With a bit of greater than a month till the Phillies report back to Clearwater for spring coaching, it seems as if the crew has accomplished all its offseason work. All indications from crew president Dave Dombrowski are that, whereas they’re all the time open to doing one thing if the market is sensible, the roster they’ve assembled proper now’s the one which would be the crew’s Opening Day roster on the finish of March.
We all know who the 2025 Phillies are going to be. We seemingly know their strengths and their weaknesses. They continue to be one of many two or three greatest groups within the Nationwide League, they continue to be a World Sequence contender, and so they stay a crew that has holes that it seems have been unattainable to fill this winter.
With a month left till baseball actions resume within the Sunshine State, what are the massive storylines surrounding this crew proper now as they put together to deal with one other season in pursuit of a world championship? On the newest version of Hittin’ Season we mentioned in additional element, however under is a primer.
Can the Phillies overcome a shaky outfield?
At first of the offseason, Dombrowski stated the Phillies didn’t get sufficient manufacturing from their outfield in 2024, and he was proper on the cash. Their .708 OPS from outfielders was simply sixteenth amongst 32 groups in baseball, and so they hit simply 50 house runs, seventh-fewest. They have been additionally sixth-worst by way of strikeout-to-walk fee.Â
The Austin Hays commerce with Baltimore final summer season didn’t work out, so Dombrowski got down to discover an on a regular basis leftfielder this winter. As an alternative, he signed free agent, lefthanded hitter Max Kepler to a one-year, $10 million contract. They are saying he’s going to play daily, however after an injury-riddled 2024, his numbers towards lefthanded pitching weren’t terrible (.247 common, .301 on-base share, only a .371 slugging share), however hardly the sort of stats that make you excited to have him within the lineup towards southpaws.
The crew remains to be trusting Nick Castellanos to be their massive outfield bat, hoping that Brandon Marsh and his wildly excessive strikeout fee will come down, that light-hitting Johan Rojas can determine a technique to be a productive Main League hitter, and that an inside possibility like Weston Wilson generally is a extra common contributor.
It’s a plan original with hope as a tactic.Â
Monetary constraints
It’s additionally a plan original with the concept they didn’t have a lot cash to spend.Â
It appeared fairly apparent early on that Juan Soto was going to signal with a New York crew, to the purpose the Phils by no means actually acquired concerned within the bidding. And that’s tremendous, however we anticipated them to pivot and make a play for one of many different free-agent outfielders available on the market, Teoscar Hernandez, Anthony Santander or Jurickson Profar. All could be upgrades as on a regular basis leftfielders.
Sadly, it seems as if the luxurious tax implications of going over the ultimate threshold of $301 million was too onerous for the Phils to hurdle, a minimum of for the gamers talked about above. Coming into the offseason, we merely had no thought the crew could be working underneath important monetary constraints.Â
In consequence, the crew has gone after harm reclamation initiatives like Kepler and former Toronto nearer Jordan Romano as their predominant free-agent targets, and have but to actively pursue bringing again considered one of their very own free-agent relievers – Jeff Hoffman or Carlos Estevez — nor signal one of many different outfielders accessible.
There’s nonetheless time within the winter for the costs for any of these gamers to cut back to the purpose Dombrowski might get again within the combine, like he did with Castellanos simply earlier than the ‘22 season. However for now, cash is tighter than a canine’s grip on uncooked meat.
Alec Bohm’s headspace
It seems one of many methods Dombrowski thought he may be capable to change issues was by dealing one or two gamers from his on a regular basis lineup. The identify on the forefront of that effort has been third baseman Alec Bohm, who had an All Star first half and a less-than-stellar second half that grew to become a catastrophe over the ultimate month and into October as he handled a wrist harm late within the season.
Bohm’s frustration-related outbursts on the sphere resulted in Thomson benching him for Recreation 2 of the NLDS towards the Mets. Keep in mind, Thomson NEVER benches gamers once they’re struggling. He stays with them and exhibits confidence in them, which makes it all of the extra stunning Bohm was benched. Clearly, he was not in an excellent headspace then and now, after a winter the place he has been talked about in commerce rumors repeatedly, there’s some curiosity as to how he’ll reply if he’s nonetheless carrying Phillies red-and-white in a month’s time.
I imagine Bohm can be right here subsequent yr, however watching his efficiency early ought to give us an excellent indication of the place he’s mentally getting into 2025.
Enhancements from key gamers
In 2023, Bryson Stott was a 25-year-old rising star who was among the many greatest second baseman in baseball, each defensively and offensively. Final yr, coping with an elbow harm that affected him all the season, he slumped badly and by no means recovered. His inconsistency and lack of manufacturing damage the offense tremendously, so it was a little bit of a reduction to listen to that he had been coping with one thing bodily through the course of ‘24. Not less than there could have been a tangible motive for his struggles. Getting a bounceback season from him in 2025 can be key to this offense fixing itself.
Ranger Suarez was an All Star within the first half of the season and a respectable Cy Younger candidate. Then, again soreness sapped his effectiveness and skill to find his pitches, finally touchdown him on the Injured Checklist for almost two months. When he got here again, he wasn’t the identical pitcher. Will he be higher in a contract push this season?Â
J.T. Realmuto wasn’t as efficient final season as he had been in earlier seasons. The Phils are anticipated to cut back his workload a bit within the hopes of getting extra out of him when he does play. Jose Alvarado was probably the most trusted arms within the bullpen for greater than two years, however he misplaced his means to strike out hitters in 2024. They’re relying on him to be higher in ‘25, too.
Trusting unproven bullpen arms
Even with Hoffman, Alvarado, Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering, Dombrowski checked out his bullpen final summer season and determined it wasn’t sufficient. So, he dealt for Estevez to offer the crew what he thought could be a lockdown unit for the playoffs. After all, that didn’t work out so effectively.
Which makes Dombrowski’s selections concerning the bullpen this winter curious. They’re seemingly pushed by the payroll restrictions talked about above, however, as of now, they don’t have Hoffman or Estevez. They introduced in Romano, who was damage for nearly all of final yr, to interchange a type of guys. They’re hoping Kerkering will emerge as a possible ninth-inning reliever, and are banking on Jose Ruiz to take one other step ahead. Lefthander Tanner Banks, who they acquired on the commerce deadline final summer season, can also be being tasked with higher-leverage innings, and so they’re counting on Alvarado determining no matter went incorrect in ‘24.Â
My spidey sense tells me they’re not executed including to this group, both right here within the winter or this summer season on the commerce deadline. They’re weaker right here than they have been on the finish of final season.
Beginning rotation brilliance
Having seen no cheap path to creating the adjustments they needed to make offensively, Dombrowski modified course and determined to strengthen a power with the commerce for Miami Marlins beginning pitcher Jesus Luzardo. Luzardo was the most effective younger lefthanded starters in 2023 earlier than coping with a again harm that torpedoed his 2024 season.Â
The addition of Luzardo instantly offers the Phillies one of the best beginning rotation in baseball, and it’s not notably shut. Supplied age doesn’t meet up with Zack Wheeler or Aaron Nola this yr, the Phils will go along with 5 starters who can shut down an opponent each day trip. There isn’t any weak point. And with the addition of Andrew Painter, one of many prime pitching prospects within the sport, anticipated in the course of the summer season, the Phils might have a humiliation of excellent beginning pitching.Â
Maybe it’ll be sufficient to masks any offensive or bullpen shortcomings that will crop up. Nevertheless it’ll be fascinating and enjoyable to see simply how good this beginning rotation might be. Will it stack as much as the 2011 Tremendous Rotation?Â