The Royals and Phillies announced a one-for-one reliever swap on Friday morning. Left-hander Matt Strahm heads to Kansas City with righty Jonathan Bowlan going to Philadelphia.
It’s a reunion for Strahm and the Royals, as Kansas City drafted the lefty in the 21st round of the 2012 draft. Strahm made his big league debut for the Royals in 2016 and spent parts of two seasons with the club before being shipped to the Padres in a six-player trade alongside Travis Wood and Esteury Ruiz in order to acquire Trevor Cahill, Brandon Maurer, and Ryan Buchter. Strahm had a career 3.81 ERA and 4.12 FIP in 56 2/3 innings at the time of the trade. He’ll now return to Kansas City nearly a decade later with more than 500 MLB innings and an All-Star appearance under his belt.
Much of Strahm’s tenure with the Padres was fraught with injuries and ineffectiveness, but a solid season with Boston back in 2022 convinced the Phillies to bring him into the fold. Since arriving in Philadelphia, the lefty has emerged as one of the league’s most effective relievers. He has a 2.71 ERA in 212 2/3 innings of work over the past three years with a 2.82 FIP and a 3.01 SIERA. That’s the eighth-most innings of any pitcher with ten starts or fewer over the past three seasons, and among qualified relievers his ERA ranks 10th, his FIP ranks 15th, and his SIERA ranks 21st.
That’s an elite combination of quality and quantity that virtually any bullpen would benefit from adding, and the Royals are no exception. Strahm figures to join closer Carlos Estevez and righty Lucas Erceg at the back of the Kansas City bullpen to create the best late-inning trio the Royals have had since the 2015 club’s “three-headed monster” of Greg Holland, Wade Davis, and Kelvin Herrera. With solid arms like Nick Mears, John Schreiber, and Daniel Lynch IV set to cover the middle innings, it’s not hard to imagine the Royals entering 2025 with one of the stronger top-to-bottom bullpens in the American League thanks to this trade. Mears just came over in the same trade that netted Isaac Collins for the Royals but sent lefty Angel Zerpa to the Brewers. Sending out Zerpa cut into Kansas City’s lefty relief group but they have quickly pivoted to Strahm to restock in that department.
The loss of Strahm will surely sting for the Phillies somewhat, but the club remains fairly well set up in terms of their late-inning mix. Jhoan Duran remains one of the league’s top closers, and the recently-acquired Brad Keller was one of the top setup men in the majors last year with the Cubs. From the left side, Jose Alvarado and Tanner Banks should form a quality duo, and Alvarado in particular has offered elite production in the past. Strahm’s name has long been in trade rumors this winter, and clearing his $7.5MM salary off the books could help the Phillies in the pursuit of a reunion with catcher J.T. Realmuto or help them to afford the addition of another outfielder, who could help contribute alongside Brandon Marsh, Adolis Garcia, and top prospect Justin Crawford.
Aside from the financial incentive to make the trade, the Phillies will also receive the services of Bowlan, a 29-year-old righty who made his big league debut in 2023 but just got his first extended look in the majors last year. Bowlan pitched quite well across 44 1/3 innings for Kansas City in 2025, posting a 3.86 ERA with a 3.97 FIP in that time. He struck out 25.6% of his opponents with a 9.4% walk rate and a solid 48.7% ground ball rate.
That ability to generate both strikeouts and grounders should make Bowlan an effective, low-cost addition to a Phillies pen that has plenty of solid options in the late innings but has plenty of spots still fairly unsettled. With less than one year of service time under his belt, Bowlan can be controlled through the end of the 2031 season, affording Philadelphia the opportunity to bring in an arm that could be part of their relief mix for years to come.
Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that Strahm was being traded to Kansas City. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand had Bowlan going the other way.
This better be good Dombo….
He was very good with Philadelphia I’m not sure about the trade. I’m obviously not a Phillies fan but what are your thoughts?
mlb – His hair will be missed in Philly. Ironically the last time he had an official haircut was the last time he pitched for the Royals, on July 1st 2017. That’s the day he blew out his knee, and ever since he believes the haircut caused the injury.
*coincidentally
That’s because it’s true. Curses, whammy’s , jinxes, hexes are just a part of the game. There’s no superstition when it’s real. I’m always careful of what I say and I’ve got reverse whammy and double reverse whammy’s to counter whatever comes my way. ( yes I’m laughing as I text this) but I do nonetheless.
Butter – Wade Boggs would agree! That’s why he always ate chicken before every game, and never stepped on the chalk line when entering or exiting the field.
