By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The last time the Philadelphia Phillies played in the World Series in 2009, Joe Girardi led the New York Yankees past them in six games. It doesn't seem likely that general manager Matt Klentak and the Phillies brass will tab the 53-year-old as they attempt to return to postseason glory.
According to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, the Phillies are in the home-stretch of their search for Pete Mackanin's successor, and aren't likely to make a play for the former Yankees skipper:
It is unlikely Yankees manager Joe Girardi will become a last-minute finalist. Giradi lost his job Thursday, but the Phillies seem to feel good enough about their three finalists to offer the job to one of them.
Zolecki did correctly point out that Girardi, despite an ALDS managerial blunder, did a very good job managing a talented young Yankees team to the ALCS in 2017. There is some history with Girardi and the Phillies front-office, as current club president Andy MacPhail attempted to hire Girardi in Baltimore in 2007, shortly after the organization parted ways with future Phillies third base coach Sam Perlozzo. Girardi had won National League Manager of the Year the previous year with the then Florida Marlins, but was still fired after his lone season with the Fish. Rather than accepting MacPhail's offer to become the next manager of the Orioles, Girardi elected to remain a television analyst and wait for a better managerial offer, one that eventually came from the Yankees less than a year later.
Even with that said, it's a decade later. Just as Brian Cashman and the Yankees front-office appear to think differently about Girardi as a manager than they did a decade ago, MacPhail is probably the same way. That's not to say that they don't think he's a good manager, but perhaps not the right manager for their respective teams at this juncture.
Klentak also appears to be in charge of the managerial search. If anything, Klentak has been accused of being too analytically focused. Girardi, who is a more traditional mind, doesn't seem like the type of candidate that Klentak would target.
With Klentak's sabermetrics focus in mind, he may elect to hire former MLB outfielder Gabe Kapler for the team's managerial vacancy. As Zolecki pointed out, Kapler has spent nearly three years as the Dodgers director of player development, working in perhaps the most progressive front-office in the league. General manager Andrew Friedman is considered one of the best minds in baseball, and nearly hired Kapler to manage the Dodgers after the 2015 season. He instead chose to hire Kapler's former teammate Dave Roberts, who has proven to be an excellent manager. That decision, however, could allow Kapler to fall into the laps of the Phillies, where he may be an ideal fit.
