Dave Dombrowski Deserves More Blame Than Rob Thomson

With the Phillies on the brink of elimination for a 4th straight season, there is a lot of blame being thrown around. Rob Thomson in particular is under the microscope. Many have panned his bullpen choices, and the decision to bunt has especially earned him scorn. And Thomson deserves that criticism. But there is one man who deserves even more, and has gone somewhat under the radar after that game 2 loss. President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski.

Many bullpen moves Thomson made have been met with scorn. Leaving David Robertson in for game 1. Bringing Orion Kerkering in with inherited runners in game 2 are two in particular that have been picked apart. But here is the thing. Thomson can only work with what he is given, and what he is given is incredibly limited.

Outside of Jhoan Duran, who are the good options? If we are saying he can't trust Kerkering, Robertson, or Strahm, who do you want him to use?

We have been told by Rob that Ranger Suarez is available out of the pen. But the fact that he has yet to be used with the state of this pen casts doubt on that claim. The fact he will not start game 3, and they will instead hand the ball to Aaron Nola who has an ERA over 6 casts further doubt on that claim.

Suarez was hit by a line drive and left the game in his final start, and has not pitched since. He might be more hurt than they want to say.

And with or without him, this pen simply does not have the answers they need. Jordan Romano was a bust signing. Jose Alvarado was suspended and never replaced. Dombrowski did make a great move by trading for Duran. But his other big move was signing a 40+ year old David Robertson. After that, he trusted Kerkering, who has never quite proven to be trustworthy, and Matt Strahm.

He let Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Esteves walk. His plan to replace them was taking a flyer on Jordan Romano coming off a major injury. When Romano flopped, and they lost Alvarado, he made only two moves to replace those two. Even with those two, they needed multiple moves.

Now we see the effect. Thomson needs to operate with 1 fully trustworthy option in the pen. I am not saying he made the right choices, but when you give a chef terrible ingredients, you can't expect them to make a Michelin-star meal.

The Phillies lineup had the same issues for 3 straight postseasons coming into this season. Too many swings and misses, and too little patience. The Astros took advantage, the DBacks took advantage, and then the Mets took advantage.

You would think seeing the same exact thing 3 times would be enough to shake things up. Instead, Dombrowski ran back the same lineup, except he replaced the right-handed Austin Hays with yet another lefty in Max Kepler, who was coming off a down year.

Kepler looked like a bust for 4 months, but actually played well in the final 2 months and had the big hit in game 2. But at best he is another platoon player. They have 3 platoons, including 3 in the outfield. And Kepler did nothing to address the biggest issue with the Phillies lineup.

They needed a guy who puts the ball in play more to balance out this lineup. It is something everyone knew they needed since the 2023 NLCS. Instead, he went 2 offseasons without addressing it. He finally did something positive with the lineup this past deadline by adding Harrison Bader. But Bader alone has clearly not been enough.

You might be saying that he just has not had the money to make moves. They already have too much invested and couldn't afford more splashes. I would respond that he is the reason why they had so little money.

They have $30 million wrapped up in 2 guys splitting time in RF. $42 million wrapped up in Nola and Walker. And about $8.5 million in a healthy reliever not on the postseason roster.

If he allocates that money better, this team could be completely different. Imagine having a full-time RF. They teased moving Harper back to the OF for the right 1st Baseman, they could have signed Pete Alonso, who hit 38 HRs from the right side of the plate this off-season. He could be your cleanup hitter behind Harper instead of Bohm. Alonso in 16 playoff games has an OPS of nearly 1.000.

They could have signed Alex Bregman, and then either moved him to 1st, or just moved on from him. Or they could have strengthened the bullpen instead of taking a flyer on an injured Romano.

The man who just shut the Phillies down in game 2, Blake Snell, was a free agent the same offseason they resigned Nola. He got paid more per year, but he has also pitched much better the past 2 seasons. And he has consistently been a star in the playoffs.

Dombrowski stuck with the guy they had in-house. It looked good year 1, but in year 2 it was a disaster, and they have 5 more seasons with Nola.

Walker is in his 3rd year with the Phillies on that big contract, and has never thrown a single postseason pitch. You have to think there was a better use for that $18 million per year.

The point being, Dombrowski is not free of blame. While Thomson takes the public heat, Dombrowski's inaction put the Phillies in this position. He ran it back two straight offseasons and got the same results. If Rob Thomson is going to be under fire, Dombrowski needs to take it too.