It seems not stepping on chalk line when entering and exiting the field is almost a universal practice.
Exception: Walk off wins and bench clearing scrums.
Rituals get forgotten during moments of elation and anger.
marsh is last long hair man standing..bohm doesn’t count.
It’s weird how Humans believe in wild and weird superstitions. “Kinehora” is the Yiddish word he would use when he or someone in the family did something out of the ordinary that could ported something bad happening. The word literally means to ward off the devil if you jinxed yourself. I think
Baseball of all the major sports seems to have the most superstitious athletes due the streakiness of it. Almost everyone runs hot and cold. When it rains it pours.
I dont follow basketball but I wonder if platers have scoring streaks line baseball players have slumps.
If he had curly red hair he could be Fraggle Rock Strahm à
Strahm over-achieved in 2024 and was good but not great this past season. They’re not expecting this new guy to be as good but they didn’t want to pay Strahm.
Strahm appears to be on his way down. On the wrong side of 30 and coming off a good not very good season, he was probably overpaid. I’m just surprised that Dombrowski didn’t try and use him to pick up infield depth.
Banking on Bohm again is a bad gamble.
Not if they’re just looking for an upgrade from Zerpa.
Yep. Total salary dump.
I think it was just a move where they could get some depth and free up payroll. I believe they think the same way you do as in Strahm is trending downwards and will be a FA at the end of the year. Brad Keller signing with the team gave them the depth to deal from a postion of strength.
I still believe that Marsh, Stott, and Bohm are still on the block w/ Casty. They already have the money set aside to pay JT once he gets his highest offer and the Phillies have to match. Thiss payroll free up was about adding a FA.
It would not surprise me one bit if they brought Bader back, or signed a guy like Bichette for the infield.
Smal outside chace this might be freeing up money for Imai, but last report last night was it was down to Cubs and Yankess for him according to Foul Territory.
Bohm is a very good player. Unless the Phillies were to sign Bregman, there is no one else ( available), that would be an upgrade at third base.
Yep. It makes no sense for the Royals. They’re getting pretty much the same production for more money & less control.
Edmundo Sosa is already on the roster and is a better player than either Bohm or Stott. However, they would have no depth in the infield if they made a trade from that group.
I love Edmundo Sosa. I love his energy and versatility. DD fleeced the cardinals by sending Jo-Jo Romero to STL for him.
However, he’s best playing part time twice a week. When he plays everyday, he has shown that he is exposed. That’s my only gripe about Sosa. He’s more valuable as the utility man.
I agree..this was going to happen this off season anyway. he had a clause in contract about innings pitched or appearances in the season which granted his option for 2026. don’t recall the dollar value
history, Bregman is not an upgrade over Bohm, and he costs 3-times as much.
@baseballhistory…Is he though? Bohm had good years in ‘23 & ‘24 in the batter’s box, but his results were mixed (at best) defensive side.
Still, Bohm on the list of Phillies with little trade value (behind Castellanos and Stott). Obviously, Stott and Bohm have more well rounded skill sets than Castellanos.
Maybe you’re being facetious if not simply showing fan bias.
And yet they kept Alvarado.
How exactly did he not have a “very good season” in 2025????? 2.74 ERA, 62 IP, 47 H, 70 SO and only a 1.06 WHIP. That’s a very good season for a bullpen arm! He earned his $7M.
Amen!
We needed a left hander. Do you read the articles or just respond?
The assumption is that this was about money coming off the books for something else to come, and replacing the production with Bowlan and Keller. My figuring is wait for part two to come by the end of the weekend. As the article states, probably Realmuto coming back so we can push all our chips to the middle of the table extending the run of the Weez Kids 2.0 for the next probably 3 years rather than blowing it up with a youth movement.
@Shackleton – Both Todd Zolecki and Jim Salisbury, on the latest edition of The Phillies Show (posted on YT just the other day) said that this DOES NOT factor into bringing JT back as the Phillies have already earmarked the money for that, fully anticapting he will return with an offer that they will indeed match. If they already have the money set aside for JT, then who are they targeting?
This move is to free up space for another move because Middleton canonly go so far over the tax and any relief will provide flexibility for the signing they could make. The question is who and I believe you are correct, we will find out in about a week or so.
Personally, I’d be fine if they brought Bader back if the deal made sense, but I hope DD has grander plans than that.
In isolation, this does not make the Team Better and was clearly based around financials. It’s a little amusing to think of the Royals taking on Salary and the Phil’s giving it up. But I’m a realistic fan…the Phil’s have one of the highest priced teams in the league.
