After agreeing to an 11-year, $300MM deal with shortstop Trea Turner, the Phillies will now focus on pitching, specifically mid-rotation starters and back-end relievers, according to Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. That’s unlikely to be through signing players with a qualifying offer attached, per a quote from president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski (relayed by Alex Coffey).
Dombrowski was asked about the likelihood of the Phillies signing two players with qualifying offers attached (they’ve already added one in Turner) and had this to say: “Probably not very much. One seems like a lot already. I don’t think we’d have much of an appetite for that. Not saying we never do it, but I would say there’s not much of an appetite.”
Chris Bassitt, Nathan Eovaldi and Carlos Rodon are the remaining starters on the market that have a qualifying offer attached, but there’s plenty of other options out there. Philadelphia could pursue a reunion with Noah Syndergaard, or go after Jameson Taillon, who they’ve already been linked to. Other options could include Andrew Heaney, Taijuan Walker and Sean Manaea.
Philadelphia did see Zach Eflin sign with the Rays this off-season, Kyle Gibson head south to Baltimore and Syndergaard hit free agency, so it’s not surprising they’re looking to bolster their rotation as they look to return to the World Series in 2023. Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler will be back atop their rotation, with Ranger Suarez and probably Bailey Falter taking four of the spots. They do have some strong pitching prospects, including Andrew Painter and Mick Abel, working their way through the minors, but a solid, mid-rotation arm would slot in nicely to provide a bit of stability.
On the relief side of things, Corey Knebel, David Robertson and Brad Hand all departed, leaving the team a bit thin in the bullpen. Seranthony Dominguez, Andrew Bellatti and Jose Alvarado will all be back, but in a competitive NL East the Phillies will need a deep bullpen. They could bring back any of the trio of free agent relievers, or target relief arms such as Taylor Rogers or Andrew Chafin.
As far as payroll goes, the signing of Turner brings them closer to the $233MM luxury tax threshold. They’re currently sitting approximately $15MM under that mark with Turner on board, and it’d be challenging for them bring in a mid-rotation starter and strong relief options and stay within that mark.
I appreciate the persistence of Mr. Hampton to keep banging out articles through the night.
Marco Gonzales? Chris Flexen?
Agree. Good informative article as well.
Do they look to try and shed some salary then? Who could they move? What internal options do they have or look to bring in cheaper options? They are having a crack so kudos to them
The most obvious candidate would be Rhys Hoskins. They have internal replacements.
Rhys is the only name that come to mind. They could possibly replace most or even all of his production for half the price. Although the Pirates took 2 of my favorite bargains for 1b.
They could play Hall or Schwarber at 1B and look for cheaper, better defensive corner outfielders. Or play Sosa at 3B and Bohm at 1B.
Possibly. I have no idea how they are defensively but if no fall off from Rhys that is a option.
It would be hard to be a fall off from Rhys. He’s pretty bad with the leather.
Can always be worse. I am better with the leather than Rhys but I never used a 1b glove and I am sure the footwork and responsibilities would take some time to master. Probably can be done and I like the idea.
Schwarber was terrible at 1B for Rsox. That wouldn’t be my first choice.
His glove is not made of leather but rather the finest granite used to make curling stones.
Super nice guy. Humble and quiet (at least when I met him at an event for my wife’s work) but not even close to average defender. I go to a lot of games and sometimes the metrics aren’t agreeing with the eye test. Not the case with Hoskins. He’s just not good. I commented to my brother during the ATL series that he has fear in his eyes when the ball is coming toward him. No confidence.
Moving Bohm probably isn’t the answer. He’s finally looking like a serviceable 3B and looked like a lost puppy at 1B the few times they put him over there.
Schwarber can’t play first, and moving Bohm, after he has made such a major improvement at 3rd base, would be really stupid. Hall is a weak fielder also, and can’t hit an up and in fastball. Hoskins is still the answer for 2023. I would like to see D D add a utility type guy that would be a late inning defensive replacement for Hoskins, with a lead.
They just said what the phillies are doing lol back end bullpen 3 4 starter lol
They are most definitely not shedding Hoskins. Especially with Harper out till at least July. His production is 30 Hr 85 rbi .247 on avg.. Hoskins is fairly cheap @12 mil
Agreed, barrycracks.
