When we reach this point in spring training, finding stories is often hard to do. For teams like the Phillies, teams that have a rather full roster difficult to crack for most veterans, they are reduced having to slog through games that will have very little determination on the edges of that roster. While the bullpen does have one, maybe two, spots that will have a rock fight over them until the very end of camp, the position player side of things is more or less settled. Now that Johan Rojas is apparently
out of the picture, we more or less know who will be the thirteen players going north to open the season against the Rangers.
OR DO WE????
This is where we are at, friends. We are debating whether or not Garrett Stubbs should make the team as the 26th man on the roster.
There is no need to debate that.
Stubbs is not making the team as anything other than the backup catcher. If he’s not doing that, he’s in Lehigh Valley.
Let’s lay out some facts, first being Stubbs’ contract. Once again, this offseason, Stubbs agreed to a split contract that would pay him $575,000 should he have to go to the minor leagues, $925,000 if he were to make the team over Rafael Marchan. It’s a substantial financial incentive for Stubbs to accept the assignment that might be headed his way should he not make the Opening Day roster, one designed by the Phillies to help them maintain some catching depth in case of injury. Stubbs no longer has minor league options, so he’d have to pass through waivers before going to Lehigh Valley, yet it’s unlikely anyone would claim him or his contract. That contract is actually more conducive to his staying with the team than it is to his going somewhere else.
Second, Stubbs’ production does not outweigh what others ahead of him might be able to produce on the field. While his 2022 season was actually quite good considering how little playing time he actually received, Stubbs, while in the major leagues, has done almost nothing with the bat, posting OPS numbers that start with a 5 in the two seasons he was the lone option carrying J.T. Realmuto’s clubs. Of the options on the team, Marchan alone (.210/.282/.305 in 2025) is the better of two rather poor options to back up Realmuto, but at least Marchan has some solid defensive numbers to fall back on. We know that Realmuto took a step backwards defensively in 2025, but even if we’re talking about a limited number of chances Marchan had as compared to the starter, he was better than Realmuto in almost all aspects of catcher defense that is measured by Baseball Savant.
If we look at what the team needs on the field, Stubbs’ meager bat is not one that should be kept over potentially better options like Bryan de la Cruz (who fills an actual need in the outfield) or Dylan Moore (who could fill a potential need as a right handed bat off the bench). Keeping Stubbs over either of those two would be roster mismanagement that, while not crippling due to the nature of the spot, would make one start to further question how they see their weaknesses that exist on roster.
Lastly, if they’re even considering contributions that Stubbs could make to the locker room (and by the sounds of it, they are), one has to wonder if they’re putting too much stock at this point in clubhouse cohesion versus on-field results. We have heard many, many stories about how close this clubhouse has become over the years and it still makes for an unquantifiable aspect to roster construction. However, if the team feels that adding Stubbs to continue creating a clubhouse environment that helps the team win, what does that say about the players already in the locker room? Why would they even consider it when they have so many leaders already giving the team a foundation?
So, despite saying that there is nothing saying Stubbs can’t be the 26th man, there are actually a decent amount of reasons why Stubbs should not be considered for the job.
