After a bit of uncertainty, the Phillies hired the guy they wanted as the first-ever president of baseball operations in team history – and he just so happens to be the only GM ever to take three different teams to the World Series. Dave Dombrowski now aims to take a two-point lead on that score in Philadelphia. To his own admission, however, “no one thinks the Phillies are one player away.” So there’s work to do. What that means exactly makes for the nebulous, but substantive difference between Dombrowski and the what-might-have-been “other” guy.
The immediate assumption has been that Dombrowski’s appointment portends aggressive spending – either of dollars in free agency or of prospects via trades. Dombrowski has a reputation as a wheeler-and-dealer, and after three consecutive seasons of floating around .500, there’s some urgency to improve, directed largely by managing partner John Middleton. It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together.
And yet, Dombrowski himself took a more measured stance in his first press conference with reporters yesterday. So, too, did Middleton and team president Andy MacPhail. As I wrote yesterday, a focus on system building rather than immediate contention during his introduction speaks volumes about the level of self-awareness inside Philadelphia’s leadership group. While they’re not going to disappear immediately into the mud, don’t wait for J.T. Realmuto to come waltzing in the door behind Dombrowski either.
As for the new headmaster, he’s taking some time to get to know his new operation. It’s going to be a lot of sleepless nights in the coming weeks as he makes his first moves in office, such as deciding whether or not to hire a general manager. Though there’s a lot of work to do, Middleton, Dombrowski, and the Phillies seem a harmonious fit. You can add manager Joe Girardi to that group as well, whose old-school blood hasn’t kept him from recognizing important evolutions in the game – much like Dombrowski. No, they’re not the poster-children for the sabremetric, biomechanic, new-school evangelists, but they’re hepper to what’s wise in this game than it may seem.
It’s time for you to weigh in. Dombrowski is said to have signed a four-year deal, so let’s keep our prognostication to that time frame. Say that at the end of these four years, coronavirus is a thing of the past, the MLB Draft League has ballooned interest in the sport, expansion is an inevitability, and Dombrowski wants to return to Nashville to run the Music City Stars. How are we going to feel about the Dombrowski era in Philly? Just for fun, let’s frame out answers in the form of Phillies of the past. Feel free to add your own in the comments. (Poll links for app users.)
This will be a Danny Tartabull era.. at best. I almost picked “Other” because it will somehow end up worse. The Phillies will spend a lot more money than they did on Tartabull and still be worse…. for much longer this time.
Hopefully your not close to a bridge. Because it will be ok. Ice cream still tastes good and the sun shines on most days.
I’m close to a bridge and the got half of it shut down two lane traffic cause of construction. Its an accident waiting to happen. I fear for the first ice of the year
I think it’ll be the Pat Burrell era. I don’t see Dombroski trading away prospects for tallent. I see them trading tallent for prospects. 4 years is a short window for contention, so what ever they are doing its gonna have to be opperation warp speed.
And fishing for browns is awesome!
Maybe BovineCrab, but DD’s history says your team will win more than they lose.
Tartabull was only paid $2 million, so “a lot more money” than that will be given to the very first player they sign — probably some schlub relief pitcher. Not like it was a Barry Zito contract or something.
If I were a Phillie fan I’d be excited about Dombrowski coming on board. Yeah, he’s not going to win any Baseball America farm ratings but the man brings home the hardware.
He built a decent farm system in Montreal and Miami
That 1994 team Bob Gibson, not sure how much was his doing. The Expos were quite good at finding the best talent for about 15 years it seemed like. I wasn’t alive, or really really young for most of it, but I know this was the mission and Dave Dombroski was a part of that.
And the Marlins 1997 championship he definitely built using the farm. Edgar Rentaria, Craig counsell, Cliff Floyd, Gary Shefield
Livan Hernandez
He was the farm director before he was GM.
Isn’t this what fans always do? Dismiss successes that don’t fit their narratives, and focus on their fears instead.
Sheffield was an established veteran before Dombrowski traded a future HOFer for him. Cliff Floyd had already had spent 4 years in the majors before coming to the Marlins. Sure, he was originally drafted by Dombrowski’s Expos, but he mostly developed under others. Counsell was acquired by the Marlins in a mid season trade in 1997. You can credit him on Edgar Renteria, but the main reasons for the ’97 run was the FA market.
Gibson, he was in Montreal for a very short time; 3 years if memory serves
He was GM for three years and farm director for three years prior.
