Here’s How The Phillies Should Attack This Offseason
It was a tough weekend across the board for Philadelphia sports, culminating in an excruciating Game 6 World Series loss by the Phillies against the Houston Astros. I’m not over the loss yet, you’re probably not over the loss yet, but time marches on, and it’s time to turn our eyes towards the MLB offseason. It’s only about 3 months until pitchers and catchers will report for Spring Training (Feb 14th, 2023), so it will be a sprint for Dave Dombrowski and the rest of the front office to make the necessary adjustments to get the Phillies back to the Fall Classic next season. Luckily, they have my blueprint to the perfect offseason to help them along the way.
First, let’s take a look at who’s coming off the books for the Phillies. Shout out to @Matt_Winkelman on Twitter who put these numbers together so I don’t have to.
Segura – $14M
Didi – $13.6M
Hand – $6M
Familia – $6M
Knebel – $10M
Eflin – $5.7M
Gibson – $9.3M
Herrera – $1.9M
Camargo – $1.4M
All of those are off the books next season, with of course a chance to re-sign some of those players. Let’s start with who I would bring back. I would kick the tires on Zach Eflin and see what his price range is. He still has an opportunity to help this team win, but he could certainly command more money than what his role on this team would be worth. The only other player I’d think about bringing back is Jean Segura. He may have to take a discount on his value to be here, but if so, I would re-sign him. More on that in a second.
Next, we have trades/signings. There are two big pieces, and one smaller one, to this part of the equation. Obviously, the shortstop market for this free agent class is exceptional. Trae Turner, Dansby Swanson, and Carlos Correa will all be testing the open market, and I would expect the Phillies to be aggressive towards getting one of those guys. My preference would be Turner, but any of the three gives the Phillies another boost. That causes an issue cost-wise in the infield, though, and most likely it will mean the departure of Rhys Hoskins. He’s heading into the final year of his arbitration eligible time, and will be a free agent after the 2023 season. I would trade Hoskins for some starting pitching help and create that salary space to sign Turner or one of the others.
Wait, but I said I would re-sign Segura. How does that infield fit together? It might sound crazy, but I would have an infield of Segura at 3rd, Turner at SS, Stott at 2nd, and Alec Bohm switching over to 1st base. He’s shown me enough defensively to give him a chance to replace Hoskins. He can’t be worse in the field, right? So now you’ve signed a top shortstop, traded Hoskins, and added some starting pitching, but this team clearly needs a significant upgrade to the back end of the rotation. This isn’t an addition, necessarily, but Griff McGarry or Andrew Painter getting called up is also a priority. Not to force them to the majors ahead of schedule, but if one or both of those guys are ready for the show, that’s another big help. Throw in some bullpen signings, and we’re cooking with gas. It’s not easy to go on special runs, but if the Phillies handle their offseason like that, they’ll be in good position for another postseason run in 2023.
