Phillies 2026 Spring Training Discussion

[zambonir]

CBT hit doesn't change though. And by 2029 at age 36 who's to say he'd be worth $22 million? Votto had a 107 OPS+ that year (and it was 95 when he was 35).

I wouldn't read too much into the media stuff. He's got an ego. And he really is lobbying about the CBA, not his personal situation. If it comes to it of course he'll do it but he's pretty attached to the whole self-myth he's built up about not having opt-outs and wanting to be here for life.

As for the comparison not being favorable, that's just sports isn't it? Only one guy is ever the best player in the game and the same goes for GMs and teams. Phillies can spend like the Dodgers if they were willing but you can't pay decades of infrastructure and culture. They've still come a long way, and they've certainly tried, with mixed results, to bring in as many Rays and Dodgers guys off the Andrew Friedman tree that they could. And now they have two Mattinglys.

[andyb]

A player with a high salary likes teams that pay high salaries. Is there news here?

I'd prefer Bryce to say that the big market teams should share more revenues so more players can get paid well. One can dream anyway.

[andyb]

Aidan Miller with 4 HRs in BP today.

2/16/26 : Today in Spring Training

[fish]

Not sure I love him jumping right into the rotation with it though instead of a half dozen starts in AAA.

If his fastball is ready, he’s ready (at least to perform at a level Tijuan Walker can). it probably won’t take long to tell once games get going.

[zambonir]

If he's okay in spring training it will happen, if he's not, they might need him to muddle through and go back to AAA once Wheeler's back. But ideally he's better than Taijuan to begin with.

[bkox]

Castellanos complimented the Padres while potentially taking one more shot at the Phillies on his way out, per ESPN.

"They don't cut corners as far as what they do to prepare and win. And also, what reputation they have on how they treat their players and how they have their backs. Even if something goes a little bit awry, they still stand with them and they don't deviate from their commitment to them as a person."

So do the Phillies have a bigger issue here? This is 3 players that have had some issue with Topper or the front office. Casty, Strahm, and Harper. Are they the only 3 or are there bigger issues brewing. I guess Schwarbs and Realmuto wouldnt have been eager to come back if there are widespread issues.. but this could be interesting to follow.

Nick Castellanos talks about Phillies split after signing with Padres: 'I let...

[zambonir]

I think it's pretty clearly the players who are at fault here. Casty's a jerk, Strahm didn't show up for fielding practice, and Bryce is probably lightheaded from the blood loss and raw milk.

But seriously, it was maybe not Dombrowki's best moment saying what he did, but on the other hand, maybe he knew exactly what he was doing. (To motivate Bryce, not to alienate him).

And how does Nick really even know what kind of organization the Padres have? The team is for sale and their manager is a former relief pitcher who has yet to spend a single minute on a coaching staff at any level. That's the guy he thinks has cred as someone who's played the game? If he feels valued by them already that's because of all the money the Padres don't have to pay him thanks to the Phillies.

I always liked Nick, but him turning on the manager who let him play 162 games and kept trotting hm out there even after the beer incident is pretty delusional. It's hilarious to see San Diego say they've acquired a "middle of the order" bat and "versatile" player too. If he was still the former he would be playing for the Phillies, and he's only versatile by playing multiple positions horribly.

[julio]

It's hilarious to see San Diego say they've acquired a "middle of the order" bat and "versatile" player too.

Yeah, and after CBP, Castellanos is just gonna love Petco.

[DurhamBull]

So do the Phillies have a bigger issue here? This is 3 players that have had some issue with Topper or the front office. Casty, Strahm, and Harper.

The issue could be that they behaved selfishly, and their boss didn't tolerate that as much as they wanted or expected. That's indeed an issue (unhappy employees/players are always a source of friction), but it's more of an issue with the player than it is with the manager.

[Austinfan]

Given how grossly overpaid Casty was, a player with class would have said he'll take any role to help the team (but I'm not giving money back). Instead he wanted to be treated with respect to his salary, not his on field production.

I think with Harper, it's more fatigue with his talk exceeding his bat. If you want to be considered elite, be elite.

Don't know what the issue with Strahm was, outside of aesthetics, one funky looking dude.

[zambonir]

Harper and the President having a little media back-and-forth is nothing like the Casty situation. The Strahm thing was more similar, and apparently he was always a squeaky wheel who didn't care for the way Cotham ran the bullpen (as far as having less defined roles/innings). But I don't think that's why he was traded, that was all about money and betting on him having a down year. Plus Alvarado had less trade value (and might be a better upside play though who knows). It still would have been fine to keep him, things weren't ruptured.

[allentown]

SD has zero at risk and will say the right things to encourage Casty. If he bounces back, they win. If he doesn't, they wave goodbye and move on to the next longshot.

I wonder in Harper's case, if his request for a contract extension so that he could retire as a Phillie, rubbed DD the wrong way as much as it did me.

Topper's error was giving Castellanos far too much deference and slack, possibly at DD's insistence. It's hard for a manager to have any sense of accountability on his team and also allow a guy like Casty to get away with total entitlement when performing below replacement level.

The Phillies had a very good regular season but DD couldn't have been happy with post-season flameout accompanied by faded vet swagger.

[BostonRoss]

Topper's error was giving Castellanos far too much deference and slack, possibly at DD's insistence. It's hard for a manager to have any sense of accountability on his team and also allow a guy like Casty to get away with total entitlement when performing below replacement level.

