Joe Girardi, Dusty Baker and Buck Showalter to Reportedly Interview for Phillies Managerial Job

The Philadelphia Phillies have made it perfectly clear that they are out of the first-time manager business following the firing of Gabe Kapler, and they are shooting for some recognizable names to fill their vacancy.

Per reports, the Phils will interview three veteran managers in former Yankees skipper Joe Girardi, former Orioles/Yankees/D-Backs stalwart Buck Showalter, and 70-year-old Dusty Baker, who managed Bryce Harper in Washington.

Girardi is almost a certainty to be named a manager somewhere, as he is considered among the favorites for the Cubs and Mets jobs, which he has already interviewed for. Showalter, who has managed off and on since 1992, was instrumental in the revival of the Baltimore Orioles before being dealt a bad hand by a rebuilding organization and getting the axe.

Baker is the surprising name on this list. A man who once said that putting men in base is "unimportant" and "clogging up the bases," plays veterans in late September because of the "integrity of the playoff race," and ruined the careers of pitchers from Robb Nen to Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, Baker went 4-6 in the postseason with Harper's Nationals. In his career, he has won just 41 percent of his playoff games and has made the World Series just once in 22 years as a manager.

After going hard after an analytics guy in Kapler, it appears Philadelphia is reversing course and going after an old-school traditionalist.