Actually, he was director of player development for about 1 year. Prior to that, he was with White Sox.
You could make out a HOF caliber line up from ex-Expos.
He’s not bringing home squat
Great categories.
30Parks… I agree. But when assessing a franchise’s likelihood of further expenditures in payroll, it seems that (especially during pandemic times) the team’s TV contracts should be included. Especially in MLB when no teams other than ATL(publicly owned) shares their financials.
Very inventive categories; nice job. Can’t have a Mike Schmidt Era, cuz you ain’t got Mike Schmidt! But you’ll get a John Kruk one.
Schilling just reads as his typical MO.
BTW, I’ve doctored the trade proposal from the other day up a little bit. Here it is:
Phillies get: Gallo, Apostel, and Brett Martin
Rangers get: Stott, Medina, and Morales
I plugged this into the trade values site, and it says the Rangers are giving up more, but I don’t put to much trust into that site.
But this gives y’all a new CF, a powerful corner infield prospect, and a high leverage lefty reliever.
It gives the Rangers two higher level starting pitching prospects (a desperate need in our farm), and a headliner in Stott (who would probably be IKF’s heir).
Thoughts?
I’d stand pat, seems like a wash. Philly
Rangers29. I thought you didn’t want Gallo traded? You know the Yankees fans will be on this proposing they get Gallo in exchange for a few bags of potato chips…
I don’t want Gallo traded, but I sure would talk to Dombro a little bit about it just to gauge what he thinks his value is. I do think Gallo is the most valuable guy on the team rn, and that’s why I want to keep him, but if we could get a couple of solid pitchers out of it, I’d be all for it. It’s whatevers best for the team, which I think would be Gallo unless I came across this trade.
Crime dog…what kind of potato chips? Those high-end baked Terra chips??
So…no Andujar for Gallo? There’s gotta be an old Refsnyder layin around here somewhere I can add…
Yeah, yeah, yeah…
I’m really curious what a realistic deal by the Yanks would actually be for Gallo (a player I madly covet). Getting greedy (cuz – duh – Yankees fan) how much more would it cost to add Leclerc to the deal.
I dig MLBTR but I realize I’m simply a horrible GM, man. MTPS.
Garcia-Schmidt for Gallo-Leclerc and y’all eat Leclerc’s salary.
Btw, I posted on the Kim thread.
Garcia *and* Schmidt?
That seems hefty? Does it check out on BTV?
Noted.
BTV says Yanks are giving up 53 to the Rangers 41. That’s a workable distance though. I’ll try to make it work.
Ok…
Yanks get: Gallo, Leclerc, Wendzel
Rangers get: Garcia, Schmidt, Ottavino
We would eat all of Ottavino’s money too. That is fair.
Damn.
Your original guess wasn’t that far off!
Yeah that looks fair.
No way in hell that Cashman will give up both, though.
Wondering if something simpler involving just Gallo & Schmidt could work. Gallo just checks so many boxes for the Yanks. McGriff is on to us.
What’s weird is that Gallo for Schmidt looks like so little because it’s 1 v 1. And Leclerc and Wendzel for Garcia and Ottavino just doesn’t look right lol.
I’d be like Dumbrowski. I’d spend prospects. Not hug ’em.
I’d trade Schmidt for Gallo & wouldn’t even blink, man.
Replied to the Kim thread again lol.
If I were a GM, I’d look at my top 5 prospects, and choose 3 that I liked. The other 2 I’d consider trade pieces from the time they were drafted. Don’t let yourself get connected to them. It’s like when you raise livestock for food and you name the ones you eat “Porkchop” or “Bacon boy”. Don’t get connected cause they’ll be gone before you know it.
Bacon Boy!
Man, you win the nights best analogy award.
The coaches who work with new prospects should basically be scouts. Teams need to learn the player they draft in that first year before they are trade eligible, to have a good understanding of their value immediately imo
First rounders who have just one year of experience are real sought after trade bait. New team molds them most of the way, and it’s like trading for a draft pick
And why do the Yankees need to trade for Gallo?
Frazier-Judge-Hicks-maybe Gardner, and the odd Stanton appearance in LF.
Assuming you think the Yankees are going to use Gallo in CF, he really isn’t much better than Hicks, maybe not even better. Hicks has a better OPS+ over the past four years, a better fielder, a slightly better bWAR/year, and a materially better bWAR/650 over the past four years.
