Phillies 2025-2026 Hot Stove Discussion

[andyb]

Our Tampa guy who seemed pretty good at his job.

[zambonir]

Yup. I am kind of surprised that Velandia hasn't gotten more looks, but not much room to move up at the Phillies right now with Fuld and Mattingly both having VP and GM titles.

[fish]

I guess it was inevitable that they'd lose Kilambi at some point to a promotion. Hard to know what role he had in the organization after being moved up from analytics- especially when Dombrowski has a penchant for signing guys like Jordano, Kepler and Garcia. Hopefully he hired his replacement!

[zambonir]

Jordano, lol.

I don't think they ever moved him up though, he came in as an AGM no?

[fish]

I don't think they ever moved him up though, he came in as an AGM no?

He’ll always be “Jordano” now in my memory. Yeah, I guess you are right, they had to hire him as a AGM to get him from the Rays.

While they have a bunch of well educated guys in their analytics department, what they don’t have (anymore) are guys with background experience from other clubs successful at implementing it.

[BostonRoss]

But 2024 was his only negative dWAR season. It looks like a fluke, for whatever reason, perhaps injury.

Yeah, dWAR seems to be a more volatile stat than oWAR. Personally, I think one needs to look at several years worth to get a good idea of someone's defensive value. Of course, defensive skill does decline over time.

[bkox]

Source: Phillies have signed RHP Levi Stoudt to a minor league deal.

Stoudt made four MLB appearances with the #Reds in 2023 and was part of the Luis Castillo trade from the #Mariners in 2022.

He pitched in the #Orioles system in 2025. pic.twitter.com/k3reIPgTcM

— Ari Alexander ( @AriA1exander ) December 17, 2025

[fish]

The next thing to watch for is who Kilambi recruits to join him. If he hires from the Phillies system, we should be concerned. If he doesn’t, we should be more so.

[zambonir]

One assumes he might poach a few guys but also we'll barely know about it? The Front office directory online no longer includes that detailed list of 100+ scouts and analysts and so forth, only executives, though I suppose the media guide might still have those details.

Plus we also learned this year that the Phillies are reliant on a third-party analytics platform, run by their former employee Andy Galdi.

What you want to see is the Phillies developing their own wunderkind intern/former blogger of course. I believe Corrine Landry is pretty high up now.

[andyb]

II don't think we'll lose too many other than an occasional promotion. Reality is the Phillies probably pay more for equivalent positions than the Nats. I am sure the new GM got scouting and analytics budget increases, but the Nats owners are fundamentally cheap and have rarely paid market value for lower level talent (and deferred money for the big ticket talent).

[Austinfan]

If they've been there a couple years, there's organizational knowledge developed.
Implementing analytics is not rocket science, it's more management skills, how to meld analytics with eyeballs in a way that doesn't alienate the baseball people.
Analysts often overrate the value of metric because if they're not well trained to be skeptical of statistics, they start believing their numbers to be reality, rather than an approximation of reality.

G.G. Box: "All models are wrong, some models are useful." My mantra.

[Philsmania]

The next thing to watch for is who Kilambi recruits to join him. If he hires from the Phillies system, we should be concerned. If he doesn’t, we should be more so.

Welllllll, it's not like our farm system is thriving.

[zambonir]

Yeah but this isn't really about the farm, even if analytics necessarily factors into all aspects of scouting and development. Velandia and Barber are the two Assistant GMs in charge of all that (Ned Rice is more the contracts and cap and logistics). And of course our current GM was the assistant in charge of development until this year.

I guess Fuld's leave of absence is over? It will be interesting to see what happens with him and Matitngly if DD does exit after 2027. Or if either of them leave, should DD stick around.

[David_Criss]

Stoudt the local kid..He was a former top prospect for Seattle. I got to see him pitch in AA. Decent stuff, but not so decent stats if memory serves.

[zambonir]

Per Passan, though people have been saying it all off-season.

I get it, though I kind of like Strahm even more as the 6th inning/more than three-out guy he was at the start of his Phillies career (remember he was even in the rotation!) than as the 7th/8th inning lefty he became.

I suppose it is kind of by design, you save the money now, see if Banks and Kerkering can perform and if anyone else looks like another Hoffman (or even Bellatti), and then you probably still need to add a new guy at the deadline anyway.

Matt Strahm is now reportedly 'likely' to be traded by Phillies | OnPattison

[Austinfan]

Strahm wasn't as effective last season, and I think they don't see him as a viable 7th inning or later option, give 3 other RPs they like better in that role, and Banks is cheaper as a long reliever. Probably want to save money on the margin this year, then clear Casty, Walker, Garcia, etc. and free up $50+M minus the cost of the Luzardo extension.

[zambonir]

Who's Garcia?

Strahm was a lot less effective last year, and has a lot of wear on him, but you still never really know. He could bounce back completely. It is a calculated gamble to save $6.5 million against Keller's money (which will actually go to JT).

[phillychuck]

Relievers often have years that are “off” statistically, but because of small sample size really show nothing. I’d personally keep Strahm and hope for a regression.

[zambonir]

I'm not sure it has anything to do with his performance or potential performance. They have a budget, and they have a certain % of that budget to allocate to relief pitching. Just as you can't pay your second bench player starter money you can't pay a 6th inning reliever 8th inning money (even if that whole pecking order is antiquated). Of course the fix for that is to developm more talent internally. Or acquire cheaper controllable arms, like Duran and Banks. It's just that Banks feels like a drop-off from Strahm.

As the On Pattison story mentions, there's also the minor soap opera over fielding practice. And of course if we're trying to guarantee post-season effectiveness from relievers (impossible) Strahm is the only guy who's been a goat (not a GOAT) two years in a row. If only because he was here both years.

[bkox]

Who's Garcia?

Adolis