McCaffery

They should have been better. They weren’t. It happens. But as the Phillies re-introduced Realmuto Monday in a video conference, cleverly stringing the news out for over a week that they had signed him to a five-year, $115.5 million contract, there was reason to believe that the initiative still can work.

The plan, essentially opened when John Middleton started shouting that he wanted “his trophy” back, was for the Phillies to spend their way to their third world championship. The $330,000,000 Middleton splashed on Harper was the ceremonial first pitch. The buck-15 he authorized to make Realmuto the (not adjusted for inflation) highest-paid catcher in history was another.

But there was more leaking from the conference call with Realmuto, Joe Girardi, Sam Fuld and, most significantly, Dave Dombrowski Monday than just the predictable happyto-be-heres. For if not technically with a wink, then definitely with a sly smile, the Cooperstownbound Dombrowski let it be known that the Phillies are not done improving this year … or any time soon.

That was not necessarily how the offseason had been characterized. And even with the re-signing of Realmuto and the soonto-be-formal re-upping of Didi Gregorius, the Phillies have not done much to improve the every-day appearance of a team that didn’t make the playoffs last season.

They still, it seems, might.

“There are a couple of ‘pendings’ that we’re not in a position to announce,” Dombrowski said. “Sometimes, there has to be physicals before you can actually announce something as a club.”

With the lineup that Gregorius and Realmuto will complete, the Phillies would be only a few “pendings” from contention. Girardi’s team scored the sixth most runs in baseball last summer, and had the ninth best batting average. And while they led the planet in blown leads, remember, there is only one way to do that: Have leads in the first place.

So the Phillies can hit, have hit, will hit. They will score, and Realmuto and Gregorius will help. But Monday, there was a consensus among the executives and the catcher that any impression that the Phillies have surrendered the NL East to the deeper Braves, the younger Marlins, the wealthier Mets or the improved Nationals is a flimsy storyline.

“He (Dombrowski) talked to me about his and John’s thoughts about where they saw the organization going, and that some of the stuff that was reported in the media wasn’t accurate, which happens,” Realmuto said. “He laid rest to some of that stuff and let us know that the organization is in a place to try to win. He mentioned that John said he wanted the Phillies to be one of the best teams ever.

“That stuck with me and gave me the confidence that they want to go out there and get back to the postseason.”

The Phillies would have been in the postseason last year if not for so many relief pitchers folding like cardboard fans. Dombrowski corrected that with the additions of Archie Bradley, Sam Coonrod and Jose Alvarado. Even if that project was done without major spending, it’s good baseball management, to make improvements without necessarily making extra-deep headlines. Bullpens are best reconstructed using baseball wisdom, which Dombrowski has, not just money, which Middleton can spend elsewhere.

“Pitching is still a priority for us,” Dombrowski said. “But as you move on, you continue to try to build the club in other ways. We had a gaping hole at catcher. That’s changed. I guess we can talk about shortstop another time. We tried to get some pitching depth. We can talk about that at another time.

“Every club can get better.”

The Phillies must improve, yet not as much as the 2020 standings, inconclusive as they were given a cracked schedule, would indicate. The re-signing of Realmuto was mandatory. The Phillies recognized that, spending the necessary cash, saving some for those “pendings” that Dombrowski might as well have promised. Matt Moore, a veteran lefthander coming off a successful show-me season in Japan after recovering froma knee injury, is likely on that list. At least it would push Vince Velasquez closer to spot-starter duties.

“We can be very good,” Realmuto said. “Obviously, we have a long road ahead of us and we’d have to make some adjustments and we have to get better. Specifically, with defense and pitching, there’s a lot of improvements we can make. But the talent is there. We just have to put it together and work hard in spring training. And we’ll see how it goes.”

Harper has implied all along that the Phillies were one move away from getting it right this time. For $115.5 million, they were able to do that.

“The smile on my face says it all,: J.T. Realmuto said.

So did Bryce Harper’s punctuation.