Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Helping Harper a Phillies must
PHILADELPHIA — At the risk of seeming old-fashioned, Dave Dombrowski carries with him a yellow legal pad filled with notes and thoughts, including an actual “to-do” list. Some days, he has five or six pages of jottings — “Double-spaced,” he points out — to pore over and review.
“I know a lot of people use their phones,” said Dombrowski, the Phillies’ 65-yearold president of baseball operations. “I find that when I write it down here and I consistently look at it, I keep coming to it.”
In that case, he’s going to need a boundless supply of legal pads in the offseason.
Dombrowski got hired Dec. 11, 67 days before pitchers and catchers reported to spring training. It was a sprint to Clearwater, Fla. And although it made baseball sense to add four relievers to the majors’ worst bullpen and run back the rest of the roster, including re-signing free agents J.T. Realmuto and Didi Gregorius, it also proved to be the most expeditious way to put together a competitive team while Dombrowski popped the organization’s hood and took a more thorough look around.
Now, nearly 10 months on the job, it’s clear to Dombrowski that the Phillies’ problems run deep. There’s a top-heavy roster with a core that was built more through free agency and trades than homegrown talent. The lack of depth, pitching and otherwise, is troublesome. The minor league system, a backbone for every successful organization, needed to be overhauled, a process that began last month and continued this week with the hiring of a director of player development with a famous last name who is light on experience, but bursting with youthful energy.
The Phillies’ absence from the playoffs has reached 10 years — the longest active drought in the National League and, if the Seattle Mariners are able to rally this weekend, all of baseball. Now Dombrowski will get a full offseason, albeit one that may be disrupted by labor strife, to make more substantive changes to the roster.
Here, then, is an educated guess about four of the more prominent notations on his legal pad. File them under “How to Fix the Phillies.”
WHO’S AT SHORT?
It’s fair to question why the Phillies gave in to Gregorius’ desire for a two-year contract when fellow free agents Marcus Semien, Andrelton Simmons and Freddy Galvis received one-year deals. But what’s done is done.
The more pertinent question is how Gregorius, who will be 32 in February, fits into the 2022 jigsaw puzzle after a career-worst season in which he was batting .212 with a .645 OPS through Wednesday and had the third- fewest runs saved among shortstops. He also hinted recently that he may need offseason elbow surgery.
Gregorius will make $15.25 million next year ($14 million against the luxury tax) and therefore has no trade value.
The infield defense must improve behind a starting rotation that tends to get a lot of ground balls. Through Wednesday, the Phillies ranked last in runs saved by shortstops (minus-20) and were tied with the Detroit Tigers for the fewest runs saved overall (minus-57).
One free-agent fit: Chris Taylor. Given the Phillies’ uncertainty at so many positions, the 31-year-old veteran could play every day and bounce between shortstop, third base, left field, and center. He also has 51 games (and counting) of playoff experience with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
WHO WILL JOIN HARPER?
This may be where the player-development failures will be felt the most.
When the Phillies drafted Cornelius Randolph, Mickey Moniak, and Adam Haseley in three consecutive first rounds from 2015 to 2017, they figured at least one would be ready to step in by now as an everyday outfielder. It hasn’t happened.
The Phillies will have at least one and possibly two holes in the outfield. Expect to hear a lot about Cincinnati Reds slugger Nick Castellanos, a Scott Boras client who could opt out with two years and $34 million left on his contract and would bring the middle-of-the-order sock that is sorely missing behind Harper. It may be more likely, though, that they fill at least one of the outfield spots with a platoon.
AND THE BULLPEN?
Signing Archie Bradley, trading for Jose Alvarado and Sam Coonrod, and taking a flier on Brandon Kintzler turned the worst bullpen in baseball into, well, a slightly less worse bullpen.
There’s no denying that Manager Joe Girardi had more late- inning options this year than last. But the Phillies cycled through three closers in June before acquiring Ian Kennedy at the July 30 trade deadline and tied a single-season major-league record with 34 blown saves. Through Wednesday, their 4.69 bullpen ERA ranked 11th in the NL and 25th overall.
Joe Girardi optimistic about Phillies’ future despite another disappointing ending
Kennedy, Bradley, and Hector Neris are headed to free agency, and it’s possible none will return. If Dombrowski takes aim at a freeagent closer, there will be a few to choose from, including Raisel Iglesias, Kenley Jansen, and possibly Craig Kimbrel.
PITCHING DEPTH
Among Dombrowski’s more startling discoveries last winter was the Phillies’ lack of pitching depth. He attempted to address the issue late in the offseason by spending a total of $7 million on Matt Moore and Chase Anderson. The return on investment: 22 starts and a 6.70 ERA between them.
It won’t be easy to entice veteran starters this winter. The Phillies have five starters penciled into the rotation (Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Kyle Gibson, 2021 revelation Ranger Suarez, and Zach Eflin) and probably can’t guarantee a spot to a free agent. But with prospect Hans Crouse and little else in Triple-A, they will need depth, especially with Wheeler and Suarez coming off career-high innings totals and Eflin recovering from knee surgery.