As a RS fan, I’d celebrate that trade, but there is no chance of it happening.
I appreciate the attempt to construct deals as they’re always fun to talk about. That said, when constructing deals, most fans understandably focus on what they want for their team, and that’s usually where it falls apart. Always need to think about the team on the receiving end. What do they need? In the Yankees case, they need starting pitching. They don’t need offense. They don’t need OFers. A lefty hitter would be nice, but is not critical. They already have a very good bullpen. They’re trying to do what the Red Sox did last year, which is get under the competitive balance tax, so reducing payroll is part of the plan. It won’t be easy.
So taking all of that into account, your trade actually doesn’t help what the Yankees are trying to do. Garcia and Schmidt are going to be in their rotation, or more likely, the combination of the two will serve as one rotation spot over the course of the season as they’ll both be under innings restrictions their rookie seasons. Domingo German will be returning. They still need to bring in two starting pitchers in order to have enough depth to go through a full season. Have to plan 8 starters deep. They don’t need another high-priced reliever, especially one who may not be as good as his contract. Gallo, while being a lefty, has no place to play and is another high K hitter. Obviously, other moves could happen, but this one doesn’t seem to be a fit. It actually goes against what the Yankees are attempting to do.
Ducky, I wouldn’t, not because I don’t think Gallo has value, but Schmidt is more valuable to the Yankees as a starter. Or, he’s more valuable as trade bait, but he’d have to be used to bring in the right talent to meet the Yankees needs. A high-K, low BA OFer should not be on the Yankees list.
Fair enough, @RobM.
Look, I love the Yankees outfielders & DH. Good to great players all.
But.
I think it’s reasonable to assume that Hicks, Judge, & Stanton will all probably hit the IL. Ya know? If they can all give us 120 games or so – which I do think is realistic – and be the players they are through their healthy times (& please in the playoffs, uh?) that leaves a lot of games to cover.
Gallo can play all over the outfield & some corner infield too. Plus, he’d probably rip 40+ jacks in the stadium. I see him as major Gardy/Tauchman upgrade.
And, philosophically, I’ll trade an unproven minor league player for a known MLB contributor any day. I fully understand why you wouldn’t make this particular trade. I get it. I’ve just sorta become resigned to the fact that the Yanks are probably not going to have a good rotation for…let’s say “awhile”. In lieu of that I say put together another bullpen that goes 6 or 7 deep & an offense that can put up a thousand runs.
It’s not my first choice, obviously. But looking at what’s in front of us I don’t see a particularly more feasible route.
I think you would be underselling Gallo. I believe the Rangers hold on to him to rebuild value.
underselling or not that wipes out Philly’s farm system for a player that’s only one piece of the puzzle. pass.
Not a Dombrowski fan, I went Tartabull. The only 2 positives to bringing him in is he’s not Klentak and if you hire Dombrowski then you can’t cry broke and not sign players because no way he agrees to become President otherwise
John Kruk era and Mitch Williiams eras are basicallly the same. Kruk was the second half of ’89 through’94 and Williams was ’91-’93.. Don’t see any reason to differentiate between the two. The Pat Burrell era includes the ’08 squad which won the world series largely on the backs of home grown players: Burrell, Rollins, Utley, Hamels etc.
You’re looking at it wrong. It’s doesn’t mean era in terms of what year but rather era in terms of expectations and reality for each of those players’ careers in Philly.
Overanalyzer of the Week Award
I’ll just say, he’s in it to win it..at all cost. Enjoy it while he’s in town phans!
He says a lot of good things but I just can’t see him not repeating the same mistakes he’s made a thousand times: bleeding the org dry with over-aggressive moves and a lack of appreciation for the future.
But we will see. I’ll be happy to eat my hat or whatever the expression is
Reflect – you will not be eating your hat. DD will make aggressive trades for guys that have two or three years of controlability and compete for a few years. IMO maybe playoffs if they are extremely lucky…wild card at best, but definitely no WS appearances. Then when their contracts are up they leave, and the farm system will be empty….
The Phillies will then turn to Tampa and hire an assistant GM, and former TB FO people will be in LA, Boston, Philly,……because their system works and Dinosaur David’s does not.
His actions result in winning. How is that a mistake?
For all these people who cut DD down, it is difficult enough to GET to a World Series never mind win one. I would trade two or three really sucky years after-a World Series to rebuild if he can give me that one magical year at the Top of the World! That is the potential with DD. Who wants an Reading Eastern League AA Championship ring for 3 straight years but no World Series Rings? Get your priorities straight
i say close but no cigar.
