Phillies Off-Season 2024-2025 (Part 2 including Spring Training)

[zambonir]

This year's team doesn't look like a mid-90s win team, so losses incurred during a Casty slump could cost us a post-season appearance.

I guess I'm not nearly that pessimistic. Last year's team played at something like a 110-game pace during Casty's slump, the Whit Merrifield era, disappointing bottom five relievers, and the 5th starter situation (though that was worse in the second half). Plus significant injuries to Trea and JT and minor ones to Bryce and Schwarbs. Some of that did catch up to them in the second half when they were a .500 team, and I'm not saying I see this team making a run at 100 or even 95 wins, but there are always going to be weak spots along the way to a playoff berth. If that's once again the OF this year (be it LF or RF) maybe they will be more aggressive about upgrading, maybe not, but I'm still not benching Nick for Buddy Kennedy or Weston Wilson too quickly (and Wilson still might be needed just as much to platoon with Kepler if that experiment fails).

[zambonir]

I think Dom

Really, you're doing that?

[julio]

I think Dom

Really, you're doing that?

Yeah. Took me a minute to even figure out who he was talking about.

I don't know; some people seem to like to confuse their readers.

[bkox]

I see Dom and immediately think Dom Brown.

[zambonir]

Yup me too and then I was trying to remember if we had a new assistant general manager named Dominic that I'd forgotten about.

Only takes one more letter to type "Dave," and one fewer for "DD."

[zambonir]

Actually found myself looking at the Phiillies front office directory, even. This is what ownership looks like now. Big change from the opaque days!

[andyb]

The reality is that Casty is just going to play every day as long as he maintains something like a 700 OPS. The defensive stats will show whether he is a 0.5 WAR player or 2.0 WAR player but we all know those are highly variable. It is possible he'll lose playing time if he slumps, but unless Rincones looks ready we just don't have much of an alternative now. I do not expect a lot of Kepler-Rojas-Marsh lineups unless Casty is noticeably slumping. Casty is at least fairly consistent year to year so we probably should expect something close to the roughly 750 OPS we got the past 2 seasons (actual OPS average was 765).

Long term who knows? Rincones is most likely to replace Kepler as part of a platoon next year than Castellanos. No idea if Rojas can hit well enough to play every day. And Crawford needs to improve his defense in CF to be an option there. That is very possible, but more for 2026 than 2025. Definitely not considering anything from Aroon Escobar now. Trea Turner is actually a more viable OF option for next year assuming Miller claims an infield job.

[Jazzhead]

I think Rojas may be ready to break out as a regular, and fill a role similar to Victor Robles in Seattle or Jacob Young in Washington. There is an enormous ancillary benefit to having an elite glove in CF, especially if we're going to keep running Casty out there. But an outfield of Marsh in left, Rojas in center and Kepler in right will immediately improve all of the Phils pitchers, and while that trio aren't 30-homer boppers, their speed and occasional power will make them quite useful, even if they are bunched together at the bottom of the order.

[andyb]

An outfield of Kepler, Rojas, and Marsh would be among the weakest offensive outfields in baseball. Good defensively, but way below average offensively. I just don't see the team trying that too often.

Rojas needs to improve his offense to play every day. And since he can't throw yet, he is clearly not a defensive option either early in the year. Hopefully by May he is back 100% but we are not there yet.

[zambonir]

While a lot depends on the Schwarber/JT decision as well as the Turner position question, if there were prop bets on the Phillies signing Tucker or Guerrero I'd probably risk a few bucks (they also might both be available in July). Obviously the latter would be more of a longshot/far more $$$.

And Turner could also go to 3B, though if Bohm plays well enough to increase his trade value at the higher salary, he'll also still be good enough to keep.

I hope Rojas surprises everyone - which is to say, "Dom," and Preston Mattingly, since every move the Phillies have made both last deadline and this off-season was made without him in the picture as anything other than the 4th OF. Most notably, actively choosing to move a good defensive LF to CF and good defensive RF to LF (which is also a vote for their belief in Castellanos's bat, not just his paycheck).

[Philsmania]

Actually found myself looking at the Phiillies front office directory, even. This is what ownership looks like now. Big change from the opaque days!

This is the first I am hearing of the Morgan and Weissenberger families.

