The Phillies are making center fielder Johan Rojas available in trade conversations, reports Matt Gelb of The Athletic. That’s not especially surprising, as the 25-year-old spent the final two months of the season on optional assignment to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Rojas has appeared in each of the past three big league seasons. He has primarily worked as a fourth outfielder. He’s an elite athlete who hasn’t shown much with the bat. The righty-hitting Rojas owns a .252/.294/.340 slash in just under 700 career plate appearances. He rarely walks and hits a lot of soft ground-balls that limit his power upside. Rojas hasn’t been good against pitchers of either handedness, so the Phillies haven’t been able to maximize his production by using him as a short-side platoon player.
While there’s a limited offensive ceiling, Rojas is one of the sport’s best defensive outfielders. He’s among the fastest players in baseball and has a plus-plus arm. Both Defensive Runs Saved (+22) and Statcast (+21) have valued him more than 20 runs better than average in a little over 1700 career innings. Rojas ranks among the top 15 center fielders in MLB in both metrics over the past three seasons. That’s despite playing fewer innings at the position than all but Kevin Kiermaier and Daulton Varsho among those who ranked above him.
Despite the glove, it appears Rojas is falling out of favor in Philly. They acquired Harrison Bader at the deadline to bring in a better glove-first, righty-hitting center fielder. Bader is now a free agent, but it doesn’t seem the Phillies want to give that spot back to Rojas. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski acknowledged yesterday that he’s looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder again this offseason even as they’re apparently making Rojas available to other clubs. He still has one minor league option remaining, so the Phils could send him back to Triple-A if nothing comes together.
A potential Rojas trade is part of a larger overhaul in the Philadelphia outfield. Nick Castellanos is almost certainly going to be traded or released. Gelb reported as much last month, and Dombrowski acknowledged yesterday that “sometimes a change of scenery can be beneficial for people” when asked about that situation. Max Kepler is unlikely to be re-signed, and the Phillies will want to get former first-round pick Justin Crawford into the mix early in the year. Dombrowski told reporters that the Phillies would be comfortable with Crawford as a center fielder, but most public scouting reports feel he projects better in left. He and Brandon Marsh are the likeliest options to start on Opening Day, yet they’ll need a right fielder and probably a righty-hitting fourth outfielder if they move on from Rojas.
Moving Bryce Harper back to the outfield is apparently not a consideration. For the past few seasons, Harper has said he’s willing to play right field if it enables the Phils to land a big bat at first base. Dombrowski downplayed the club’s interest in doing that.
“He’s actually (said) that for a couple years now, and we really appreciate the aspect of it, but we really look at him as a first baseman at this time,” Dombrowksi said (link via Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer). “I’m sure he could go out there, but he’s played first well. He’s a good first baseman and continues to get better. We really like our club with him there, so I think he is more of our first baseman.”
Harper has been a full-time first baseman over the past two seasons. Public defensive metrics graded him highly in 2024, though his numbers fell back to league average this year. The Phils could get him a few more designated hitter at-bats if Kyle Schwarber signs elsewhere. Harper remains a solid athlete and probably would have the range to play a decent right field, but the Phillies have wanted to avoid using him out there since he underwent elbow surgery over the 2022-23 offseason.
Dombrowski also touched on the relationship between the organization and the two-time MVP. There was a bit of controversy when Harper took umbrage with the executive’s comment that his ’25 campaign was not “an elite season like he has had in the past.” Harper said in late October that he hadn’t heard from Dombrowski personally. That apparently has changed, as the front office leader said the sides have “had a nice conversation, and everything went well.”
In one other piece of Phillies news, the club announced the hiring of Edwar Gonzalez as an assistant hitting coach. They had a vacancy in that role after Dustin Lind departed to accept the lead hitting coach job with the Orioles. It’s an internal promotion for the 42-year-old, who has spent the past three seasons in the organization. Gonzalez had been the club’s assistant director of hitting development and has one season of experience on an MLB coaching staff, as he spent the ’22 season as an assistant hitting coach for the Marlins. He and Rafael Pena will work as assistants under top hitting instructor Kevin Long.
I think the Phillies would’ve beaten the Blue Jays had they survived the Dodgers series. They clearly need to take aim at LA and figure out a way to get past them. Better defense & situational hitting seems like a start.
I can’t say they would’ve beaten the Jays. The Jays were hitting the hell out of the ball.
Honestly, it’s tough to say what they need to get past the Dodgers. The Dodgers didn’t outhit the Phillies or the Blue Jays. They didn’t really outpitch them either. They just won. Baseball is funny sometimes.
They came close to shutting down Ohtani and waffled Yamamoto. They need to get players that can pass the baton. The last at bat by Bader might have been the worst 10 pitch at bat that I’ve ever seen. Not one pitch was a strike.
I don’t think we’d have beat the Blue Jays. I think the only teams we don’t beat in the playoffs this year were the Dodgers or the Blue Jays.
As far as what we need, definitely better defense and situational hitting like you said, we need a better plate approach as a team overall though. Too many guys swinging at first pitches with runners in scoring position.