Failure
Great contribution, as always.
I’m very confused as to why a “Cliff Lee/Roy Halladay/Jimmy Rollins” Era isn’t here; an era where the Phillies win one ring, but fall increasingly short in each successive playoff run despite spending more and making more trades each and every off-season. I mean that wasn’t a horrible era by any means, but wasn’t as good as the Schmidt era.
Schmidt won 1 ring too
how so? they went to back to back WS and set a franchise record for wins. i would say it was better.
Real solid move on DD- The Phillies are in a lot better position than the general consensus around here elude too- Payroll and talent wise
The problem for awhile now has been the potatoes
They have the meat, they just need to learn how to grow those internal 2 WAR potatoes on their own farm better – (This has been the Reds problem as well lately)
They might not be able to fill in all the blanks this year but I still like them better than any team in the NL central currently – Have a strong feeling they will bring JTR back as well here shortly with the Mets being out now. It was a good week for Philly
Yea, well you may like them better than any team in the NL central “currently” but unfortunately for you & the Phillies they play in the NL east “currently.” Sure they’re lacking taters but they’re also woefully behind in veggies too. I have a strong feeling you’ll soon be institutionalized for being a lunatic, so good luck with all that. Carry on.
Tad unfortunate yes but the burden can be overcome, the talent is there!
Nystate…. did you not read he was referring to Reds in his post? Look closer before writing what you write.
Voted other. My inclinations was to say that they’ll be a better team in 2021 than 2020, and a post-season team for the remaining 3 years of his contract, with the possibility of contending for conference and world series in each of those 3 years. Problem is that all of a sudden the NL East is a really strong division. The Braves have a powerhouse team, and the Mets should be a very good team as well. The Nationals still have a very strong core, and should try to contend for the post-season for at least another year or two. Miami looks like David going against four Goliaths, but they’ve got a history of overperforming.
So my real prediction: For all of DD’s 4 years, the Phillies will be part of a 3-5 team race for the offseason where injuries and bold trade-deadline action will determine who makes the post-season in a given year, and whoever makes the post-season is a world series threat. After those 4 years, DD retires, and his successor is stuck with dismantling a now overpaid veteran roster and a 7-year rebuild of the worst farm in baseball,
What if DD said “I’m not coming unless we can offer Realmuto the most money and years” though? These owner comments about wanting to save money are really flimsy and historically have been changed overnight. I would not write off the owners doing an about-face on spending, especially since Phily only really has 4 players they can sell, they’re too young otherwise and its just smart GMing to go all-in with the core they have.
Make this trade to clear payroll for free agency next season:
Blue Jays get: Zach Wheeler, Jean Segura, Mick Abel, Francisco Morales
Phillies get: Danny Jansen, Randal Grichuk, Tanner Roark, Alek Manoah
no way.
One of the worst trader proposals I’ve ever seen. Go back to MLB The Show because this clearly is not rooted in any kind of logic.
First off, have a snickers my guy.
2nd. How is there not logic in this? Phillies goal is to clear payroll. They do that here. Phillies clear payroll (yes they bring in Grichuk and Roark, but Grichuk isn’t a lot and Roark is a free agent after next year). They also get a young catcher for the long term to replace Realmuto, as well as a decent pitching prospect.
Blue Jays get a solid top of the rotation guy in Wheeler to go with Ryu, a 2nd baseman in Segura so Biggio can slide over to 3rd, a pitcher out of high school with a lot of upside, as well a prospect closer to major league level. Goals and needs are achieved on both sides.
I am sorry to have upset you might MLBTR overlord. Go have a Snickers you damn dork.
First off, don’t use the phrase “my guy”.
Since when is Wheeler a “top of the rotation” guy?
I see where you are going with it but I would not consider Wheeler a top guy, especially in the AL East. Hard to judge by his track record, but I’d say 2 at best and likely a 3.
Definitely a #2
My bad my guy
Phillies goal is to clear payroll.
———————————————–
Is there anything in DD’s resume to suggest that anyone would hire him for a rebuild? I’d bet real money that the Phillies’ payroll increases over the next couple of years, not decrease.
