs in 32 starts and has a history of fading late in seasons.

Aaron Nola is a good teammate with strikeout stuff who would not be out of place in any championship-level rotation. So good for him – and good for Phillies fans – that ownership will overspend for a pitcher inching closer to No.3 status than to re-establishing himself as an ace.

• Mere days after the Phillies were ousted from the NLCS because Rob Thomson wouldn’t budge from his agenda, Johan Rojas was essentially demoted to the bush leagues and Craig Kimbrel was effectively told to schedule an Uber.

That’s the same Rojas who Thomson refused to pinch-hit for in Game 7, and the same Kimbrel he insisted on using in late-season, high-leverage situations to disastrous results.

In related news, Thomson will be allowed to wander into the 2024 season on an expiring contract.

• • •

If you have to promote yourself in the process, giving away Thanksgiving turkeys is not an act of generosity. It is an over-played publicity stunt.

• • •

Head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended for three games after the Big Ten ended an investigation into an alleged University of Michigan football signal-stealing scheme.

But no matter what allegations strike certain college sports programs, the boosters will demand more. That is, whatever Michigan – for instance – is accused of doing, 107,601 will show up at the next game, buy overpriced swag and make fun of the losing team that didn’t steal any signs.

The only way bad deportment will end is if it proves to be humiliating, not worthy of celebration. As if.

• • •

If there is no traffic around the airport on a holiday travel weekend, that’s a story. TV stations have it backwards.

• • •

As the uncomfortable front man for a weird rebuilding endeavor, former 76ers coach Brett Brown routinely promised that by the time Ben Simmons was 26, he would be a useful distance shooter. Simmons is 27 and had not attempted a three-pointer all season through last weekend.

Time’s up.

Shot clock violation.

• If the Sixers are better this season – and they are – it is largely because Daryl Morey was able to rid his roster of a certain player early in the season. Now, P.J. Tucker – you were thinking someone else? – is averaging less than two points a game in Los Angeles.

• And how long before someone points out that one team scored 124 points in the paint and the other had 120 in an NBA game on one of those colorized in-season tournament courts?

• • •

Charging shoppers for a bag to carry home the items they just purchased … I don’t get it.

Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@delcotimes.com

Not just the disappointment of the Phillies’ loss to Arizona, squandering series leads of 2-0 and 3-2, denying a second straight pennant. But, as he gazed over the Philadelphia skyline, that he was at that moment, for the first time in his professional career, not a Phillie.

“I think all the memories and stuff kind of rolled through my head,” Nola said Monday. “Living in the city, I looked out the window and was like, gosh, we might not be here. That’s the reality of it.”

The offseason and brief free agency that followed was a successful attempt for Nola to rectify that dissonance.

The pitcher’s sense of belonging in Philadelphia was part of the reason Nola signed a seven-year, $172 million deal to remain with the only organization that has ever employed him. Much as he could’ve made that money anywhere — reportedly more in some new city — Nola’s priority was to stay with the team that made him one of the most sought after pitchers in baseball.

“What hit me the most was obviously the loss but my teammates, everybody I became close with, (that) I could possibly not be there,” Nola said at a press conference to welcome him back. “And everybody my wife became close to, which was hard for her, too. You know, you’re in one spot for a little while and you’re comfortable there and you make friends, you make family, and they’re your friends for life. Not being able to see them all the time, it’s tough.”

Nola ended a five-year, $56.7 million contract signed in 2019, despite attempts before the season to ink an extension. He’s now set to stay with the Phillies through 2030. The first-round pick in 2014 ranks fifth in franchise history in strikeouts (1,582), seventh in starts (25) and second in 200-strikeout seasons (five). He’s made the most starts of any pitcher in baseball since 2018 and is second in innings, third in strikeouts and fifth in WAR over that span.

Nola struggled some in 2023, with a 12-9 record, 4.46 ERA and career-worst 32 home runs allowed. But he rallied for a strong September, bucking his usual trend of wearing, and was excellent in the postseason, with a 3-1 record, 2.35 ERA and 0.96 WHIP.

Nola was arguably the top pitcher available on the market.

He took meetings with several clubs, including reported interest from NL East rival Atlanta. But rather than waiting for the market to develop, Nola took the lead.