Hope Dave is ok. Don’t want him getting hurt from laughing and jumping around. He might have done somersault down hallway celebrating this trade.
There should be more in the works. The Phillies are making moves that will be tied to others.
Dave prepping for something big
No. This is just a salary dump. I think the Phillies are close to where they were last year and they don’t even have JT yet. I think our expectations need to be lower.
Seems like a pretty light return for Strahm as he’s posted a good FIP over the last three seasons. Plenty of teams can use a strong lefty RP. Is Bowlan getting stretched out as a SP?
Right. Because it’s a salary dump for one year of Strahm.
It still seems like they could have gotten back something better than Bowlan. But I guess not.
I don’t recall anything about Bowlan but his data seems he is almost as good as Strahm. I think this is a trade you have to do. Lopsided fleece by Philly.
Not even close to as good as Straham!
This.
Before this trade, on the Phillies Show, Roob, Jim Salisbury, and Todd Zolecki mentioned a Strahm trade to free up payroll for another move since the Keller signing made him expendible.
Salisbury said “They already have the money earmarked for JT to come back” GOing on to say that the Phillies have that set aside and trading Strahm would be freeing up payroll for another move.
I still think the Phillies are very capable of winning it all next year. You need to get there and then things need to break right for you. In 2008-09 they had the 6th and then 5th best record in MLB but made the WS. In 2010-11 they had the best record but couldn’t get there.
dodgers similarly dominated the division for a while in the 10s without any flags.
Braves did it for 14 years straight and only got one ring.
This is a fair take, but I’m not entirely convinced that it’s not possibly setting the table for a more creative offseason based on the salary dump.
Shame the Phillies are at budget because Strahm was good for them. Bullpen would’ve been elite with him.
KC gets 1 year of a really good reliever, while Philly gets a bunch of years of a less polished reliever. Maybe they can polish Bowlan up. Could be a decent longer term play by Philly, although it does seem to hurt them for the time being.
Bowlan is MLB ready and comes with 6 years of control. It’s looking like a reasonable deal for the Phillies, even if I am sorry to see Strahm depart.
I agree. I loved Strahm the person but didn’t like his stuff in a big moment. They obviously wanted to shed some salary and they are hoping Bowlan can be groomed into a good reliever.
Royals fan here. Bowlan has been a reliever for basically one season. He was a failed starter in the minors for the entirety of his career before that.
So far he’s had stretches where you think he can turn into a solid bullpen piece, and others where you wonder if he’d be better off in Japan.
Not saying he can’t turn into “something” eventually, but right now he’s best suited for mop up duties in MLB.
In 2024 he only struck out 8.5 per 9 with Omaha. And over half of his 35 games were in relief. So he doesn’t look all that impressive. Just a salary dump.
I think Bowlan is just a hair less of a pitcher. Slight improvement he is better. Absolute steal by Philly.
Laughable.
Canuckleball, the pitcher we got is probably not a 40 man roster player which frees up another player like JT.
I’m surprised here. Just for budgetary reasons or they need the righty more? Strahm was very good in fantasy too!
Budgetary. After the Keller signing, Phils needed to free up money.
Strahm’s fastball isn’t quite as fast anymore. He gave up a number of late inning hr’s, that lost games. Strahm is still good, but could be on his way down. Having Alvarado back, made Strahm less valuable to the Phillies.
Well he only gave up 9 HR in the last 2 years total! So saying he “gave up a number of late inning home runs” is a bit overrated.
I started to sour on him last year. He looked wilder and lost a tic on the fastball. I didn’t trust a lead when he came in. I don’t think this trade does much other than be a salary dump, but the Phils won’t miss Strahm.
Don’t like the sound of this for the Phils
Philly should do fantastic
Now the only way he can give up home runs to Teoscar Hernandez in the playoffs is in the World Series… unless Teo gets traded to the American League or something.
vaderzim: And when the Royals visit LA in August.
Playoffs don’t happen in August.
vaderzim: Obviously not, but that series is on the schedule.
Correct Alfred!
Everyone plays everyone now
Not in the playoffs.
Looks like a terrific pickup for KC. I wonder why it appears so lopsided?
Years of control of an uncertain, but promising arm for one-year of an elite situational lefty. As a CLE fan, I’m disappointed. The loss of Zerpa looked like it weakened the KC pen, but Strahm ramps it right back up again.
