Like Pete Mackanin, Larry Bowa seems likely to have a different role in the Phillies organization in 2018. (Frank Klose/SportsTalkPhilly)
By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Larry Bowa reportedly is likely to stay with the Philadelphia Phillies for the 2018 season, but in a different role than the bench coach spot that he has occupied since 2014. No, he won’t be getting a second stint as the team’s manager.
According to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, the Phillies hope that Bowa will stay with the organization, although he’s unlikely to do so as a coach:
A source confirmed on Monday that the Phillies have asked Bowa to remain in the organization, although he is unlikely to return as a member of the coaching staff.
Bob Brookover of The Philadelphia Inquirer initially reported that the Phillies were looking to retain Bowa in some capacity:
The Phillies have told Larry Bowa they want him to remain with the organization, according to a source close to the situation.
The source who said the Phillies want Bowa to remain with the organization said that it’s possible the five-time all-star and former team manager would perform an instructional role at multiple minor-league levels. Bowa said he has a meeting scheduled with the team for later this week, but declined to speculate on what his role might be in the future.
Bowa told the collective media before Friday’s game, shortly after it was announced that now former manager Pete Mackanin wouldn’t return in the same role for 2018, that his No. 1 priority was to remain with the Phillies. 2018, should he remain in the organization, would be the 29th year that he was involved as a player, coach or otherwise at the major league level for the Phillies.
With the Phillies likely to go with a more analytically driven manager in 2018, Bowa seemed like a near lock to not return as a member of the coaching staff. Bowa suggested in an interview with Mike Missanelli of 97.5 The Fanatic this past summer that he thought the sport as a whole overvalued sabermetrics. In that interview, he seemed to directly contradict an answer that general manager Matt Klentak had given to Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia about a struggling Maikel Franco a month earlier.
The future of the rest of the coaching staff, who Klentak said became free-agents today, is unclear until the Phillies hire a manager. Salisbury reported this afternoon that former Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, Seattle Mariners bench coach Tim Bogar and Boston Red Sox bench coach Gary DiSarcina are the early favorites in a coaching search that will likely include more candidates.
