Phillies 2026 News and Discussion

[EastFallowfield]

I thought the Mets were snowed/rained out yesterday. Hopefully Philly doesn't have the same weather as Denver anyway.

[zambonir]

Trout would be replacing Casty on the payroll. Not even Casty and Walker (assuming Angels pay 50%). And Bohm will be gone too. Yeah, their hands will be tied again, but that is going to happen anyway. Just a question of how/for which players.

[zambonir]

Ha I thought the Mets were at home/postponed today. I certainly knew about the snow. Was confused since Rockies are our next home opponent.

[andyb]

Tough travel for the Rockies who were supposed to have an afternoon game today before playing Philly Friday night. Now they have a night game today and a day game tomorrow.

[phillychuck]

The Phillies future is completely dependent on continuing to roll over expensive assets and the hope that some of our 30+ players don’t decline too quickly. Unfortunately (here is where I disagree with allentown) I don’t see any path to a young, successful team in the next 5 years or so. Therefore, acquiring Trout, in my view, doesn’t put us any further into the hole in the future. We just don’t have any pieces coming through the pipeline that can be the engine of a contending team going forward, so we are going to have to say goodbye to some of our older guys and replace them by buying mid-career, expensive talent on the FA market. Trading for Trout doesn’t affect that trajectory since we are already trapped in it. It just spends ownership’s money. Nori and Miller and Wood and Escobar are not going to be leading this team to championships...

[zambonir]

Overall, agreed. They can either continue to double down or they can rebuild but there's no middle ground. Even if they took a step back for a year it would be more about CBT threshold than fire sales or tanking.

I would take Miller out of that sentence, but only if he's back on track soon. He and Crawford might not lead the Phillies to a championship, or even turn out to be any better than Stott or Bohm did, but they still need 25% of the roster (well, the non-DH roster) to be younger cheaper regulars.

I think Wood is probably untouchable too in the same way Painter was, unless there is another pitcher they rate more highly, kind of like when they picked Howard over Sanchez (but the trade price for a player like JT at that point in his age curve and contract also much higher than Trout should be).

[julio]

"Manny will be a Phillies."

[phillychuck]

z, I just don’t think they have any top-tier talent, except maybe Miller, on the way. Their prospects already show serious flaws--Crawford has no power, Miller is injury-prone, Wood isn’t durable, Nori and Escobar just aren’t that strong offensively, Rincoñes can’t hit lefties and swings and misses too much, etc. Even if one of these guys succeeds they aren’t the engine that carries a contender. By the time they come up, Wheeler and Nola will be gone or ineffective. So you are stuck with Harper/Schwarber/Turner as your offensive stars, or their replacements bought from the free agency shelf. Paying for Trout now doesn’t affect that position, so I’m not eliminating that option because it’s somehow hurting my future prospects.

[zambonir]

Well, agreed, I just don't know if Mike Trout is the engine of anything either. He's a short-term gamble as a productive complementary player for however long he stays healthy. Even if the Angels are paying 50% you could buy a younger free agent this fall for the same money (Bichette, for instance, even if that's a bad example right now) and no trade price.

[mdougherty12]

The list of potential free agents next off-season is not particularly inspiring when it comes to position players:

2026-27 MLB Free Agents

[BostonRoss]

At the moment, the Phillies aren't looking at an overall salary increase for 2027 prior to adding any big money players. The biggest jump for next year will be Luzardo's new contract kicking in (Sanchez's bumps are pretty modest for the first few years). There will be arbitration-related increases for guys like Marsh, Stott, and Duran, and modest increases for the younger players like Crawford. But the rest of the long term contracts are pretty much the same salary every year. And they'll save some $70M with Castellanos, Walker, Bohm, Garcia, and Alvarado coming off the books. Even if the Phillies took on Trout's entire $35M annual salary, they will have more money in 2027 than they do now (prior to further acquisitions).

So to me, the idea of trading for Trout rests solely on whom the Phillies give up. If they could get him without giving up any valuable prospects (and they don't have many anyway), it might be a good risk--though it does make sense to see if the current team has really righted the ship before doing it.

[zambonir]

This front office has never been much for big or even medium-sized trades other than deadline deals and Luzardo. A deal like the latter for a position player, or one where you move on early from Marsh or Stott in exchange for something good, might be called for.

I'm assuming Bichette will still opt out even in a down year, but maybe not, he can do it again next time.

That list is actually inspiring in some ways - tons of opportunities to get a couple one-year/older guys right, if you're so inclined (and can actually get it right).

I do think we also can't rule out DD spending a huge chunk of the new $ on a big starting pitcher, even if logic says it's a year early to do that.

[EDmuch]

For the love of Robin Roberts, go sign Trevor Bauer as a 5th starter and let Painter works things out in AAA.

[zambonir]

lol even if you don't think that guy is a rapist he's always been questionable in the clubhouse, and no reason to think he can still pitch either. I'm sure Painter could throw a no-hitter in Indy ball too.
But Phillies are also just not the kind of team that would give him a shot (arguably there's still a league wide shadowban, too).

With the team climbing back into contention you do have to wonder how much leeway Painter will have. And if he does need a reset for his own good. But I'm not sure they are at either place yet. And it would just be Alan Rangel.

Ironically Walker would probably be the second-best pitcher in the Pigs rotation too, not that we'd really want to see him called up if they had tried to get him to go.

[EDmuch]

My point, and I think you understand it, was "do something" more than it was a commitment to Trevor Bauer.

[andyb]

Lack of AAA starting depth is definitely coming back to hurt them. Imagine they'll do some sort of small deal in the near future. Hey, I don't think Walker has signed with anyone yet.

Now with Painter, his command has not been great all year even in his good starts. He is constantly pulling his fastball several inches off the plate. He really needs to learn from Wheeler how to locate that and get ahead in the count. As I suspected in Spring Training, he probably could have used a couple months of success in AAA no matter what. Maybe warmer weather will help the Florida kid, but the ball also travels further in warm weather.

[zambonir]

Yeah but all that really matters is Painter's development, and I think he can still pitch through this some. A struggling 5th starter is not the thing that's going to keep this team from getting back into contention, and anyone they put there instead of Painter immediately won't necessarily be better.

Now, if he lays another egg, and the Phillies actually continue to look better over the next 10 days, they'll have to think about it.

The depth was never great, but it was certainly better when they thought Walker would be at least serviceable. And then Gillispie got hurt too.

Griff McGarry (once again not a starter anyway) with a 12+ ERA in AAA for the Dodgers.

[allentown]

Lack of depth in both pitching and position players across almost the entire minor league system, as the MLB team ages. Painter and the initial relievers last night stank, but it would have required the truly excellent pitching we had in two of our recent wins to prevail last night. The level of offensive success was not sufficient to give us the W, even if the pitching had held up.

[zambonir]

Well, there's lack of depth in the entire system at every level that bodes poorly for the future, but there's also lack of short-term depth for 6th starters and AAAA hitters, which they have been more prepared with in the past. The pitchers weren't often very good, but guys like Cave and Dahl and Wilson and Clemens and Pache could generally be short-term replacement level where Kemp and Reyes can not (at this point in their careers). Plus, no Rojas. Having Stubbs for one of the bench spots is as good an option as anything, even if a vet was already taking that spot before.

(No official end to Moore's DFA yet either, incidentally.)

[allentown]

But those were guys the Phillies decided weren't worth keeping.