Manager Mackanin gets contract extension

The Phillies granted Pete Mackanin, a contract extension Thursday carrying him through the 2018 season with a club option through 2019.

Pete Mackanin will be managing the Phillies for a while.

Despite being stuck in a slump in which they have lost 10 of their last 12 games, the Phils Thursday granted Mackanin, 65, a contract extension, carrying him through the 2018 season. They also have an option on Mackanin through 2019.

Mackanin replaced Ryne Sandberg as the Phillies’ manager during the 2015 season. His record with the Phillies, who are in a rebuilding phase, is 121-161. The Phillies had held an option to keep Mackanin as their manager through 2018.

The contract extension came a day after Mackanin’s coaching staff was criticized by relief pitcher Joaquin Benoit. The veteran charged that the Phillies’ bullpen troubles were a result of the pitchers lacking distinct assignments.

“I believe if we have a set role, everybody will fall in place,” Benoit said after an 11-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners Wednesday. “Right now, I think everyone is a different piece. Right now, I believe that it would be better if everybody knows what their role is and when you’re going to contribute. If it’s the sixth, well, that person will throw the sixth. If it’s the ninth, that person is throwing the ninth.”

Mackanin’s contract was set to expire after this season.

A former major-league player, who played briefly for the Phillies in 1978 and 1979, was on Sandberg’s coaching staff. Initially, he was hired on an interim basis. Shortly after joining the Phillies as president of baseball operations in 2015, Andy MacPhail removed that interim tag and named Mackanin the full-time manager.

Mackanin had previously been an interim manager in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.