Wanting to settle the uncertainty — and with wife, Hunter, expecting the couple’s first child — they moved quickly to vet offers. When the numbers shook out, Nola found that the salary that would take care of his growing family was connected to the intangibles they wanted in Philadelphia.

“I’ve always wanted to be a Phillie,” Nola said. “I’ve always been a Phillie. This is the only place we kind of had our eyes set on. It’s the most comfortable place for me. Everybody in this organization is so good, has been so committed to winning, committed to the players. The relationships that I’ve made, it’s going to last a lifetime, and I feel like it would’ve been hard to get away from those people.”

President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski gave the team’s perspective: “It was really important for us to try to get this done, to sign one of the best pitchers, to me, in major league baseball. … (It’s) a unique situation because not only a tremendous pitcher and human being, but what Aaron and Hunter mean for the community. They’re already entrenched in the city and have done so much. Anything could happen, but it was apparent that they really wanted to remain part of this organization and this community, and that’s a great thing for all of us.”

The Phillies have not been shy about handing out long contracts. They are committed in 2030 to paying a combined $75 million to Nola, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, all of whom will be 37. Nola has been the portrait of durability through nine big league seasons, and the club is confident that will continue.

“It starts with his work ethic and his dedication and his desire to be great for a long time,” general manager Sam Fuld said. “When you evaluate these kinds of things, you have to start with the makeup. And I don’t know if anyone in the game has better makeup than Aaron Nola. The routine and the consistency, day in and day out, good outing or bad outing, it’s the same person and the same desire to be good the next time he gets the ball.”

Nola’s signing, made official Saturday, achieved the Phillies’ primary offseason goal: To add an elite starting pitcher, with Nola as their first choice. With it, Dombrowski deemed the 2024 rotation “set” and conceded that there isn’t any “glaring spot” to upgrade. The marquee offseason signings of the past two years appear to be done, then, barring a trade moving out an established piece and marginal improvements to the bench or bullpen.

The stated desire to run it back for a team that has won seven games in the last two National League Championship Series may not be the buzziest offseason gambit. But that continuity is part of what drew Nola back, and it underscores the goal that unites a familiar clubhouse.

“I think the biggest thing I think about is winning the World Series,” Nola said. “The past two years, we’ve gotten pretty close. We obviously have the team to do it and to make that next step is obviously my goal. It’s everybody in that clubhouse’s goal. It’s everybody in the organization’s goal to do that. And that was a big reason that I came back.”

The right-hander signed a seven-year contract to remain with the Phillies after testing the free-agent market, the team said Sunday. ESPN and others reported the 30-year-old’s contract is worth $172 million.

“At the outset of this offseason, we made signing Aaron our top priority,” Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski said. “We are committed to winning, and having an individual like him in our uniform for years to come only helps us in that regard.

“Aaron has proven to be one of the best and most durable pitchers in our game for a number of years now, and when considering his leadership abilities and his character, it was very important for us to keep him a part of the Phillies family.”

Nola is the first big-name starting pitcher to come off the board among this year’s free agents, a group including Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Sonny Gray, Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez. There were reports citing various sources that he turned down potentially bigger offers to stay with the club.

Nola was a first-round draft pick by the Phillies in 2014, debuted with Philadelphia the next year and has been there his entire career. He’s been one of baseball’s most dependable pitchers — a valuable commodity with the modern stress on big league bullpens.

He made at least 32 starts and pitched at least 180.2 innings in five of the last six years — the exception was the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.Nola went 12-9 with a 4.46 ERA in 32 starts with Philadelphia this year, finishing with 202 strikeouts in 193.2 innings. He had a 4.63 ERA in 2021 and a 4.78 ERA in 2016 in his only other years in that vicinity. His career mark is 3.72.

Nola helped the Phillies secure an NL wild card in 2023, and then went 3-1 with a 2.35 ERA in four playoff starts. The Phillies were eliminated by Arizona in the NL Championship Series. Nola made five postseason starts when the Phils made it to the 2022 World Series before losing to Houston. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native finished with a 2-2 record and a 4.91 ERA.

The 6-foot-2 Nola played college ball at LSU before he was selected by Philadelphia with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2014 amateur draft. He made his big league debut in July 2015, going 6-2 with a 3.59 ERA in 13 starts for the Phillies.

