Phillies 2025-2026 Hot Stove Discussion

andyb 2025-12-16 15:36:19 UTC #573

Rojas is a much better CF than Nori is projected to be. It is not a great comparison.

Nori is a decent prospect but not a great one. There is no reason to even think of penciling him into any sort of role yet. One decent year in the minors when he was not super young is really nothing definitive. The criticism is not really of Nori. It is about penciling him in for a role when there is about a 30% chance he could fill that role in your timeline. I am just not basing future OF decisions on any minor leaguer other than Crawford yet.

Philsmania 2025-12-16 15:42:10 UTC #574

I hope this Garcia move somehow works out but, bear in mind, prior to 2013, the Phillies signed Delmon Young fresh off an ALCS MVP.

zambonir 2025-12-16 15:59:20 UTC #575

Young had really not been good for several seasons even when he won that MVP, whereas Garcia was really good the year he did it. Injuries involved with both of them too I suppose. And Garcia way older

What's funny is Young put up a 117 OPS+ for Tampa in limited action after he left Philly (and was even on their playoff roster), and then did it again for the Orioles (with 1.0 WAR) for another season. It was not a terrible gamble. The worst part about it if memory serves is that it was part of the ongoing "let's jack around Domonic Brown" project.

andyb 2025-12-16 20:23:40 UTC #576

Phillies do appear to be leaning to the Crawford in CF solution. OF moves may be done. Probably looking at catcher and bullpen for remaining moves.

Headlines from Phillies' introduction of Adolis Garcia:

--Garcia to play RF, as expected, with Crawford in CF and Marsh in LF vs. RHP. OF is "pretty well set," said Dave Dombrowski, who mentioned Kemp as platoon LF and Rojas on bench.

--Catcher "really our focus," DD said. Realmuto still priority.
— Scott Lauber (@scottlauber.bsky.social) December 16, 2025 at 1:11 PM

DurhamBull 2025-12-16 20:37:17 UTC #577

Wow, no mention of Castellanos at all. I expected at least some pretense that they were interested in keeping him in order to improve their trade bargaining position with other teams, but apparently not.

Philsmania 2025-12-16 20:44:55 UTC #578

I think they've conceded that they are going to cut him, unless somebody owes Dombrowski or Middleton a favor and will take him along with $15 million. They will get a credit for whatever whoever else pays him so maybe there will be a little bit of a bidding war for his services, within limits of course. If they are going to cut him, just get it over with.

andyb 2025-12-16 21:14:05 UTC #579

Crawford will give us our best chance at a prospect promotion bonus pick so far. Painter could give us a second chance too.

Philsmania 2025-12-16 22:08:43 UTC #580

I got admit, though, it does feel like the Phillies are taking something of a leap of faith making Crawford the odds-on favorite to be the starting CFer.

andyb 2025-12-16 22:16:47 UTC #581

Certainly a risk but one could argue Crawford earned a promotion halfway through last season and the Phillies chose to get Bader instead. The defense is a work in progress and while his swing is too, the rest of his offensive game (high contact, high average, speed,, limited platoon splits) is pretty high floor in terms of risk.

Rojas is still around too and seems to be playing well in extensive Dominican League time. He needed regular playing time to improve and at least he is getting that. We are definitely thin in case of an injury or Crawford not being ready, but that probably means we will need a trade if that happens.

All in all this is a good risk to me and offers a pretty high upside if Crawford works out. We kind of messed up the last Crawford by not giving him this chance.

bkox 2025-12-16 22:32:17 UTC #582

John Clark posted this on FB last week. Seems everyone knows hes gone

zambonir 2025-12-16 23:31:47 UTC #583

Yeah everyone knows the Phillies are done with Nick including the other 29 GMs, there's nothing they could say at a press conference that would change anything. I did read that they are in no rush to move him though. I mean, he won't go to Clearwater, but it's in the Phillies' interest to at least wait for the supply to shrink, and they may not be inclined to do him any favors.

zambonir 2025-12-17 14:20:58 UTC #584

It feels like whenever Dombrowski says this sort of thing there's actually a move coming. But, in summary:

Likes the five guys at the top of the pen, feels they have other options for the rest.
As things currently stand Rojas and Kemp make the team but they could still prefer a more proven RHB to platoon with Marsh (this story suggests Refsnyder but says market is strong for him).
Still need starting pitching depth but nothing fancy/no multi-year guys.
They inquired on CFs Brenton Doyle, Jake Meyers and Luis Robert Jr. but didn't really have enough to offer in trade.

I guess we'll see if they even offer Imai or one of the Japanese hitters. They certainly could, especially if they want to trade Bohm.

