By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia Phillies appear to be moving towards finalizing Gabe Kapler's coaching staff.
If the team ultimately names Rick Kranitz the pitching coach – something that logistically seems likely – then the only two notable positions that would still be open on the coaching staff would be first base coach and bench coach. Currently, the Phillies seem focused on filling on the bench coach vacancy.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, New York Yankees bench coach Rob Thomson may be the team's favorite to be the next bench coach:
Sources: #Phillies have identified Rob Thomson as leading candidate for bench-coach job.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 1, 2017
Tuesday evening, Sweeney Murti of WFAN reported that the Phillies planned to interview Thomson for their open bench coach position this week. Considering it's Friday and Rosenthal is reporting this, it seems likely that said interview took place and probably went pretty well.
Thomson, who has been on the Yankees coaching staff since 2008, is one of the six remaining candidates for the Yankees managerial job. It's unclear if he remains in serious consideration to become the next Yankees manager. That would obviously take precedent over being a bench coach for the Phillies.
At the end of last week, Howard Eskin of SportsRadio 94 WIP reported that the Phillies were "considering" Chase Utley for the role. Besides his obvious connection to the Phillies, Utley has spent the last two-and-a-half seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who previously employed Kapler. Utley hasn't officially retired as a player, nor does he have any coaching experience. It's unclear how serious the Phillies interest in Utley is, whether Utley would be interested in coaching in 2018 or if there are any plans for Utley to interview for the position.
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Thomson and Utley are the only candidates that have been connected to the position. Given how good of a job that the Phillies did at keeping their managerial search under wraps, it's entirely possible that other candidates have been considered or interviewed.
During four of his 10 seasons on the Yankees staff, Thomson has served as the team's bench coach. The other six were spent as the third base coach. He also seems well-rounded, having worked under the more traditional Joe Girardi, while working in a Yankees organization that has become increasingly reliant on analytics in recent years. His experiences in New York would seem to make him an ideal fit as Kapler's right-hand man.