Nola is 90-71 with a 3.72 ERA in 235 career starts over nine seasons — all with Philadelphia. He has 1,582 strikeouts in 1,422 innings. He had his best season in 2018, when he went 17-6 with a career-low 2.37 ERA in 33 starts and a career-high 212.1 innings.

All right, I have to get this off my chest before I can finally move on with my life.

I’ve mentioned it on other platforms, and now I’ll mention it here.

For two years, I was mostly stuck at home or stuck in a hospital, and I’m not talking about COVID. I had a thrown-out back, a blood infection, and double spinal-fusion surgery. Even though I attempted to work from home when I was able, I probably watched 300-plus Phillies games in that span.

Is that sad? Maybe. Maybe very sad. Lol.

However, I wasn’t glued to the TV for every game, and I obviously wasn’t able to cover the Phillies as a journalist, but I always had the game on, no matter what I was doing.

The Phillies gave me a sense of normalcy every day while I was dealing with health issues, while I was gaining ungodly amounts of weight before and after back surgery. (Pass me the Ozempic.) The Phillies were always there.

In other words, I was a fan, and I was extra invested. I know that many people around here were invested too.

The Phillies lost the NLCS when they blew those first two games in Arizona. Thank you very much, Craig Kimbrel — and Rob Thomson.

Thomson blew both of those games by bringing in the rookie Orion Kerkering and 35-year-old Craig Kimbrel, who has looked washed since the All-Star break, when he seemed to hit a wall, in both Game 3 and Game 4.

(And Kimbrel just let baserunners run wild against him. They’d get into scoring position and then score. It was like, “Hello! That’s your responsibility!”)

Also, there was no reason for Thomson not to pinch hit for Johan Rojas in Game 7 with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth, with the Phillies up 2-1 and with runs at a premium.

Rojas finished 4-for-43 this postseason. He flailed with a weak swing for strike three in that pivotal moment, when the Phillies had a chance to break things open. Rojas gave us no chance.

Thomson said he didn’t want to sacrifice his defense in center field (as if Rojas is Willie Mays out there). Christian Pache plays an excellent center field and had some clutch hits for us during the regular season. He would have been a logical choice to pinch hit (or even to start). Or Thomson could have pinch hit with Jake Cave, who ended the game at the plate, put Cave in left and moved Marsh over to center.

And why on earth did Thomson keep choosing to pitch to Corbin Carroll?

With two outs and a man on second base in the fifth, he let Ranger Suárez pitch to Carroll, who was already 2-for-2 with a run scored against Ranger. (Pregame, Thomson had said he’d be looking to remove Suárez in that spot, regardless of what was happening.) But instead of taking him out, when it turned out it actually made sense to do so in that spot, he left him in and Carroll burned us with an RBI single to tie the game, stole second, and then scored on a base hit to put the D’backs ahead 3-2.

What?!

Also, our big bats obviously didn’t come through the last two games at the plate. In Game 7, Schwarber, Turner, Harper and Castellanos were a combined 1-for-15.

And what was Turner doing trying to bunt in the fifth after Schwarber led off with a double?

Turner followed up the failed, foul-ball bunt attempt with an unproductive out by grounding out to third. He didn’t even try to hit the ball the other way to at least move the runner over — despite getting an outside pitch he could have smacked toward right. Harper and Bohm then made outs to end the inning.

Really bad approaches at the plate by some of our best hitters, not being selective, swinging out of their shoes, and trying to pull everything.

Arizona definitely deserves credit, but we let them back in the series by blowing those first two in the desert. Even if we had taken 2 of 3 in AZ, and had come back home up 3-1, it would have been a different series.

I don’t trust Rob Thomson to manage our pitching at all, especially in tight games when offenses are being shut down — which happens a lot in every postseason. That’s when elite in-game managers are on point and inhabiting all the details, from pitching to pinch hitters to runners to moving guys around, etc.

I don’t trust Thomson in those situations at all. He has shown himself to be passive and analytics-driven. He used to be Joe Torre’s right-hand man, and his passiveness reminded me of Torre in the 2004 ALCS, when the Yankees blew a 3-0 series lead to Boston. The Red Sox went on to break their World Series curse, and it was the downfall of Torre with the Yankees, who didn’t really contend again for five more years (when they beat the Phillies in the ’09 World Series).