When you wasted a combined 38 million on walker and castellanos both are untradable you move salary that can be moved imo.
You’re referencing two different teams here?
No. Taijuan Walker and Castellanos both on Phillies
Gotcha, thanks. Was wracking my brain to figure out who on the field we were talking about. Thought maybe you meant Christian Walker, another poor signing. But yeah, Taijuan…jeez. Fangraphs didn’t like the Adolis Garcia signing much either, but at least it’s only one year. My team couldn’t sweep any of those mistakes under the rug without major consequences. Still, even big markets feel the pinch eventually and it cost you a reliable southpaw out of the pen. I doubt Bowlan ever reaches the level of Strahm.
To me it looks like Philly just traded 1 year for 6 years of similar reliever value.
Well then, you’ve not looked closely enough at results or the fact that one throws LH and the other RH, but OK.
Damn Nicholas cage gonna be a royal again
Wonder what the return is. Strahm is really good.
This was primarily a salary dump and a likely an internal analysis that Strahm is on the decline.
6 years of good reliever for 1 year
Philly will regret letting go of such a consistent presence in their bullpen
I doubt it.
The Phils got younger, I guess..?
Velo was down quite a bit last year, although he was still good.
That is it exactly. Strahm gave up some homers that lost games late. D D is trading Strahm when he still has value The old Branch Rickey adage of “better to trade a year too soon, than a year too late”!!
This seems odd! Strahm’s salary isn’t huge or anything (7.5 mil).
They just spent 10mil on Keller. This gives them some of that back.
Salary cut was just a bonus. If Strahm made 700k they make this trade.
This could be about moving salary to bring in a free agent or trade for a bigger contract. Maybe Strahm personality was worn out in the Phillies clubhouse. I’ve been saying Astros (Meyers/Hader or Abreu), Red Sox (Duran/Hicks), White Sox (Robert/Teel) or Angels (Trout/Detmers) could all line up with the Phillies on a blockbuster trade.
Purely budgetary. Don’t read much into it. Dude is loved.
It’s about taking advantage of a stupid team.
The Royals should have acquired Hank Strahm instead!
Hank retired in 08. 1908
Still, if he were available!!!
Questionable move by DD. Strahm has been as consistent as anyone in the relief corp for the Phils. I get that they had a lot of lefties in the pen, that the new guy is a rightie and that he’s younger and has more years of control than Strahm, I just figured they would get a much better return for Strahm.
I’m sure DD tested his value and this was the best they could do. As a Phillies fan I understand the deal. I’d rather have Strahm but even though his salary wasn’t huge they didn’t think they could afford him and sign Realmuto.
Questionable why so many people think KC won this trade
Phillies should’ve traded Orion Kerkering instead of Strahm.
Strahm makes cash, OK does not….keeping payroll down the best they can(300 mklnis significantly more then most teams so not complaining but could have gotten something better.
Kerk will come back hungry. He’s probably spending the winter squatting under a waterfall with his sensei whipping him with a reed. He’s eating charcoal and learning to spit fire and how to stare into the eyes of his challengers. His issues seem to be with confidence. We need to see a flashy s-talking vocal Orion in 2026. If he actively decides to take souls then the sky is the limit.
^this >>>>>
The Phillies are stupid to trade Strahm for Bowlan. Strahm has been one of the best left-handed relif pitchers the past few years. Bowlan, honestly don’t know much about him, but I saw that he is 29, so he definitely is not a young player. Be interesting to see of the Phillies get anything else in return.
I won’t miss strahm with his hands on his knees as another one leaves the yard.
likely less about age and more about control and salary.
29 is young for reliever. Younger than Strahm. Philly probably still laughing and cheering. Celebrating probably goes into Saturday.
I think Dave got rid of Strahm because of this end of the year comments. Following the botch play by Kerkering, Strahm told reporters after the game that the Phillies didn’t work on pfp’s none that week. Dave said Phillies practice PFP’s all week before the playoffs started. Seem like some kind of rift
No. It’s a salary dump related to the Keller signing. Plain and simple.
It could be both. Castellanos is on the out due to cultural issues, replaced by a similar bat. Looks like the Phils brass wants to shake up the clubhouse culture.
Garcia is a similar bat, but an excellent defender. So it’s a huge improvement over Casty who was rated the literal worst fielder in 25.
You’re making up stories that don’t exist. Replacing Casty is a baseball move. Trading Strahm is a financial one. That’s it.
Matt Gelb just came out with an article saying Strahm clashed with the coaches. Not making things up. Also, I didn’t say anything about Garcia’s defense for a reason.
