The Philadelphia Phillies have a bloated payroll and just paid a $56 million luxury tax bill, so they don’t exactly have a ton of money to spend this offseason.
The Phillies have already re-signed Kyle Schwarber on a five-year, $150 million contract, so there isn’t much money left in the till to sign free agents. As a result, Philadelphia may have to resort to pursuing shrewd trade to bolster its roster.
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However, the Phillies have run into a problem in doing so.
And what is that problem? They don’t have enough trade chips, which has resulted in Dave Dombrowski being forced to roll with a very questionable outfield setup.
More specifically, Matt Gelb of The Athletic has revealed that Philadelphia doesn’t really have any pitching to include in trade packages.
“The Phillies were not wed to this outfield alignment,” Gelb wrote. “They poked around on potential trades for center fielders, including Brenton Doyle, Jake Meyers and Luis Robert Jr., according to league sources. But the Phillies do not have young pitching to trade. That diminished their hand.”
Philadelphia Phillies president Dave Dombrowski. Credit:Â Eric Hartline-Imagn Images.
Dombrowski has long been known for jettisoning top prospects in favor of established veterans. The strategy has led to the executive winning two World Series championships at other stops (Florida Marlins in 1997 and Boston Red Sox in 2018), but it has definitely been risky as a whole.
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“After years of depleting the farm system, they preferred to deal from their big-league roster,” Gelb added. “That has complicated some trade talks.”
Philadelphia does have top pitching prospect Andrew Painter, but the Phillies do not seem eager to move the 6-foot-7 right-hander, especially considering his value may have dipped after posting a 5.40 ERA across 22 starts at Triple-A Lehigh Valley this past season.
In fact, Dombrowski seems rather tentative to move any of the team’s top three prospects in Painter, shortstop Aidan Miller and outfielder Justin Crawford.
The Phillies have very little depth in their farm system beyond those three, and it’s actually looking like Crawford is slated to start in center field for the big-league squad in 2026.
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Philadelphia now finds itself in a rather precarious position as a result. The Phillies are in win-now mode and have posted 95-plus wins in each of the last two years, but they have also been bounced from the NLDS back-to-back campaigns.
It’s obvious that Philadelphia needs to make some moves to further improve the team, but that’s a whole lot easier said than done.