Anything is possible if they can't sign JT, of course.

phillychuck 2025-12-17 14:25:08 UTC #585

Do we think Casty will be released rather than traded? That seems sub-optimal, but it’s not my money, of course.

saycheese 2025-12-17 14:25:48 UTC #586

Dombrowski said he doesn't view the bullpen as a need. Likes the five vets and thinks the final spots should go to competition of younger players. My guess is McCambley will get ever shot to stick. They can stash him if they really like him. Also have to figure if Wheeler is ready early season that Walker is in the bullpen. (Sanchez, Wheeler, Luzardo, Nola, Painter??) .

Seems like catcher is the only spot that they are going to address. If JT resigns then its run it back or as I call it the devil you know is better than the devil you don't.

Also have to wonder with Otto Kemp getting so much talk does Westin Wilson have any value? They are duplicative. Pretty much play the same positions, hit from the right side. Wilson had a bad year last year, never seemed to be 100% healthy after his oblique strain. Those are tough to come back from. He had a good year in 2024. I mean we just paid 10 million for a right handed bat who had a .278 OBP. Certainly a cheap player like Wilson is worth something

They are not trading Bohm and honestly I wouldn't either. Its going to be hard to upgrade from Alec, even in a down year he still hit 287, 310 OBP, 11 home runs (down year power wise due to injury I am sure). I still think the is a 285-290 hitter, 100 rbi 15-20 hr guy. I don't see what the problem is there.
All the Bregman talk is exhausting. Sure lets sign another 32 year old who wants a mega deal, give up draft picks and such. Now if they are talking about Bo Bichette that would intrigue me, age and productively.

So this is the offseason. Let Ranger and Casty go, resign Schwarber, hopefully JT and sign a offensive downgrade to play RF. Turn over CF to a young player (which I am fine with although I think he is a better LF). Platoon again in LF which again I am OK with. I just think we should have done better in RF. Tired of taking chances on older players who haven't produced for several years. We needed out of the box solutions this offseason and we got more of the same. I am starting to think Dombrowski is not capable of doing out of the box things.

flyers19rw 2025-12-17 14:26:29 UTC #587

Seattle signed Andrew Kneizer to a contract. That gives them a surplus of catchers. I wonder if they moving out one of them?

Austinfan 2025-12-17 14:31:44 UTC #588

I have no problem with Garcia, if he hits like Casty, the fielding improvement is probably worth 2 WAR, from the worst in the league to well above average. If they can get him to stop chasing FBs out of the zone, he could bounce back - he won't feel the pressure here to carry the team.

DD can look at the roster and payroll and knows they must integrate 2-3 young starters by 2026 to remain competitive. Crawford, Miller, but also Escobar, Nori, some young pitchers. As Turner and Harper age, they need low cost players to balance those overpays. Same with the pitching staff, Nola, Wheeler, Luzardo's extension, you need Painter et al to give you cheap starts and fill out the pen. You can't pay real money for bench players or long relievers when you're overpaying stars.

They also need to hit on a big money LA player, when you pay $3+M, you have to hit, when you pay $300K, you only have to hit on 1 of 10, when you pay $10K, 1 of 100.

zambonir 2025-12-17 14:32:36 UTC #589

Not really up to them is it? But given the choice between keeping him and paying him $20 million to play for someone else, they obviously prefer the latter. The best case would probably be if a new team signs him for more than just minimum (even if it's incentives) which will knock a little bit off the tax burden. If you're another GM, even if the Phillies offer to pay $18 million of his salary, why would you give up even one mediocre prospect when you know you can get him for free? Same when you DFA a fringe guy.

Granted this is Dombrowski's talking point, adding two new players out of nine is not running it back, and two is also one more than the Phillies have ever added in past years.

And we may yet see a third mid-season.

phillychuck 2025-12-17 14:36:18 UTC #590

He’s 32. Hard to teach old dogs new tricks...

My guess is that he is what he is, a 20-30HR bat with a very low OBP but a much better glove in rF.

andyb 2025-12-17 14:42:32 UTC #591

Phillies are talking like they think Long can fix him. Bat speed is mostly still there at least even if it is not what it was in 2023. I am skeptical of course, but if all we get is Casty with better defense it is worth a win or two. Every transaction does not need to be a home run. Actually believing in Crawford is the biggest thing we are doing this offseason. Risky but with potential rewards if it works.

zambonir 2025-12-17 14:58:11 UTC #592

Kind of amusing to see them say Long can fix him because his Hallmark is teaching plate discipline. He reaches some of his students more successfully than others.