DD flat out stated that they’re looking to clear some payroll from last year. That being said, I don’t expect a full rebuild. Rather a retooling. A lot of money is coming off the books with Arrieta, Robertson and JTR. So hopefully they’re able to spend a little bit.
and that’s the key here. they can spend and still clear payroll. the key is spend money in a more judicious manner.
Baseball Trade Values doesn’t ever rate big money players correctly in trade value. You clearly ran this through their trade generator and thought it was therefore feasible. In reality, Wheeler has been deemed untouchable, so the trade for him would have to tilt severely towards the Jays package to even begin to think about overpaying for him. Trades are complicated like that and there’s a nuance BTV misses out on along those lines, but one which they openly admit – it’s all speculation at end of day.
He’s also using it to dump salary.
Now, if it *was* a salary purge I think it gets a little more realistic.
Yes a salary dump, but Phillies are getting one of the better and younger catchers in the game in this deal.
Agree, drop Randall its feasible but this isnt in the top 500 worst trade ideas Ive heard on here this year so the responses were a little over the top
How about just Segura for Roark- Phillies shed long term payroll and some this year while getting a 4/5 for this year (those are always a great boon ) Jays get their inf set for the next 2-3 years- Jays seem to have a few 4/5 Sps that they might think can provide close to Roarks production in-house so it might be of interest from both parties
Thank you. This is the response I like to see. A simple disagreement with an alternative suggestion. Appreciate this good sir.
As for your proposal, tbh, it’s so simple, but very effective. It addresses needs for both sides. Phillies clear payroll for next offseason getting Segura’s salary off, and they get more starting pitching depth.
I guess for me personally, you’d like to see the Phillies achieve more, and I like to go a bit bold with trades,
Im All about going Bold, no worries, don’t be scared to post whatever you want here- Half these posters dont have an original thought in their body.
Its just recycled groupthink regurgitated day in day out..The boldness opens up different avenues for meaningful convo which is what this site is all about
If your a Phillie fan (and bold) you’ll be pleased to be riding shot-gun with DD the next couple years- It should be fun
I’m a Red Sox fan actually, so I know all about DD. This is why I think a trade like the one I posted or something similar isn’t exactly out of the question.
There needs to be more open minded people like you good sir! I got a baseball talk channel, so if you ever want to stop by and watch a live stream and just talk some baseball, feel free to stop by! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv5Lj2BGPQbvcUMTPC-y8Lw
How about just Segura for Roark-
—————————————-
Who plays SS for the Phillies?
“Clearly ran it through Baseball Trade Values and thought it was therefore feasible”
Get off the high horse my guy. Yet, another all high and mighty MLBTR overlord. Let’s see you make a trade.
Please stop with the “my guy”. I’m begging you.
Please my guy, I’m begging you to actually contribute something to this conversation. You silly little Mets fan.
Awful trade
Please present a better one.
What a joke, the Phillies would never let the Jays fleece them like that.
You do know the Red Sox got Nick Punto and a couple prospects for Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and Adrian Gonzalez back in 2012, right? Why is it so hard around here for someone to contribute something knowledgeable to the discussion?
So the Phillies trade their ace signed for 4 years they’ve deemed untouchable, to clear payroll
They are giving wheeler away to basically clear Jean Segura payroll wise. Grichuk and Roark= Wheeler
If a team has a reason for doing something radical, they need to achieve that goal
“They are giving Wheeler away to basically clear Jean Segura”
What are you talking about? They would trade Wheeler here to get rid of….Wheeler, as well as Segura. They need another guy for the rotation. They need another infielder.
The Phillies got themselves into a bind with bad signings. If they did this trade, it would set them up for the next couple of offseasons financially. Yes, they would take back a couple lesser value contracts in Roark and Grichuk, but the point of that is to clear payroll. They would also get a catcher for the future to replace Realmuto. Why is this so hard to understand?
Not sure why this is so difficult. Grichuk makes 10.3M and has 31M left coming to him. Roark makes 12M more. So that’s 22.3M I’m just 2021 salary you’re sending back. Wheeler makes 22.5M. That’s not clearing Wheeler, that’s reinvesting in worse players to make your favorite team better
Neither Grichuk nor Roark have any real positive value. Sorry to burst your bubble
DD will do you better than that.
I would love to see your ideas.
Thank goodness you’re not a GM
Show me something better. I’ll wait.
so we’re taking all your bad contracts, an overrated C, and a P far away from the Majors for half our system, our starting SS, and one of our top starters. no way.
Rhyme – Jays fans should accept that deal 100 out of 100.