Good clubhouse culture doesn’t win you games.
Philly made trade because it was so lopsided in their favor they had to
If that’s true DD wouldn’t be happy about it but I don’t believe that would influence him one way or the other in regard to Strahm being on the team. The Phillies FO want to be at a certain place with their salary and they felt they needed to shred some payroll and still sign Realmuto.
Phillies strapped for cash? 7.5 million isn’t getting a comparable reliever
No
this is going to be weird when he does his card collecting show. now they have to change the intro.
Makes no sense from Phillies side. Nats get Harry Ford for Ferrer and phillies get a non factor pitcher who is 30
They freed up 7.5mil. They lose Strahm next year anyway. Now they have a controllable, pre-arb arm.
Now you are on it. Free up salary and get that controlled arm that just might be a solid middle relief arm if things break right and they can develop him.
I also think that they looked at Strahm as a guy that they were not completely comfortable with in key playoff spots anymore, and frankly that is where they really need someone. So to unload the last year for relief was perhaps not such a big loss in their mind as the rest of the pen should be more than deep enough for regular season success. They need to see who will become the next big arm to step up in the playoffs.
Makes no sense for KC
Bowlan just had a birthday on the first. He just turned 29. so, He’s not 30.
Would have better to keep him and dump overpriced JT. Depending on Tanner Banks and Alvarado as your lefties is asinine
I am confused.
This should be a good trade for both sides. Bowlan is under club control for a while.
I’d be under control for six years but that doesn’t make me worth it.
Won’t be good for KC if Bowlan pitches similar to 2025.
Its cause of the Budget, shouldn’t have signed Romono, Kepler, Garcia to ridiculous 10 million dollar contracts and we would have had the money here
Kepler and Romano are both free agents, how do they have anything to do with the current financial situation
they both got 10 mill last year…Just making a point about signing way over price for guys
and their contracts would directly effect the current financial situation they were both paid over the last year, Garcia hasn’t been paid yet but still just trying to make a point that Dumb Broski over pays for guys that shouldn’t get that type of money
Both of those contracts were reasonable at the time the were signed. I’m sure you could’ve done so much better. Be thankful your team actually hands out 10 million dollar deals, signed a Brewers fan
Salary cutting move. He was very good in the regular season, not so much in the spot season 2 years in a row.
I think this was expected. What wasn’t expected is that they’d had another RH reliever. Especially after taking McCambley and signing Keller bother RHPs.
I thought they’d try and package Strahm with Bohm to get a better return on a player. Time will tell how this pans out. Maybe it’s a precursor to moving Kerkering?
Bowlan just as valuable but with 5 additional years. Salary just a bonus
Good move KC
6 years for 1 is good apparently
Strahm waking up wondering what he did to deserve it. like a banishment to Siberia.
you do know the Royals originally drafted him. He played for them in 16 and part of 17.
no i didn’t know that. then i correct it to being sent down a grade!
Nice move for Philly.
Bowlan is 29 but has 5 years of control left. He averages 96 with the FB with good extension. Suppresses hard contact while sporting above average ground ball and strikeout rates with solid command. Needs to improve against LHHs.
Bowlan (6’6″, 240 lbs) looked like he would be a starter before TJ surgery. Could be upside for moving him back into the rotation and/or focusing more on using his sinker.
Strahm is a really good lefty reliever, but he’s paid well and is 34 with only one year left on his contract. Guess KC felt they badly needed a LH reliever, but this seems like a ‘last piece to push us over the top’ type move for a KC team on a budget and needs elsewhere.
Phillies needed to shed some salary and add a righty as pen was extremely lefty heavy..Strahm’s still quite valuable with his availability, but his 2025 was certainly a step back from 2024. I get the move from the Phillies side picking up a controllable arm with better “stuff” while also shedding salary, but it certainly feels like they could have gotten more. Nice move for the Royals.
Their pen wasn’t left heavy after the Keller signing. Now they only have 2 lefties.
Yeah so right. If you Wanna give away Strahm they should have to take Castellanos also. Id still be willing to trade multiple assets for Ketel Marte and wouldnt be burdened with the highest tax level. This move makes no sense
Phillies were tired of his long mop haircut and decided to ship him to KC.
Could be a money move for the Phillies in the wake of signing Keller.
Take that $ saving and give Dave another year after this fleece
Seems weird. He had good numbers last season. Hmm..