I don't think that the way Thomson handled Castellanos had any negative impacts on the team's performance. Once he had options, he started platooning Castellanos. The Phillies finished first and had home field advantage against the Dodgers. In the NLDS, Castellanos only started playing because Bader got hurt (the only other option, Wilson, was worse). And Nick actually had a couple of key hits. I don't see how he could have done anything different that would have caused a better result in 2025.

I can't understand why you'd think that DD might have insisted that Castellanos be given deference and slack. What reason could DD have for that? It was obvious by 2025 that the Castellanos signing was a mistake, but how could deferring to him more now help change that? And presumably DD wants the Phillies to win; so why would he want to see an underperformer get special treatment? Plus, DD has no history of interfering with his managers--and it would likely get out if he did.

[zambonir]

Yeah other than the part where DD and Thomson told Nick not to reveal what had happened I don't think DD had anything to do with anything. He's not the reason Nick played 162 games the year before, and whatever fondness he had for the guy from their Detroit days that prompted him to overpay was surely long-diminished by last year too. He maybe still should have gotten rid of him but if they still imagined getting a trade return on him now they obviously thought that was possible then too.

If there's blame on Thomson it's just that he's so much of a player's coach that he never routinely made defensive substitions in the first place, only rarely. Pat Burrell never complained about coming out of a game for Eric Bruntlett because it happened with some regularity (and that was Eric freaking Bruntlett, not even a seriously good bench OF).

Losing Bader hurt (even if Nick helped a little) and losing Wheeler was worse. The Dodgers outpitched us as a result also slightly outhit outhit us. And even then it all still turned on the bullpen. But it wasn't a flameout, or a product of bad team chemistry.

[BaseballCat]

Well I hope they air it out before the season starts. Sooner rather than later.

[zambonir]

I think they already aired it out at the time, this was just Bryce's first chance to vent to the press.

I also don't think Dombrowski cares about the extension thing, which they have yet to actually ask for. Just more Boras hot air. Publicly the team's position Comedy from Dombrowksi's boss who says Harper is going to never wear another uniform. But that doesn't mean they have to deal with it now. I think Harper still deserves more credit for not taking an opt-out than he does blame for trying to get around that now.

[zambonir]

Pretty fair take by Murphy. He goes on to note some of the other ways in which DD was not "elite" in constructing the rosters from '23-'25, and that all Harper's peers (Judge, Raleigh, Ohtani) all hit in front of three very productive hitters (by both OPS and HRs), where Harper had none.

gift link: https://share.inquirer.com/2uQGCI

What Bryce Harper said, what he couldn’t say, and how it reflects on Dave...

The best way to understand Bryce Harper is to think about all the things he can’t say.

He can’t say that Alec Bohm is a seven-hole hitter at best. He can’t say that Adolis García is much closer to Nick Castellanos than he is a legitimate four- or five-hole hitter. He can’t say that J.T. Realmuto isn’t the guy he was three years ago. He can’t say that he’d swing at fewer pitches out of the zone if he had more confidence that the guys behind him would get the job done.

Given all of those things, Harper also can’t say that Dave Dombrowski has not been an elite personnel boss for at least a couple of years. He can’t say that Dombrowski’s lack of eliteness is chiefly to blame for the Phillies’ run-scoring struggles. Harper can’t say that he was much closer to the hitter the Phillies needed in 2025 than Dombrowski was to being the roster-constructor they needed. To throw shade at Dombrowski would be to implicitly throw shade at teammates whose “underperformance” is mostly a function of Dombrowski needing them to be something they aren’t.

[andyb]

Finally a fast guy who loves to bunt.

Justin Crawford loves the art of bunting. He aims to embrace it with the...

[zambonir]

Tangential but I'd forgotten Shawn Williams was Jimy's kid.

[Philsmania]

Pretty fair take by Murphy. He goes on to note some of the other ways in which DD was not "elite" in constructing the rosters from '23-'25, and that all Harper's peers (Judge, Raleigh, Ohtani) all hit in front of three very productive hitters (by both OPS and HRs), where Harper had none.

gift link: https://share.inquirer.com/2uQGCI

What Bryce Harper said, what he couldn’t say, and how it reflects on Dave...

The best way to understand Bryce Harper is to think about all the things he can’t say.

He can’t say that Alec Bohm is a seven-hole hitter at best. He can’t say that Adolis García is much closer to Nick Castellanos than he is a legitimate four- or five-hole hitter. He can’t say that J.T. Realmuto isn’t the guy he was three years ago. He can’t say that he’d swing at fewer pitches out of the zone if he had more confidence that the guys behind him would get the job done.

Given all of those things, Harper also can’t say that Dave Dombrowski has not been an elite personnel boss for at least a couple of years. He can’t say that Dombrowski’s lack of eliteness is chiefly to blame for the Phillies’ run-scoring struggles. Harper can’t say that he was much closer to the hitter the Phillies needed in 2025 than Dombrowski was to being the roster-constructor they needed. To throw shade at Dombrowski would be to implicitly throw shade at teammates whose “underperformance” is mostly a function of Dombrowski needing them to be something they aren’t.

If there is a growing concern I have about Middleton as an owner is that he seems to be too enamored with baseball old boys at the very top of the organization instead of nimble, more innovative minds. See, Gillick, McPhail and now Dombrowski.