I have no problem with Wathan coming in as a coach but I am personally hoping that Showalter becomes available [Baltimore is a mess] and his past relationships with McPhail/Klentak bring him to Philadelphia.
It is not necessarily a terrible thing when young teams like the Phils lose and lose often but it is a terrible thing when those young players look like they are regressing before your very eyes. This team simply does not seem to be well coached, other than the caveat that I do believe Stairs works hard at his job.
Again I will mention the Mauch led Phillies of the early 60's That team lost as often as this team did but you could visually see players like Callison, Taylor, Amaro, Wine, Gonzalez, Short, Bennett, Dalrymple and Mahaffey improving fundamentally before your very eyes.
Instead of throwing Rupp under the bus for his pitch calling mistakes, teach him the proper way to make pitch calling. Instead of talking about how poorly your team is at driving in runs from 3rd base with less than two outs, work with the team on ways to get the bat on the ball to increase the odds of bringing in the run.
Showalter has always been known as a tough but fair manager who demands that the game be played the right way. Thats what the Phils need. And for all this talk about how much Wathan and his players like each other [which is not a bad thing], my gosh they sure don't seem to be coming to Philadelphia versed in the proper fundamentals of the game so Wathan has not been a savior in that area.
And one more thing. Philadelphia seems to have this strange but perhaps prescient view that Machado is coming to play 3rd base with the Phils in 2019. Having Showalter on board sure would help the recruiting process as he and Machado reportedly have a very solid professional relationship.
I simply cannot see Showalter staying in Baltimore much past this year. He has to be frustrated with ownership, sees a team on the downside of what was a good run and is probably tired of competing against the big bucks duo of Boston/New York. If he joins the Phils he joins a big bucks team and might make a very good final resting spot before he retires.
To me, this looks like a very good and doable marriage.