KC one of the weakest run teams
Strahm’s year in Boston before Philly isn’t terribly different from Bowlan’s 2025 in terms of ERA, FIP, and WHIP. Interesting move.
KC wants a deep bullpen
Strahm performed way better in Philly than I ever expected, while staying healthy, which certainly wasn’t a given. Last year seemed bad just because the prior year was so good.
Guess they are counting on Fat Boy to stay healthy and unsuspended as the #1 lefty in the pen.
Why pick up Alvarado’s option for more money, only to trade Strahm in a salary dump? Strahm has been far better than Alvarado, and Alvarado has a history of injuries to his pitching arm too.
Strahm is on the downside. Alvardo is younger and throws harder. He can be used in highler leverage situations. Both he and Tanner Banks can pitch at least a single inning and they are drastically different.
Alvarado is on the hunt for his new contract. It would behoove him to com into camp in the best shape of his life and ready to take on the world. It’s amazing what happens when something affects your wallet.
Strahm is so much better than Alvarado. This is a ridiculously dumb trade
You’re not seeing the bigger picture.
The bigger picture is not really relevant in regards to the return. If you need to trade him trade him but it’s a win now team trading a big bullpen piece and getting a total wildcard in return. Not to mention the team always seem to need help in the pen (who doesn’t). IDC if they signed keller. They need the depth. They just keep throwing all their money at resigning aging players like Nola and Schwarber while making bad free agent decisions like Kepler and Romero. Meanwhile the players clearly aren’t all on the same page with the manager. A clubhouse with entitled crap outfielders complaining about being benched and throwing the manager under the bus.
Because KC was probably only stupid enough to trade Bowlan for Strahm. Give them Alvarado too if they are willing to double down on stupid.
Strahm was a dependable reliever but he always made me nervous. Throwing a low 90’s fastball as a primary pitch scared me. He gave up some big fingers over the years. Good time to move on.
Gotta watch out for those big fingers
He has a deceptive delivery and is long and lanky so who cares if he throws low 90s if the difficulty of hitting is makes it a much better pitch than it appears from the couch?
Look, it’s clear from this and the Garcia move that Middleton has given Dombrowski a budget. It’s a generous one — top 5 payroll — but it feels pretty firm. The Castellanos and Walker salaries are killers, but just for another year.
If this was needed to add JT, Bader and/or a bigger impact bat, it had to happen. Alvarado definitely needs to stay on the field.
Strahm was done when he said they didn’t put in that practice that Orion blew
Royals need to probably part with an SP to get an OF. Have to shore up the pen.
I liked Strahm with the Sox. Too bad they couldn’t bring him back
I’m gonna miss Strahm. That guy felt pretty reliable out of the pen (for the most part).
This is one of the dumbest trades Ive seen in a good while
He’s been great here but you could tell last year he lost some velocity. Normally 93/94. He was down to 92. Plus most teams don’t carry three left-handed relievers. Duran, Keller, Bowlan, Orion, Alvarado, Banks will make this team tough to beat if we end the sixth inning with a lead.
Standard Dombrowski off-season moves – Fail to sign the free agents who can actually improve the team, pay too much for top tier player, get rid of players you’ll miss, overpay yearly 1-year rental outfielder, and start filling in holes with questionable trades or inexpensive free agent acquisitions.
The only reason the Phils should have considered trading a valuable reliever like Strahm is he either wants out of Philly, or he has an injury the Phils are aware of.
Sure, the Phils save $7.5 million by trading Strahm, but they could have saved $10 million by not signing Garcia who is not an improvement over Castellanos, and maybe not even Kemp or Rojas.
Even if the Phils do resign Realmuto, this team is weaker than the team that lost to the Dodgers in the 2025 playoffs. It is unlikely Wheeler will be available for the start of the season, and possibly a weaker version of his former self if and when he returns. Which Nola will show up in 2026 is questionable. Suarez is probably gone. The Phils have failed to resign Bader, who absolutely carried the Phils at the end of the 2025 season.
I can hardly wait for the sportswriters to pick the Phils to win the world series in 2026.
A++++++++ Philly. Got similar quality much cheaper for many more years.
D for KC They know the pitcher better than I do. His data looks great though. Seems like small improvement for only 1 year.
F for KC. Can’t see any data that makes you want to make this trade. Just sign a reliever and have Bowlan as depth.
Dave Dumb browski dropped the ball again. The only way this move should be considered is if the other is taking most or all of Castellanos and his salary this year. Phillies cleared 6 million dollars- on the surface id grade this trade an F. Philadelphia Failure. Terrible move