The announcement came down this afternoon with a bolt-out-of-the-blue suddenness: the Phillies have decided to remove the “interim” tag from Pete Mackanin. The club announced that he will return with a contract for the 2016 season, one that includes a club option for 2017 as well.
Prior to this announcement, most of the reasonable speculation seemed to be that Mackanin would finish out the 2015 season. Then at some point, probably in October, the club would name a new general manager. That new GM would then sit down with club president Andy MacPhail and make a decision on the managerial position, possibly after a series of candidate interviews.