The Phillies might need already made their greatest strikes of the offseason. On Friday, the group introduced the signing of outfielder Max Kepler to a one-year, $10MM deal. Kepler’s is the second main league contract Philadelphia has given out this winter; they signed right-handed reliever Jordan Romano to a one-year, $8.5MM assure earlier this month. At a latest press convention, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski steered these two signings are possible his major offseason additions.
The chief spoke favorably of Kepler, praising his selectivity and bat-to-ball expertise. In keeping with Baseball Savant, the Phillies ranked among the many backside half of groups in touch and chase fee in 2024. Evidently, Dombrowski is hoping Kepler will assist to repair that drawback. His chase fee was beneath common this previous yr however usually ranks among the many high 25% of the league. In the meantime, his contact fee has been above common in each season of his profession.
Kepler will slot into the lineup as the first left fielder. Though he has by no means performed the place on the MLB stage, Dombrowski has no considerations about his means to shortly decide it up. He has graded out as a superb defensive proper fielder all through his profession. Of extra concern than Kepler’s means to play left discipline is his means to hit left-handed pitching. The lefty batter had reverse platoon splits in 2024 however has typically struggled towards southpaws in his profession. Dombrowski makes it clear that Kepler received’t simply be the sturdy aspect of a platoon in Philadelphia. Nonetheless, the POBO identifies the righty-batting Weston Wilson as somebody who may sometimes cowl for Kepler with a tricky lefty on the mound. Johan Rojas is one other righty-batting outfielder on the roster, however he’ll most definitely be busy overlaying for heart fielder Brandon Marsh, one other lefty-batting outfielder with poor platoon splits.
Whereas Dombrowski spoke extremely of Kepler, he acknowledged that his new signing is coming off a down yr. It’s debatable how true that’s; Kepler’s .682 OPS and 94 wRC+ in 2024 had been a giant step down from his .816 OPS and 123 wRC+ in 2023, however proper in step with his .694 OPS and 95 wRC+ from 2021-22. The model of Kepler on show in 2024 is likely to be nearer to his true skills than the model we noticed in 2023. Regardless, Dombrowski provided some perception into why the outfielder took a step again in 2024 and why the Phillies are optimistic he’ll enhance in 2025. Kepler was taking part in by means of a core muscle harm for a lot of the 2024 season. Nonetheless, he had surgical procedure to restore the problem this offseason and has already recovered. Phillies hitting coach Kevin Lengthy watched him swing earlier, and Dombrowski suggests Lengthy was happy with what he noticed.
Whereas Kepler and Romano are each seeking to bounce again from accidents in 2025, Dombrowski wouldn’t characterize both signing as cut price bin purchasing. He emphasised that Kepler and Romano are merely two gamers the group wished – certainly, he says they’ve preferred Kepler for fairly some time – and it was the gamers themselves who sought one-year offers. Evidently each are hoping to spice up their worth and re-enter the free agent market subsequent offseason.
On an identical word, Dombrowski additionally denied that he’s working below strict payroll constraints. That stated, he did make it fairly clear that he nearly actually isn’t seeking to signal any extra influence free brokers. If that proves to be true, this is able to be the primary offseason in Dombrowski’s tenure with the Phillies that he didn’t signal a free agent to a nine-figure contract. Nonetheless, Philadelphia’s payroll remains to be projected to extend by greater than $30MM to a franchise-record $280MM in 2025 (per RosterResource). That’s largely as a result of the three-year, $126MM extension Zack Wheeler signed this previous March will start subsequent yr. In different phrases, one may argue that Dombrowski did signal a nine-figure deal this offseason – he simply did it a number of months early.
As for smaller additions to enhance the group alongside the margins, Dombrowski identifies two wants: another place participant for the bench and a swingman for the pitching employees. Presently, the Phillies have three bench gamers who appear to be locks for the Opening Day roster: utility infielder Edmundo Sosa, fourth outfielder Rojas, and backup catcher Garrett Stubbs. They might use another possibility who can play each the infield and the outfield. Whereas Dombrowski doesn’t eradicate the opportunity of in search of an exterior improve, he suggests the Phillies usually tend to stick to their inside candidates. He names Wilson, Kody Clemens, and Buddy Kennedy as three gamers who may fill that position from with out the group.
Wilson has essentially the most MLB success of the trio, albeit in a small pattern dimension, and Dombrowski talked about his identify a number of occasions through the presser. The one factor working towards his probabilities of making the Opening Day roster proper now’s the truth that he nonetheless has one possibility yr remaining. Clemens and Kennedy are out of choices, which suggests the Phillies would threat shedding them by means of waivers in the event that they don’t put them on the energetic roster. Then again, Clemens is at a drawback as one other lefty bat, whereas Kennedy has very restricted skilled expertise taking part in the outfield.
Turning to the pitching employees, Dombrowski is extra prone to look exterior the group for an improve. Ideally, he’d like an arm that might doubtlessly take the fifth spot within the rotation however may additionally pitch out of the bullpen if Taijuan Walker wins the fifth starter job out of camp. That appears to explain somebody like Spencer Turnbull, who the Phillies signed for one yr and $2MM final offseason. Turnbull made seven begins and 10 reduction appearances for Philadelphia earlier than struggling a season-ending harm. Jakob Junis could possibly be an intriguing choice to fill that position in 2025. The 32-year-old righty has made 27 begins and 60 reduction appearances over the previous three years, pitching to a 3.80 ERA and three.62 SIERA.
The Phillies at the moment have six locks for the Opening Day bullpen. Dombrowski describes Romano, Matt Strahm, José Alvarado, and Orion Kerkering as back-end arms, and he identifies Tanner Banks and José Ruiz as middle-inning relievers the group likes. That leaves two bullpen spots open. One spot would presumably go to the aforementioned swingman. The opposite will most definitely stay up for grabs coming into spring coaching. Dombrowski talked about Max Lazar as one chance to win the job. The righty struggled in a handful of massive league appearances this previous yr however excelled within the minors.
One closing focal point from Dombrowski’s press convention was his transient dialogue of NPB phenom Roki Sasaki. The chief made it clear the Phillies would love to interact in additional discussions with Sasaki and his group, however at the moment, Philadelphia has not been invited to take action. That’s not fully stunning – the Phillies by no means appeared like a frontrunner within the Sasaki sweepstakes – but it surely’s nonetheless a disappointing replace.
