CLEARWATER, Fla. – According to New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, "the Phillies got one of the best," when they hired Rob Thomson as bench coach.
"It was tough to see him leave," Cashman said. "He is a great coach, an exceptional baseball man. His knowledge of the game is off the charts.
"Gabe Kapler has someone at his side that he can trust to have everything lined up properly all the time and that will free up Gabe Kapler to focus on whatever he wants to focus on at the given time. Rob Thomson will keep the rudder steady every step of the way."
Thomson, 54, spent 28 years in the Yankees organization, most recently as Joe Girardi's bench coach. He was one of five people (along with Eric Wedge, Hensley Muelens and Carlos Beltran) to interview to become Girardi's successor during the offseason (see story.) Aaron Boone got the job.
Timing worked in the Phillies' favor in hiring Thomson. There was a lag between when Thomson found out he would not be the Yankees' manager and Boone's hiring. The Phillies offered him their bench coach job and he took it.
"He would have been a candidate to return here, without question," Cashman said. "It would have been the final call of Aaron Boone, but I would have recommended him highly to Aaron Boone. I gave (Phillies GM) Matt Klentak the highest recommendation."
Thomson described himself as a good self-evaluator. He's not sure he'd be cut out to manage every team, but he believed he'd have been a good fit for the Yankees job. He knew that organization, its operation and its players well.
"I understand that it's part of the business," Thomson said. "Brian and his staff, who are very smart people, had a certain person in mind and it wasn't me. So you have to move on and refocus."
Kapler did extensive research on Thomson and said he often heard that Thomson was "the best in the business at planning and running a spring training camp."
Cashman concurred.
"Gabe Kapler has as good a right-hand man as you can find," he said.
One plugged-in baseball observer described Thomson as similar to the late John Vukovich – a loyal-to-his-manager baseball taskmaster – only with a little less volume in his voice.
"He's tough," Cashman said. "He will be brutally honest. He'll say what a player needs to hear, not necessarily what a player wants to hear. And he'll always relate well to players because he always has their best interest at heart.
"The Phillies got one of the best."