Harper will most likely be back as the dh, somewhere between the 10th – 20th of June. The July ( all- star break), is the far end projection. Possible, but not likely.
They are most definitely not shedding Hoskins. Especially with Harper out till at least July. His production is 30 Hr 85 rbi .247 on avg.. Hoskins is fairly cheap @12 mil. There is no one available at HALF the price. Darick Hall is not a great fielder and can’t hit Left Handed pitching.
Dominic Smith? Once a top Mets prospect that got blocked by Alonso. I believe he’s still a FA unless he’s already signed somewhere and I missed that.
Hoskins could bring back a decent #3 starting pitcher in a trade. Giants could use a 1B. Perhaps Anthony DeSclafani, assuming he’s healthy.
Hoskins, on the last year of his deal, is not bringing you back a no. 3 starter. I’d be floored if they get that back
He’s more valuable than what you’ll get back. He doesn’t have to bat in the 2 hole anymore so if you get 25-30 home runs from your 5-6 hitter, that’s good value
Dumbroski? What are you 7?
He sucks so bad that they made the World Series. Any pitcher worth their weight will cost more than Hoskins 12mil.
Fred McGriff what are you crying about? Lost respect? Go shake your old man fist at a cloud .
Rhys isn’t making much, so it’s not much of a salary shed and you’re losing a ton of offensive production. He does suck at defense so I get it from that perspective.
i want the phils to trade hoskins for pitching, starter or reliever, whatever they can get for him. i believe hes projected to make 12mil. getting rid of rhys clears up so much room to rotate the DH spot and save his salary, not to mention sparing us the awful fielding and hitting
I think they may look at sending Hoskins out of town for a mid-level starter,, after they sign Justin turner to play 3rd and move Bohm to 1B.
Bohm is not moving to first base.
Dumbrowski and elite bullpen will never be talked about together, take it from a Tigers fan! Always his Achilles heel
Boston had a pretty good bullpen he put together
Dumbroski?
You kids should know.
The Tigers have had knockout bullpens and overly talented teams ever since Mr. Dombrowski left.
Yeah, he was terrible.
DD, thanks for the memories! We loved having you in Boston! This is one guy who doesn’t sit on his hands waiting for the market to move. Get your job done, and get home to the family for the holidays! Love it! Other POBOs are afraid to make a move of any kind for fear of making a mistake, not Dave. He knows what he needs, what he wants and he gets it! Best of luck in Philadelphia!
All his moves to finish in 3rd place in the NL East. Be hilarious if they miss the playoffs. Missing the playoffs with a payroll above the luxury tax should come with additional penalties. Phillies would probably just fire him like he got canned in his last job for leaving the franchise in a crippled state.
Yep, only had 87 wins and finished 3rd in the NL East. But how many more wins would we have had if Harper and Segura didn’t miss two months each? Or if Wheeler and Seranthony weren’t injured and also missed time.?
Get me that solid #3/#4 SP, and I don’t much care how they do it, and the Phillies become the favorite in the NL East. Mets lost or are losing a number of players from last year, and Atlanta just might lose Swanson and Jansen, two big time contributors last year.
If you missed it, they released Segura and Harper is going to miss three months this year at least due to surgery. The number 3 pitcher is already signed elsewhere and the bullpen has nothing other than Domínguez. I would pause before this bravado to see what else they do. Really good pitching silences that line up last year.
Segura is a FA, and so was the #4 SP Eflin, who’s now with TB. Turner is a significant upgrade over Segura. Phils have 4 SP spots filled, Nola,Wheeler,Suarez,Falter & 1 spot for Painter, McGarry, Abel. Any SPs signed should be a 1/2 year deal for no more than 10M/.I’d like to see Taijuan Walker, Andrew Heaney,Syndergaard
returning? and also Cole Hamels1 year, incentiveladen deal(he wants to play this season).They need to turn their focus to the BP. I’d like to see them sign Taylor Rogers, Craig Kimbrel (at reasonable amounts),Ken Giles,(if he’s good physically), and maybe even Robertson & Hand on 1 year deals.
I don’t get this take. They literally just won the NL pennant. Their payroll is currently LOWER than it was last year. Below the Mets. They were extremely injured and had a horrible manager. Once they fired said manager, the Phillies were one of the most winningest teams in baseball (along with the Braves and Mets). The Phillies were good since June. They weren’t a flash in a pan. They were a legit contender for 5 months (including the playoffs, when it mattered most). The 2021 Braves won 1 more game than the 2022 Phillies. Let’s stop pretending the Phillies aren’t one of the stronger teams in the NL. It just so happens that 2 of the other strongest teams are in their division.