And I definitely don’t trust Thomson with handling pitchers. It was on full display in last year’s World Series against Houston, when he pulled Wheeler prematurely in Game 6, but it has been an ongoing bugaboo. Thomson doesn’t learn from it or change. It’s a big deal.

(Even when he pulled Wheeler with two outs to go in the ninth in Game 7 against the Diamondbacks, Wheeler had a look on his face like, “Really? Again?” but didn’t argue.)

By the way, while Thomson was wearing out our bullpen, did he forget that Taijuan Walker was on the roster? Walker, who tweeted after the Phillies lost the NLCS that “Disrespect is at an all time high,” led the Phillies with 15 wins this year. Thomson didn’t use him once in the postseason.

Again, what?!

Thomson likes to gamble that multiple relievers will all be on their game rather than sticking with guys who are dealing. Doesn’t analytics tell him that the odds are stacked against him?

He got away with it when he prematurely pulled Suárez in Game 3 of the NLDS against Atlanta (Ranger was visibly angry and shocked.) All six relievers Thomson used happened to perform well in that game, but that is beyond rare.

I have to believe Thomson’s mismanagement of his pitchers has become a source of tension in the clubhouse. It happened throughout the regular season, perhaps most notably when he gave Christopher Sanchez an early hook while he was throwing a no-hitter during an awful series in Pittsburgh at the end of July. I think the players are going to confront him about the issue.

They have to.

I don’t trust him with the pitching. I don’t trust him with the pitching. I don’t trust him with the pitching.

I’m not calling for Thomson to be fired (as if I have a say anyway). He runs a good clubhouse and the players play for him. But he does need to make some serious changes to his in-game approach, because this pattern is harmful.

He should have learned a year ago, against the Astros. The message needs to be sent up the chain, where many of his predetermined moves come from, even though some of the problem is Thomson himself, with his own situational panic and a deference to analytics that he can always justify to his bosses.

Phillies president Dave Dombrowki gave Thomson a two-year extension after last season, after Thomson took over in June of 2022 and led the Phillies to the World Series and became a popular figure. But that extension wasn’t exactly a vote of confidence. It was a wait-and-see move. Thomson will now be entering the final year of his deal.

Dombrowski believes in analytics, but he’s not someone who wants to die on that hill either. He needs to get the message, but you can’t count on an unlimited number of chances in life. This should have been the Phillies’ year. Next year isn’t promised.

It was a strong year for the Phils, but I really thought they’d get to the World Series and win it. So disappointing. And it’s on Thomson, the captain of the ship.

———

Email Christiaan DeFranco at cdefranco@thereporteronline.com. Follow him on X at @the_defranc, or visit ChrisDeFranco.com.

The Eagles played the Commanders at home and won by three in overtime, largely because Washington coach Ron Rivera couldn’t summon the willingness to attempt a two-point conversion at the regulation horn.

The Eagles played the Cowboys at home, won by five, holding on at the end to blunt a dangerous Dallas drive.

It’s nice to be good.

It’s better to be lucky.

That is not a shot at the Eagles, who all did enough other things in those games that led to ultimate success. Football is about fumbles and bad decisions and blunted drives. But it is also open to the laws-of-average discussion as Nick Sirianni’s team takes a midseason pause.

In a season when good teams — and in one case, a historically great one — are losing at some reasonable pace, the Eagles have sneaked into their idle week at 8-1 and in fringe magic-number-calculation distance from the second-place Cowboys. But the 49ers, widely believed to be the second-best NFC team, have three losses. Kansas City, the world champion, has dropped a couple. Dallas has three Ls.

Typically, it’s how the NFL works. Parity. All that. But at the virtual midway point, the Eagles have the best record in the league. They also have some concerns, or at least that’s how it sounds.

“There is always room for improvement,” Sirianni said. “Always room for improvement. We’ll continue to work on things, the details, the ball security, the ability to take the football away. That’s something we’re going to continue to work on.”

Sounds solid. But there has not been much about the Eagles through nine games to suggest the need for drastic improvement. They have been fine. Entertaining. Resourceful. They are playing like a defending conference champion.

