Apparently Ken Rosenthal is reporting that he believes Showalter to the Phillies is a possibility soon. Saw this on another site and Showalter said that the Phils were "in good hands with McPhail and Klentak." Didn't see the comment from Rosenthal as he now works for The Athletic but the guy who reported it is pretty reputable on his site.
General feeling is that this would be a major coup for the Phils and I agree. Let's face it, Showalter is widely considered one of the Top 10 managers in baseball, has a history of leading teams to the playoffs and over performing, and also usually has very strong offensive teams. He also has a good relationship with Machado and I have to believe he is Player #1 of all guys out there who the team would love to bring in at some point.
Now, Showalter does have a contract through 2018 so this may be a mute point but it is interesting that Rosenthal [who is pretty well connected] reports this at almost the same time as Peter Mac chooses to go public that he hasn't been told yet whether or not he will be back next season.
One more thing worth noting....I am not advocating this one necessarily but Dan Warthen, widely considered an outstanding pitching coach,, has been told he won't be back with the Mets next year, despite the young hurlers almost universally campaigning for the outstanding job he did with them.
Long term, Warthen wouldn't be a guy to count on but short term he might be just what this young staff needs. His resume with the Mets and their youngsters is strong. Again, I think Warthen would be rated as one of the Top 10 best pitching coaches in the major leagues.
Not in my lifetime can I remember the Phils ever making a potential splash like Showalter/Warthen at one time. They have always been quite conservative in their choices.