We need to address the pitching as well. Gonna need at least 1 starter and as usual the bullpen needs some work.
80% of the Phillies offense in the series vs LA came against a pitcher who is now retired. The Phillies offense vanishes in October. I don’t know if it’s the weather or the team approach, but they don’t hit in the playoffs against evenly matched teams for whatever reason.
This is a common thing people say, but the Dodgers hit less than the Phillies and won. The Dodgers also hit less than the Blue Jays and won.
The Phillies didn’t lose this year because of their offense. They lost because of mistakes.
How many of those runs did the Phillies score against Kershaw, who was on the roster for ceremonial purposes? 6 of their 15 or something like that?
It was an elite pitching matchup. It was never going to be about the offense. Ohtani was completely shut down. The Dodgers didn’t really hit in any of the four games at all. The Phillies were in position to win every game. I can’t say it was the offense that made the difference. It was the little things. The Phillies made blunders. The Dodgers did not. The better team won.
Exactly correct. The series came down to 3-4 poorly executed plays by the Phillies that were capitalized on by the Dodgers. The poor throw by Turner that allowed a run to score, the botched bunt play that should have never happened bc there were no outs and the icing on the mistake came by Kirkering that allowed the winning run to score and series lost.
Not even their mistakes. The final game was blown by the ump (at least in part, who knows if the end plays out the same)
Well there’s that factor too but I’m only mentioned what the Phillies can control and be accountable for.
Bad calls happen all the time. Just got to put yourself in a situation where you don’t rely on an ump.
Problem is the Dodgers won’t stand still and have a near bottomless financial well. I also think the Mets and Braves will be better in 2026.
Not moving Harper back to the grass, even part time, is a mistake.
Position flexibility is a luxury. Bryce in the OF would allow the team to play Castellanos at First and extract some value out of him. Resigning Schwarber would be nice but he’s limited to DH/1B.
Bellinger makes a lot of sense for the Phillies.
Castellanos is a cancer who can’t hit.
No way. Dude has too many injuries to move him back to a more physically demanding position. That’s counterintuitive. He would be better served to be on the field less, getting DH at bats, not adding in a more athletically taxing position.
And secondly- in what world do you see Castellanos in the team next year? Because that’s not happening.
Bryce is good at first base, consistency is key for that level of performance. He actually needs more time at DH to maintain longevity. RF would send that in the wrong direction.
Eman…you’re a tool
Bad take – Casty is useless and gone, any thought process on how to get more out of him is a waste of time. And Harper in the OF is also never happening nor should it.
He’s a gold glove first baseman with a history of arm injuries. He’s also not young. 1B makes plenty of sense.
Full story: Rojas is hitting very well in the prospect-filled Dominican Winter League. Admittedly, it may be too late to save his career with Philadelphia, but it *is* really remiss of MLBTR not to include that information.
They don’t have the financial bandwidth to improve the roster and being back their own FAs.
Schwarber is going to cost too much. JT is the only irreplaceable FA though, and 3 x 12.5 should be enough, maybe you go to 13 or 14.
They need to overhaul – LF, CF, RF, 2B, 3B, and DH. And they need a reliever or two. Stott, Casty, Bohm, Kerkering, Walker, Painter, and Miller are all on the table for me in the right trade.
Crawford and Marsh/Kemp make up CF and LF for now.
Sign Bo Bichette, that’s your big ticket, 3B set. Trade Casty + 5 to 10M and a couple low level prospects for Luis Robert, RF set. Trade Bohm + a couple prospects for Rooker DH set. Trade Stott, Kerkering, and a prospect for Ketel Marte, 2B set. Trade a package centered around Painter, Walker, cash, and additional prospects like Escobar and Nori for Skubal.
That’s a lot of moves. A lot very 2k like trade. But that roster goes to the WS.
Trea, Bo, Bryce, Rooker, Marte, JT, Robert, Marsh/Kemp, and Crawford.
Skubal, Wheeler, Sanchez, Luzardo, and Nola.
Gage Wood probably is going to need to be a bullpen piece. They’ll need to take a stab on a couple relievers.
You can empty the coffers. If they don’t win in the next 2-3 years they ain’t competing for a WS with what will be albatross contracts of Bryce, Trea, Nola.
Wow No way in the world they could pull those trades off,
Your Rooker and Marte trades are sooo bad. This isn’t fantasy baseball with a bunch of doofus league mates. And they aren’t blowing up the roster after they brought back the manager which is the first thing that should have changed.
I would agree that it’s time to move on from Rojas. He may still have a solid MLB career elsewhere, but I don’t see that happening in Philadelphia.
Painter is not being traded in any package. I think Crawford coming out of the gate with the team is a good idea. Too bad Stott hasn’t hit. He has an elite glove at 2nd. I actually thought the team would entertain Harper returning to center if they signed The Polar Bear. They need a big bat from the right side. Someone mentioned Louise Robert. Wasn’t he just extended? I could be wrong.
Aaron Nola is sliding to the 5th starter. No longer an ace in my opinion. I still want him though. I’d like to see Painter also break camp with the team.
Louise Robert?
Luis. I didn’t edit. Sue me!