But the preseason over-under for Eagles wins was set at 11.5, which says two things: They already are close to cashing on the over, and that they should understand that it’s unlikely they will rocket too far past that 12-win mark. So if it is destined to be close, then their fans should not expect another eight games of .888 football.

“What did Bill Parcells say?” said Sirianni, winding up for the tired suggestion that the Hall of Fame coach never said anything else. “He said, ‘You are what your record says you are.’ So we’re in a good spot right now. And we are going to enjoy this bye week at 8-1 and get ready for the Kansas City Chiefs, who obviously are a great football team. And we will just continue to try to bust our butts to get better every single day.”

With the Chiefs, Bills, 49ers and Cowboys among the remaining games, that wouldn’t be a bad idea. Because at some point the NFL is going to NFL and even out the breaks.

• Every athlete should deal with injuries the way Jalen Hurts has with with his nagging knee issue. Too many others, in many sports, would have spent weeks milking sympathy or, worse, unnecessary time off. All he did was continue to boost his MVP candidacy.

• • •

It’s always sad news when the last Halloween horror movie is televised for another year. Those never fail to entertain.

• • •

Rhys Hoskins neared free agency and the Phillies held the door ajar, declining to give him a qualifying offer to remain, fearful he would reach for his contract-signing pen.

Nothing against a homegrown power hitter with a valuable clubhouse and community presence, but if there is one thing the Phillies did not need, it was another low-average hitter haunted by dramatic batter’s box streaks and slumps. No, the team that has not finished in first place since 2011 already has cornered the market on those.

• The Texas Rangers, whose accounting department OK’d $250,000,000 for human resources, won the World Series. Long term, that’s the only analytic that matters. Spend to win. As long as they have an owner hip to the concept, the Phillies will contend up to the point where there has to be a decision made on when to use Zack Wheeler in an elimination game.

• You know what was a good idea? Using Orion Kerkering in the NLCS and not Michael Lorenzen or Taijuan Walker. That way the Phillies could ruin his confidence the same way they did for Johan Rojas.

• • •

Me, I gladly kick over the extra fee for shopping bags. Just my way of being socially conscious.

• • •

For an interesting read, try “It’s Been a Rich Life,” an autobiography by former Daily Times sports writer and Springfield resident Rich Westcott. It’s a good look into how a fulfilling career in sports writing unfolds caked in some honest reflection on his upbringing.

• Starting to think Deion Sanders didn’t have every college sports coaching answer.

• RIP Bobby Knight. The former Indiana coach would not suffer the hideous officiating that has soiled college basketball for decades. If nothing else, remember him for that.

• • •

You get those gigantic, tableside pepper grinders?

Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@delcotimes.com

In a move that should surprise no one, the Phillies on Friday declined their 2024 option on the one-time wunderkind. The option would’ve paid Kingery, who didn’t play in the big leagues in 2023, $13 million. Instead, the club took a $1 million buyout.

Kingery signed a six-year, $24 million deal in 2018, before he’d ever set foot on a major league field. It didn’t quite work out, for a variety of reasons.

He batted .226 with eight homers in 147 games in 2018, then .258 in 126 games in 2019. He struggled through the pandemic-shortened 2020 with a .159 average in 36 games, after he had battled the coronavirus. And he had just 19 plate appearances in the big leagues the last three seasons. He was part of some very bad Phillies teams, playing for managers whom he’s managed to outlive in Philly.

A second baseman in the minors, Kingery was shuttled to shortstop in 2018, then center field in 2019, trying to fill gaps in deficient rosters. When a new front office did that through signings, Kingery no longer had a place on the team.

The second round draft pick in 2015 hit .244 with 13 homers and 48 RBIs at Triple-A Lehigh Valley this year after a .230 average, seven homers and 34 RBIs in 2022. He made a run at a roster spot in spring training with a .340 average, but the roster math wasn’t in his favor.

Kingery played one inning without getting a plate appearance on June 8, 2022. His last at-bat as a Phillie came May 16, 2021.

The Phillies Friday also filled their bullpen coaching vacancy from within by elevating Cesar Ramos.

Ramos, 39, spent two seasons as the pitching coach for Lehigh Valley, after his pro career ended in 2017. A former first-round draft pick, the left-handed reliever pitched in 267 career major league games with San Diego, Tampa, the Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers with a 10-15 record and 4.02 ERA.