These categories are fantastic.
I’m excited for the Phillies fans, man.
You guys are a great fan base. At least around here you are.
Dumbrowski has a history of winning, man. He’s been brought in to do just that. Personally, I’m a tad jealous. He’s a high stakes gambler. So it’s not a done deal, or whatever.
Shows ownership is completely committed to going for it.
Good for baseball, man.
Ducky, thank you for acknowledging not all Phillies fans are idiots. You, Rangers29 and Dark are some of my favorite commenters.
But I’m scared of him trading away what little the Phils have in the farm system just for an attempt at a WS. Those following fallow years will be even more depressing.
What farm system? Aside from Stott and maybe Abel, I don’t think we have much else down there.
When you have no farm, you have to trade the few assets you have to make a deal
That’s the point. They don’t have much. So how does DD make a high impact trade other than sending out who’s left, or someone from the MLB team?
DD said in his introductory press conference that he liked some of the young talent in the system, which would suggest to me that he isnt going to just deal most of the top Minors talent for nothing. i think part of his goal is to build the system up a bit while not completely rebuilding, then go from there. Remember Middleton us not affraid to get involved, and i dont think he’s too keen on getting rid of too many young controllable assets if he’s not sure its time for such a move. that might be why Middleton-DD is a good dynamic. a check on each other if you will.
Great comment, DarkSide.
It is. Who thought Washington would fall as far after winning. I think the Braves fans might trade some of those Division titles they racked up for One more World Series ring. The Mets and Kansas City haven’t been back since 2015. The Yankees contend every year but haven’t been to a Series since 2009. Go for the Ring. At least that is what DD can potentially do for you.
I’m not sure how I would feel about this move if I were a Phillies fan. One one hand, DD has shown he can build good teams over a long period of time as he showed in Detroit, but on the other hand, he has handed out some pretty bad contracts when he gets a team close to winning. Hard to say if all those bad contracts were on him as owners play a part in that as well, but as he did with the Red Sox, he will clear out a farm system pretty quick.
Good luck to him. Previous management made some bad trades and signings. DD has signed some awful contracts but who knows if it was him or ownership. Good thing with Phillies he can trade away whatever he wants because there isn’t a lot there. He gets a bad wrap, most he traded are good. If you destroy your farm but it turns out most your prospects were overrated did you really destroy it? If he is awful it doesn’t matter, they made awful moves for a long time now.
They just need to sign or trade for 3 3-5 pitchers. Hit up the pirates for brault musgrove kuhl. Take a gamble on kluber Archer. Maybe sign a proven middle guy. Whatever bargain emerges. Get a few relievers. Sign or trade for a good defensive catcher. Team needs a rebuild. They have Harper, 2 position players who shown well and two pitchers. After that it is old and declining, weak farm, and a few young guys who could still emerge if lucky.
He might get them in the playoffs but he’ll definitely leave them with alot of bad contracts and a barren farm system.
Rings erase bad contracts and bad farm systems though. Gotta think about it the other way – winning is superior than any prospect, always. Potential isn’t real, rings are.
No rings in Philly….not happening….they do not have the core or the farm system.
If his mandate is to CUT how does he BUILD a winner……
Could happen. The NL East is a crapshoot.
I hope Clearwater just keeps winning too. NOT!
Great job with the categories!
Uhhhh I’m not sure how the Howard, Utley, Rollins, Hamels 2008 Championship Team doesn’t get its own category??? I mean, that is easily the greatest Phillies team that many of us will ever know and remember.
To me, the categories aren’t based on an era of the franchise, but rather the level of excitement a player bought to an organization before and after their tenure. Viewing the categories in that manner, they’re absolutely perfect.
dd’s first 4 moves”
sign Jordan Zimmerman, 6 yrs/ 100 million
extend bryce harper another 10 years
names former detroit lions GM mat millen to head of scouting
trade brohm/ stott/ nola for miguel cabrera
Hope Phillies fans like shaky bullpens. That oughtta make the late innings more exciting for you.
“shaky” would be an upgrade over last year’s historically-bad 7+ bullpen ERA.
real talk. and i think DD is smart enough to know that they need to add at least two good arms there.
Should be an exciting trade season with all of these leadership changes!
Prediction: A solid start full of hope and at least 3 years of a run at the WS. End with “where’s our farm” and “how come we never have a good bullpen.”
Those last two are already the case in Philly
No they aren’t.
