Mark Teixeira spent the final eight season of his career with the New York Yankees, with Joe Girardi as his manager and Rob Thomson serving as either the bench coach or third base coach during that period.
So when the Yankees interviewed Thomson to be Girardi's successor after the 2017 season, Teixeira was a natural person to ask to compare and contrast the two. Nearly five years later -- with Thomson now the interim manager of the Philadelphia Phillies following the firing of Girardi -- a clip from a 2017 interview with Teixeira has resurfaced, thanks to Kyle Pagan of Crossing Broad.
"The Rob Thomson that you guys see is intense. The Rob Thomson that we see in the clubhouse ... that we see on the road when we have some free time ... is an awesome guy that can hang out and talk about life and joke around," Teixeira said. "And when you're having a tough time -- when you're 0-8 with seven strikeouts in two straight games -- he's the guy that comes up and pats you on the back and says 'I know you got 'em tomorrow, Teix.' And that's the kind of guy that we see behind the scenes."
Teixeira would go on to say that the reason Thomson appeared intense when he was on Girardi's staff is that he had a ton of responsibilities that prevented him from being able to show his personality to the media frequently. But behind the scenes, players in the Yankees' clubhouse were very fond of Thomson.
"...But when he lets his hair down, when he is sitting with you after a game and you're just talking and shooting the breeze, he's a great guy and that's the Rob Thomson that we all know and love."
Teixeira won a World Series in 2009 with Girardi as his manager, so he certainly doesn't have ill-will towards him. But where Thomson is able to turn off his intensity, Girardi didn't necessarily have a mode where he could become one of the guys, according to Teixeira.
"No, that's not really Joe's personality," Teixeira admitted. "And he would tell you that. Joe was intense all the time, and Joe really wasn't a guy to kind of hang out and shoot the breeze and maybe have a beer with you after the game."
So far, the Phillies are 3-0 under Thomson. Granted, they completed a weekend sweep the Los Angeles Angels, a team that has now lost 12 games and a row and fired manager Joe Maddon Tuesday. At 25-29, the Phillies still have a lot of work to do to climb back into position to make the postseason, and they'll have their work cut out beginning Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers.
But one of the criticisms of the Phillies early on in the 2022 season was that they didn't seem to be having a ton of fun playing. Some of that -- as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said last Friday -- comes with the territory of losing. But perhaps having an interim manager that's a little less intense will help the Phillies to play a little looser and perform closer to the playoff-caliber team many expected them to be before the season.
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