Is that response to my post? I am about the most positive Phillies fan you’ll ever find. I wanted & predicted Harper coming here 1 year before he did & that he would sign for $340 ($10M off). I wanted to sign Schwarber when he was a FA the 1st time(could have saved $), but hes a perfect fit, & I said Turner would sign here as soon as I read the interview when Harper said Trea was his favorite player in MLB.I love all of the players on the team. I was just saying that now that we have Trea, the only things we need to address now are BP, bc we only have Seranthony & Alvarado as back of BP arms coming back.The players I wanted to sign are just to fill the holes in our roster. If either of those 2 guys are unavailable, are you comfortable with our bullpen as it stands? We also need depth at SP, only Nola, Wheeler,Ranger & Falter are back, and Painter, Abel,& McGarry will all be on innings limits. So I’m not sure if you think I had negative thoughts on the team,but I love this team and only want to add a few pieces.
People just like you said the same junk last year and they won the NL put respect on them. Now the Padres team that got embarrassed in the NL game got took again by the phillies. I love it when the FA goes to play for a team HE WANTS TOO PLAY FOR. Most of the time it’s all about the money. Trea said nah we will just keep beating the Padres in the playoffs I’m going to Philly to win a ring
I’m digging DD! And I’m an Os fan.
It almost seems like Dave felt like he had the inside track of resigning both Eflin and Gibson. Oops! Lost those gambles. In away he is admitting it publicly and moving forward to secure some back end SP help elsewhere?!
Hope the Yankees are in on Chafin. But lots of mid-rotation arms in this market that could replace Eflin it seems.
I believe anytime you can reset the tax is a good time to do it. Nola is a free agent next year and may need extended or replaced. Plenty of solid starters available for 10 million or even 5. Lots of opportunity to make the bullpen of a contender. Should be appealing to minor league contract guys.
Nola MUST be extended. He took a team friendly extension last time, and hopefully will do so again. He’s probably the most underestimated pitcher in baseball. 5 years-$150M he is well worth it.
I lost all respect for MLB. There should be no 3rd wildcards, otherwise reduce the 162 games, because right now those 162 are pointless and there are too many games when you’re going to let teams who win their division sit for a week when they play every day for 162, it’s utterly ridiculous. At most they should be sitting for 3 or 4 days, not 5 or anything above that. Resting hitters doesn’t help anyone playing a hand eye co-ordination sport, plus any momentum you have at the end of 162 is lost. And never forget that the Astros should have lost game 1 v Mariners but for Scott Servais and the left on left bs against a guy who can hit any handed pitcher.
Astros and yankees got out of the 1st round. You must be a braves or dodgers fan. Give over it, those teams just didn’t play well. It’s baseball anything can happen come playoff time. This isn’t the nba.
The extra wild card and playoff format is making more teams competitive. We want teams to spend and compete, more will do so if they have a chance to make the playoffs.
He’s been whining about this ever since his Braves were beaten by the Phillies.
@htbnm57
Not because YOUR Phillies beat the Braves. But because YOUR Phillies didn’t deserve to be there, end of story. And you can insert any named team there, 2nd and 3rd wildcards do not belong in the post season.
You just don’t get it, and you can’t accept the fact that if you finish 14 games behind or 22 games behind, you don’t deserve a shot in the post season, and that’s what you got and what another team got. Manfred & owners made the test of 162 mean not much. It’s soft now…
You want your best teams in the playoff tournament, don’t you? The Phillies played without Harper & Segura for over 2 months, and still put up a respectable record, (very simular to SD’s record). the Phillies had/have one of the best teams in baseball and showed it in the playoffs. The Braves also had/have one of the best teams, but ATL had Albies injury that took much of his season and the playoffs, and they didn’t get the production they would have liked out of Olson & Acuna, and they just weren’t as good as the Phillies when the Phils were at full strength.
@Simm
It’s unearned. That’s all.
You assert it’s making more teams “competitive”, they had 162 games to be competitive. Your 2nd and 3rd wildcards were ‘created’ for money.