I had to look it up..they bought in back in November. https://temple-news.com/temple-board-of-trustees-chair-joins-phillies-ownership-group/#:~:text=Mitchell%20Morgan%2C%20valued%20at%20%245.5,Phillies%2C%20the%20MLB%20announced%20Friday.&text=The%20Philadelphia%20Phillies%20announced%20Friday,of%20Trustees%20chairman%20Mitchell%20Morgan.

Surprised the Gillicks and Montgomeries weren't bought out.

Question: Are any of the Bucks the original Bucks who bought in in 1981? If not, we technically and legally have had the same ownership since 1981 though its composition has had 100% turnover since then. Even so, the Bucks are the last remnant of the original group.

[zambonir]

Yes, was news at the time, prompting more talk about the CBT and development projects (both in FL and South Philly).

https://www.mlb.com/press-release/release-new-limited-partners-to-join-phillies-ownership-group-11-1-24#:~:text=Phillies%20Managing%20Partner%20and%20Chief,who%20wishes%20to%20remain%20anonymous.

The Gillick and Monty shares are tiny, and the "families" part suggests their heirs can keep it (in Monty's case, already has). Neither of them paid a penny for them of course.

It is the children or possibly grandchildren of one or more of the original Bucks.

[Callison]

Looking for news, found a glowing article about Walker. Congrats to him for doing what was necessary to compete again. Looks like he has a couple more mph. And there was another article saying he looked a lot better, but after giving up a HR. Walker still has everything to prove.

Also found a really hopeful article on Stott: https://www.mlb.com/news/bryson-stott-phillies-camp-2025#:~:text=But%20Stott%20is%20healthy%20this,in%2013%20Grapefruit%20League%20games. Long thinks he can hit .300. Stott could become the leadoff hitter the Phils need - Stott, Turner, Harper, Schwarbs. Some of the best news out of ST is that Stott is hitting better, apparently recovered from the injury that limited him all last season.

I disliked the Kepler signing because IMHO there are better internal moves available and the money could be spent on the pen, but Kepler looks ready to take over LF. Haven't seen much of him but he's winning the position that's being handed to him.

Nice outing by Sanchez.

[andyb]

Walker going today. Curious to see some impressions (my MLB.TV does not work yet because we are in the period between when MLB bills for the season and T-Mobile's new year deal kicks in next week).

[zambonir]

We've talked about lack of interest here, and I think another factor is depleted media coverage. Gelb just had almost a full week off at The Athletic (maybe he went home or maybe he was working on more extensive pieces to run next week) and Alex Coffey also hasn't filed from Clearwater in a week (she just did a basketball story) after doubling up with Lauber for a while at the Inquirer.

You jinxed Walker Andy he just issued his second walk of the season, and now a little hit.

[zambonir]

This story is starting to spread now

Phillies Sue Over Potential Sale of Analytics Software to Rival Teams

Non paywalled:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/phillies-sue-over-potential-sale-of-analytics-software-to-rival-teams/ar-AA1Bf8kV?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=f8611d91dd6f4a21b423a713faa4fb6e&ei=11

[andyb]

You jinxed Walker Andy he just issued his second walk of the season, and now a little hit.

If he can't survive my jinx he's not going to get Juan Soto out.

[phillychuck]

Walker making the '25 Yankees B-team look like the '27 Yankees...

[allentown]

This may explain why Dom didn't do much this offseason,

I think DD didn't do more this off-season because the salary budget is as high as the owners are comfortable with and DD is committed to veteran players, while also realizing that he can't trade

[phillychuck]

People get on Torts, but he'd bench Harper if he was hurting the team, none of this coddling the egos of big money players - it's a team game, so do what it takes to help the team win.

I commented on this whole post once, but I wanted to direct a specific comment to this painfully misguided idea. If any MLB manager benched a player because he didn't like him swinging at sliders on the outside corner or chasing low change-ups or trying to tomahawk high FBs (JT's weakness) or whatever, he'd be fired the next day and never work in MLB again. This "the players are spoiled babies that don't care about winning and you need a dictatorial manager to keep 'em in line" idea is baloney.

Sports and baseball don't work that way; good managers try to HELP their players succeed. As Casey Stengel once said, "every MLB clubhouse has 5 guys who love you, 5 guys who hate you, and 15 guys on the fence (25 total at that time!). My job is to keep the 5 guys who hate me from converting the 15 guys on the fence ."