Since when did Philly have a solid start that mattered? It was overrated and blown out of proportion because of the acquisition of Harper. The last two years they were a .500 team at best and still are at the moment.
2019 Phillies started hot.
But they were terrible overall. Had no pitching.
.500 is not terrible. It’s mediocre.
Dombrowski will resign Realmuto, clean out what little the Phils have in the system with big trades and leave in 3 years when the roster is full of aging, expensive stars and headed for a long drought.
Agree, Ramon PG. That’s DD, but you forgot one detail. He likely will take Philly to a WS.
Is it me or does the pic of DD they used for the article link look like Jeffrey Epstein?
He will only take Philly to a WS if ownership loosens their belt on spending. If they continue to clamp down, just like the Yankees, they will not go to WS.
Maybe just you but it is a terrible pic of DD. Looks like a hater political ad pic.
Bye bye farm system hello Dave Dombrowski
Phillies farm sysem is rated w hat 20th or 25th in MLB?!
Dombrowski could only improve on that.
As an agnostic RS fan, I think:
1-He will bring focus to the Phillies efforts. I can’t believe that Klentak thought the BP was good enough to win. More on this later.
2-I think he has enough gravitas to convince Middleton on a plan, and the plan will include spending.
3-I think the meme of him stripping the farm is a bit overrated. Of all the trades he made, so far, Moncada is the only one I really miss. I like Margot a little, but he’d never start over JBJ. And Kopech could still be really good. If I had a complaint, it was more about the signings, and bidding against himself.
That said, the Phillies are very much fixable. I think y’all got a break with the NYY offering arb to Sanchez, and the NYMs signing McCann. You’re probably in the drivers seat for JTR. You definitely need at least two RPs, and one should be a closer. I’d get a legit #5 SP, and relegate Velasquez to the BP/#6. Maybe get Moreland to start until Hoskins returns, if needed.
I don’t think this is that difficult to fix. Any team with a rotation of Nola, Wheeler, Spencer, and Eflin is pretty close to a playoff team, imho.
@JoeBrady The first Sox fan with a fair evaluation of DD’s tenure with Boston. I also agree with your evaluation of the Phillies. While they aren’t close to the Braves, the Phillies are still very fixable. Plenty of holes to plug, but a solid core in Harper, Wheeler, Nola, Eflin, Bohm and Hoskins.
Probably closer to what he did in Detroit than Boston. They’ll be good for awhile but will inevitably rebuild in 6-7 years.
With few exceptions, and the previously mentioned categories aside, the Phillies biggest problem over the years has been developing players of their own. They’ve also made some colossal mistakes trading young players (Ferguson Jenkins and Ryne Sandberg come quickly to mind.).
DD doesn’t appear to be the guy who is gonna make player development one of his priorities. After all, he only has four years to bring home top cheese, so you know he’s gonna go all out to do just that and youth be damned.
Dunno. Unless DD signs a top flight SP and three or four bullpen arms with solid resumes, we might be looking at another at .500 or near .500 team in 2021.
Signing bullpen arms with solid resumes has been done the past 5 years. How has that worked out? Free agent relievers are free agents for a reason. Obviously their former team doesn’t think they are worth bringing back
The categories made me laugh, but I needed the Larry Bowa (manager) era to really answer accurately.
Blue hair lol.
A better categorization for Dombrowski would be”
How will he manage the Phillies Front office:
1) like he did in Montreal?!
2) Like he did in Miami?!
3) Like he did in Detroit?!
4) Like he did in Boston?!
5) A Hybrid of a few of those Front Office Jobs?!
Actually, DD was the same in Mon.–Fla–Det–Bos.
He took his orders from the owner(s). which included :
. 1. build without $$. & sell off stars when they get to be expensive in Mon & Fla;
2. spend whatever but give Mr “I” a chance at a ring; or
3. spend high but only go over the Lux Tax a max of 2 yrs in a row Bos.
And he did it well in all places & under all conditions = HOF
Kudos to the writer for the categories. Unique way of naming them and all right on target.
Dombrowski , baseballs ‘ spend like a drunk’n sailor ‘ GM
Phillies baseball just got interesting with Dombrowski wheeling, dealing, drafting, signing etc….
If he gets you to the World Series, then no complaining.
It won’t be long before the Phillies minor league levels are completely robbed of its top talent! Trader Dave loves to raid the farm and trade away prospects for over valued veterans!