The Phillies beat the snot out of YOUR Braves in that series so what does that say about them?
@Kruk’s Left Nut
You “beat the snot” out of a game 1 pitcher(Fried) that was ill for 2 weeks prior to that outing, and a Game 3 pitcher who hadn’t pitched for 4 weeks, you lost to Kyle Wright, and Bohm knocked Charlie Morton out of the game in the early innings with a line drive come backer that almost fractured his arm. I’d hardly put your take on it, that you ‘beat the snot’ out of the Braves, but you did beat them, you also had the advantage of coming into the series having played games. The Braves didn’t play for how many days because of Manfred and his new bs play-off system. Furthermore, Max Fried will never make excuses for himself, but Phillies fans will certainly exaggerate what they did against the Braves irrespective of the facts of the matter.
“Also noticeable was a dip in velocity for Fried. The 28-year-old’s 92.7 mph average for his four-seamer was lower than in any of his 30 regular-season starts, including his last.” All of his pitches were down on velocity.
“Going into the series, it was unclear how severe the illness was, but according to Braves pitching coach Rick Kranitz, Fried never got healthy and entered his Game 1 start against the Phillies down 15 pounds.”
That tells you everything you need to know about Fried. You won that game by 1 run off Fried who hadn’t pitched for 11 days and he was ill and lost weight. 11 days rest is not good for any pitcher even if he was 100% fit, and he wasn’t. Not excuses, facts.
As for Strider, he hadn’t pitched for nearly a month and was coming off injury, if you think bullpen workouts or throwing off a mound live BP is any replacement for throwing in a proper game then you can’t know much about what it takes to be firing to the max.
“Hoskins, who didn’t have a hit in nine at-bats against Strider this season, was next and blasted his first pitch, a 93.8-mph four-seam fastball, over the wall in left field. The fastball was Strider’s slowest of the season, according to BaseballSavant.mlb.com.” You see the facts contradict your story of “beating the snot” out of the Braves, 1/ when you were facing an ill pitcher, and 2/, when you were facing a pitcher coming off injury that hadn’t pitched for a month who normally hits 98-99mph on his fast ball. Not excuses, facts. If you beat these guys if there’s a next time when they’re fully fit in the play offs I’ll be the first to give you credit, but not so much if you’re making the post season based on 2nd and 3rd wildcards, because as far as I am concerned you didn’t ‘earn it’.
@Fred Based on this post it sounds like Fried and Strider are selfish. Either that or it was poor decision making by the Braves management to use two guys who weren’t able to preform.
Morton wasn’t doing great either. I kind of remember him being hit pretty hard (and I don’t mean with just that line drive).
Next it will be “Kranitz is a spy.”
Actually if you want teams to spend and be competitive you want less playoff teams that’s why the mlbpa were bargaining against it. Rather than pretending like you know about something you should follow the cba negotiations and actually read the articles instead of typing comments. This way you won’t have to be corrected embarrassingly.
Teams seem be spending a ton money right now. You think the rangers spending all this money because they think they will win the division. No they are because there are more opportunities to get in. Same with other teams. The players association may have fought against it using that as a reason but all they wanted was a way to get more money
Simm:
Excellent response. There should be a rule, “No tanking in baseball”! If so, might even make the Pirates and Rockies contenders in a few years. Bucs don’t spend money and Rox spend it foolishly.
Old man yells at cloud.
Sometimes (I wish) at the ends of our screen names there could be a set or parenthesis with our age or current blood alcohol %….?
Either one would allow other posters to know when to move on….
We can all agree to disagree on topics…but sometimes…..
That’s a brilliant idea.
A reduced schedule most likely goes to 154 games. At that point the Mets win the division. I’m not sure how much actually changes in the playoffs though. The Phils have 2 top end arms and playoff scheduling allowed them to take advantage of that. The bats had timely hitting (except for the No-hitter which was a real bummer to be at). The Phils were not laughed off the field and playoff baseball has rarely been this exciting. Lots of close games and blown leads (anecdotal) throughout. Excitement is what this game has been missing since metrics took over. Few managers go with gut feelings anymore and the game had become predictable.
Dude get over it. It’s about getting in the dance. And you go from there. We don’t make the rules
You seem like a disgruntled fan of either the Dodgers, Braves, or Mets. I am a baseball purist, so to speak, and would prefer to see Pitchers hit, and the best regular season teams make the playoffs and the only advantage should be the 1 G homefield. I’d have TWO Legues Top 4 in each league make it.