He joined the Phillies as a player information assistant in 2020.

He replaces Dave Lundquist, who spent five years with the Phillies.

The 2023 Phillies finished 14 games out of first place, turned a little hot in the bloated playoffs, retreated to their level and flopped famously.

Bryce Harper, if you will …

“We’ll be back.”

That’s the best thing about baseball. The traditions.

Cut through all the lies about the fans — fair weather frauds, too many of them — and the ballpark noise and questionable choice of a theme song, and the Phillies were what everyone knew they were in 2023, to kind of quote that old football coach. Their willingness notwithstanding, they didn’t function. Nor did they have a manager quick to assist in that repair. They were strikeout-prone, streaky and built to solve no-longer-legal defensive shifts. Their everyday lineup was filthy with slow-afoot double-play carriers in an era of chubbier bases and fewer opportunities for pitchers to keep runners close. They were fine defensively, but not jaw-dropping.

Flush with John Middleton mad money, Dave Dombrowski annually endeavors to plug holes in a bullpen, trying an Archie Bradley and a Sam Coonrod here, a Corey Knebel and a Brad Hand there, a Yunior Marte and — don’t you know — a Craig Kimbrel there and there and there and there and there. If there must be a manuscript for wild-card contention, that would work. Yet there was was the ruling party last week all but going full-on with Josh Harris “huge success” self-congratulations.

“When you start looking through the haze,” Dombrowski said, “we have a good team.”

That’s the problem around there. Too many people ignoring the haze — or, literally, too many players creating some with that over-used, postgame clubhouse smoke show after every regular-season success.

Though Dombrowski was willing to allow Rob Thomson to enter the season on the last leg of his telling two-year contract — thus suggesting the props department keep a Wawa bag handy in case of the annual slow start — there was no immediate demand for managerial improvement. The closest any of them came to admitting overreach was the hint that Johan Rojas will begin the next season in the minors learning how to — wait for it — hit.

To their eternal credit — think the determination Ed Snider used to show to pursue a Stanley Cup — the Phillies will hack at it again in the offseason. Their first move will be to recommit to Aaron Nola, accepting his many in-season strikeouts while bracing for that one inning that will doom too many of his starts. They likely will allow Rhys Hoskins to leave, which makes sense as long as they spend that money elsewhere. Unless Kyle Schwarber plays left field every day — that was some ballet, wasn’t it? — there is no spot in the order for a 31-year-old coming off an empty season and about to turn 31.

From there, there shall be upgrades. Dombrowski could trade for Juan Soto or (annual overstatement alert) Mike Trout, but otherwise, the Phillies will remain largely intact next season. The bullpen will be tweaked again. Centerfield needs an upgrade. The bench, even in the DH era where pinch-hitting is extinct, needs a boost.

But what really is going to change if Thomson continues to lead off Schwarber or be befuddled as to when to use Zack Wheeler? To wit: Does he pull him out too early in an elimination game, as he did in 2022? Or does he wait too late to use his only reliable pitcher, as he did in the final game of the last NLCS? Nor is that nit-picking. Thomson, who brazenly used the same lineup the game after being no-hit in the 2022 World Series was just as stubborn again as the Phillies lost Games 6 and 7 at home against Arizona. He doesn’t retreat. Respect him, at least, for that.

“I think we’ve got a really good club,” said Dombrowski, after admitting to a brief, offseason to-do scroll. “I think we have better than a 90-win club, myself.”

Good to know.

As long as Harper, the best Phillie of the modern era, is around, the team will compete. Dombrowski knows how to win. Middleton spends. But other teams spend, too. And other general managers know how to win, too. And other teams have great players, too.

How many throws can the Phillies expect at this thing?

“I’m proud of them,” said Thomson after the final game. “They prepared and they competed every day this year, and we had to go through some tough times. I’m proud of this group that our front office has put together, because they’re talented, and they have great makeup, and they’re great to be around. I love them all. I really do.

“So it is disappointing, but it’s tough to get back to this position two years in a row. It is. But they fought to get here, and we came up short.

“That’s baseball sometimes.”

And sometimes, as Phillies followers just found out, it’s baseball the next year too.

Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@delcotimes.com