2025 Phillies Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
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The Phillies have a plan for their outfield. They're ready to make Justin Crawford a major part of it.
The Phillies intend to have Adolis García as their everyday right fielder, and they want top prospect Justin Crawford to take the everyday center fielder job this spring.
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@MrTailgate -- I'm curious about your thoughts on the Garcia signing, deciding to go with Crawford, and the Keller signing.
My own take:
1. Garcia -- he should be an improvement over Casty, but I do have some concerns. Yes, his D will be better, so that's a positive. But his AVG has been down the past two seasons (0.245 in 2023, and 0.227 in 2025), and his chase rate has increased during that same time (29.3% in 2023, and 35.7% in 2025). Reportedly, the Fightins feel they can work with him on his swing, and are even sending either Kevin Long or his assistant, Edward Gonzalez, to meet with Garcia at his offseason workout locale in the near future. If he gets back to his 2023 form, this will be an excellent signing. If he's more like his 2025 form, I don't see him being much of an improvement
2. Crawford -- that's a bit of a leap. I think most fans would prefer to see Bader resigned. But that's a tricky one, in that Bader basically over performed his average after the Fightins acquired him at the trade deadline last season, he has a history of being injured, and he's reportedly seeking $10-15M per season, on a 3-year contract. Crawford, on the other hand, would be pretty cheap. But there are some questions about how well he'll perform as a 22-year-old rookie. If he doesn't play all that well, Dombroski's OF plans for 2026 could be a mess, and he'd likely be looking for another trade deadline deal
3. Keller -- IMHO, this was the best of their moves so far. Middle inning relief, or late-inning relief short of the 9th inning, were inconsistent last season for the Fightins, and a mess in the playoffs. Keller, if he performs as he did last season, will really improve that situation. I'm somewhat surprised that they Fightins were able to land Keller, but quite glad that they did
Some interesting chess moves by Dombroski, and I'm curious as to your thoughts on them.
My own take:
1. Garcia -- he should be an improvement over Casty, but I do have some concerns. Yes, his D will be better, so that's a positive. But his AVG has been down the past two seasons (0.245 in 2023, and 0.227 in 2025), and his chase rate has increased during that same time (29.3% in 2023, and 35.7% in 2025). Reportedly, the Fightins feel they can work with him on his swing, and are even sending either Kevin Long or his assistant, Edward Gonzalez, to meet with Garcia at his offseason workout locale in the near future. If he gets back to his 2023 form, this will be an excellent signing. If he's more like his 2025 form, I don't see him being much of an improvement
2. Crawford -- that's a bit of a leap. I think most fans would prefer to see Bader resigned. But that's a tricky one, in that Bader basically over performed his average after the Fightins acquired him at the trade deadline last season, he has a history of being injured, and he's reportedly seeking $10-15M per season, on a 3-year contract. Crawford, on the other hand, would be pretty cheap. But there are some questions about how well he'll perform as a 22-year-old rookie. If he doesn't play all that well, Dombroski's OF plans for 2026 could be a mess, and he'd likely be looking for another trade deadline deal
3. Keller -- IMHO, this was the best of their moves so far. Middle inning relief, or late-inning relief short of the 9th inning, were inconsistent last season for the Fightins, and a mess in the playoffs. Keller, if he performs as he did last season, will really improve that situation. I'm somewhat surprised that they Fightins were able to land Keller, but quite glad that they did
Some interesting chess moves by Dombroski, and I'm curious as to your thoughts on them.
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IMO, letting Bader walk will come back to bite them. The Garcia signing is good, but if Crawford struggles, the OF will be a weakness again. I find it curious that they didn’t trust Crawford or Painter to be called up in September last year, but now they are expected to be key contributors. The bullpen needed to be upgraded last year and they didn’t do it. It appears they weren’t going to make that mistake again. Wheeler is a wild card. Does he come back to previous form? Does he come back at all? TBD.
Resigning Bader for several years could also come back to bite them. My question with him is whether it would be another “buy high” type of contract.
It’s clear they need to find out what they have at the top of their prospect pool. Crawford is one of those guys. Miller is another one at 3B…just a matter of whether they move Bohm this offseason or let him walk after 2026. Painter will 100% be in the opening day rotation as long as he stays healthy.
Let’s start with the easy one
Let’s start with the easy one- Keller. If he gives you what he did last year, it’s HUGE. But relievers often have up and down years so you never know. But this one had to be done and gives them a huge plus to the back end in the playoffs.
Now the difficult question. It’s got a lot of layers to it. First off is whether this move makes their lineup and its construction better. It sounds like they are very sensitive to giving Harper protection by hitting Harper 2 and Kyle 3. But all this has done is switch the issue to now having Schwarber not protected by not having a viable clean up hitter behind Kyle. Garcia doesn’t change this.
To me, the real issue is having a hitter protect Harper and then one to protect Kyle. To me, it’s been one guy all along. It’s Bregman. Let’s be real, the Phillies don’t view Bohm as a long term piece. Bregman is exactly the type of guy they need, a clubhouse guy along the lines of Kyle. He’s won titles and has great respect in the game. Philly would love this guy.
I’d be SHOCKED if the Phillies bring Bader back. First it’s the years he wants. Second, they want and need Crawford to succeed. The last thing you want is to change his position while having him make the jump to the bigs. If he’s most comfortable in CF, he has to play there. Bader made sense only if he plays CF.
So, if you simply wanted to move on from Nick with Garcia, no real problem. But if there isn’t another bigger move, then I don’t see how Garcia improves you. He’s a .237 career hitter. This isn’t what you need or want. You haven’t improved.
If you can’t bring Bregman in (he wants a lot of years and a lot of money), then the move has to be for them to go get Imai. It makes sense to add him while Wheeler gets healthy and then positions the Phillies post 2027 when Zach retires. He’s bridges you for this year and then hopefully allows you to maintain a dominant staff after Zach retires following 2027.
But if anyone thinks they hit a gold mine signing Garcia, I’d be cautious thinking that.
Things might get awkward between the Phillies, Nick Castellanos
The Phillies are determined to move on from Nick Castellanos, as costly and uncomfortable as it might get.
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I don’t think Painter is the sure fire ace everyone thought he would be a few years back. He struggled at times last year at AAA after the injury and they didn’t appear to trust him enough to bring him up in September. Instead they signed Buehler who was cut by Boston and not on a team. That was telling to me in their confidence in Painter.
Who knows on Painter. This was his first year back after Tommy John and they understandably protected him. But they need to find out what they have. Soon. Put him in the 5th spot in the rotation and see.
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