Umm I live in south Philly big guy you might want too think again I bleed phillies red
Ideally they get 2 reliable starters. Tallion, Senga…even Walker or Syndergaard. Ottavino and/or Chafin for the pen would be nice. That would make a very solid offseason.
It’s wild that Turner is making less in 2023 than the combination of Segur/Didi did in 2022. In a strange way, Phillies massively upgraded at SS for less money per year.
Von;
They got Trea. They’ll probably get a back-end starter and a few bullpen guys before the season starts.
But no team in MLB freezes their roster on opening day. We saw what Mr. Dombrowski did in 2022. In 2023 there will be a combination of Phillies major and minor league coaches working with players (especially pitchers) on making them better throughout the year, as well as bringing in players via the waiver wire and trades, then turning them over to the coaching staff.
Mr. Dombrowski has his eyes on the prize 365 days a year – making the Playoffs and having a roster ready to go to the WS and win it.
The Braves have a great organization. The Mets have money. With Dave Dombrowski and John Middleton the Phillies have both.
If the Phillies have one black hole, it’s their propensity for striking out. I know my post isn’t gonna change anything, but I’m tired of watching too many games where 20 or so of the allotted 54 outs are recorded via strikeout.
Totally boring. Am I old school? Yep, that’s me. Would like to send all those math nerds in the Analytics Dept. back to Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Penn.
Maybe…..just maybe ending the massive shifting will help a bit? It won’t drop K’s down to 10, but @18 would do for a start…
Agreeing with you and as an example and yes extreme is Phillies own Darrick Hall…
A stat line of 141 pa 9 hr .522 slugg 5bb 44k seems to be acceptable.
Obviously at his age, he wanted to prove himself but 5/44 is scary.. Maybe a tweak or 2, with the shift change and that line moves to a more palatable 15/35. Some of the pitches he swung at….
That’s why Turner is a lineup changer.
Give me Taijuan Walker, David Robertson, and Mychal Givens!
I’d take them. I’d like Taillon if the price is right, but it doesn’t seem to be.
If they got something of real value (back of rotation arm or controlled quality BP arm) back for Rhys I would do it – doubt that they will get an offer that works however. Given their configuration, it is hard to see them giving him a large contract after next season so he is on borrowed time. Great guy; team leader; below par defender; streaky but useful power bat. Probably see him for one last year in Philly…he will be missed if / when he leaves.
Bohm to 1st is a bad concept – don’t see the bat carrying over there. His best chance is to continue his improvement at 3rd and if the bat continues to progress he could end up as a plus player over there. Good kid, but not a sure thing yet.
Exactly right. They’re going to roll with Hoskins now. He’s cheap, provides a lot of offense, probably more than anyone for that salary, and is a great clubhouse leader. If needed, they’ll deal him at the deadline or just let him walk in the offseason. Bohm doesn’t have enough offense for a 1B.
Guess you never seen Bohm play 1st? And why move a 26 year old kid who got tons of crap tossed at him for sucking at 3rd. Only too turn it around and become a bright spot at 3rd for the Phillies. Why would you do that? Again where you at the game they had Bohm at first? I was at he didn’t look comfortable at all. Leave him alone
They need one SP that can give some quality playoff innings if required…something better than a Gibson / current iteration Thor but below the Rodon level. If they then add another veteran back of the rotation arm I would not be sad at all…depth is always a big help and they need to allow the youngsters to force their way into the mix and not just be counted on to make the jump.
One surefire option for the back of the pen plus at least one decent middle relief arm….and then the usual late depth and injury upside additions. Hard to tell who else might contribute yet from the back of the 40 man. I expect some bullpen arm churn yet again.
Not much out there FA wise, and it’s a pitcher’s market so that would be a massive overpay. Taillon to replace Eflin would be nice, but I’m not liking Taillon’s price tag.
Agreed – they will be forced into a bad deal if they head that route, but this is in the competitive window so I would rather overpay for a Taillon and cross my fingers than go with another Gibson-type as the main FA SP deal.
Phillies are looking like NL East champs! Very impressed
A smart mid.small.market GM would.be working to sign FAs to trade…..
All the GMs are doing the same things…..unwritten collusion……