Could Don Mattingly become candidate for bench coach vacancy with Phillies?

Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported Thursday that “Don Mattingly has decided to step away from his Blue Jays bench coach job, but not with the intention of retiring from baseball.”

While Heyman mentions Mattingly still being interested in potentially getting another crack at being a manager — and both the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres still haven’t decided on their next skipper — his decision to walk away from Toronto following the expiration of his contract is sure to ignite speculation about him potentially becoming the next bench coach of the Phillies.

And frankly, that speculation makes some sense.

Obviously, Donnie Baseball’s son, Preston, is the general manager of the Phillies, serving as the No. 2 to president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

Additionally, Mattingly and Rob Thomson were both on Joe Torre’s staffs with the New York Yankees from 2004-2007, so they have spent time together.

Don Mattingly talks about the mixed emotions he had with Rob Thomson getting his first shot to manage after Joe Girardi was fired. pic.twitter.com/BIM0arE1ts

— Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) June 13, 2022

Mattingly spent the last three seasons as the bench coach of the Blue Jays, but prior to that managed both the Los Angeles Dodgers (2011-2015) and Miami Marlins (2016-2022).

The Phillies chose to bring back their entire coaching staff for the 2026 season, but have created a new role for Mike Calitri as the major-league field coordinator, leaving a vacancy at bench coach. Dombrowski said the Phillies would prefer for the next bench coach to have previous managerial experience, a box that Mattingly obviously checks with over 1,000 games managed at the MLB level.

Who knows if Mattingly would feel comfortable taking a job in the organization where his son has a high-ranking role, but between having a prior relationship with Thomson and managerial experience, he definitely would check some boxes for the Phillies.

Another interesting potential bench coach candidate is Fredi Gonzalez, who previously has managed the Marlins and Atlanta Braves. Gonzalez returned to the Braves midseason to be their third base coach, but will not be retained under new manager Walt Weiss. Not only does Gonzalez have prior managerial experience, but he resides in the Philadelphia area and was regularly seen at Citizens Bank Park working in his role evaluating the performance of umpires prior to rejoining the Braves in June.