It does not appear as though the Phillies are going to pull off a major move at the GM Meetings this week in Las Vegas.
It also appears they will not be alone.
With the collective bargaining agreement set to expire on December 2, agents are fussing that teams do not want to make any major financial commitments yet without knowing what the rules in the new CBA are going to look like.
Will there be a salary cap/floor? If not, what happens with the luxury tax? Will draft picks be allowed in trades? What
will revenue sharing look like?
But even if the Phils and Dombrowski don’t do anything substantive over the next couple of weeks, one would think he, and the rest of the front office decision makers, have formulated a plan on how to improve the roster and avoid “running it back” for yet another season.
The team has clear needs in the outfield, bullpen, with starting pitching depth and utility infielder. They need to find a right-handed hitter for the middle of the lineup, and they need a late-inning left-handed relief pitcher.
There are some high-end options to help in these areas. Adrian Morejon has been linked to the Phils as the top lefty reliever on the free agent market, and Seiya Suzuki and Randy Arozarena, two right-handed hitting outfielders who would solve their outfield/middle-of-the-order problems in one fell swoop, are obvious fits.
But speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Dombrowski wondered aloud whether it would be in the team’s best interest to sign additional players already in their 30s to expensive, multi-year contracts (quote via Phillies.com).
“We have a lot of high-end salary players, and they’re not young, they’re not old,” Dombrowski said. “But they’re in that age bracket that you have to make a decision. We maybe have enough high-end players, and you mean to complement them with other players overall. That’s a decision we have to make. But I’m not necessarily looking for our club to continue to get older, so you kind of factor all those things in and make a decision.”
Dombrowski’s reluctance to sign another player entering his mid-30s to a deal that will see him earn close to $30 million a season at ages 35-37 is understandable. They’re already on the hook for big cash to Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and J.T. Realmuto, deals unlikely to age all that well in the coming years. Suzuki and Arozarena will be 33 in 2027. And if the Phillies are going to maintain a payroll similar to what they have over the last two years, they only have around $30 million to spend this off-season.
Not only that, signing Morejon, Suzuki and Arozarena would require the Phils to relinquish their 2nd and 5th round draft picks as well as $1 million in international spending cash.
The options for the outfield aren’t all that enticing outside of Suzuki and Arozarena. Japanese star Teruaki Sato would be great, but is a longshot. Taylor Ward, Randall Grichuk, Daulton Varsho, Tyrone Taylor and Ian Happ are among the other right-handed options who would be cheaper. Happ is a switch-hitter who struggled against lefties last year, and the rest are strictly platoon players.
It sounds like Dombrowski is considering quantity over quality. If they keep Brandon Marsh, it’s possible they could run out platoons at all three outfield spots: Marsh and Bryan de la Cruz in left, Derek Hill and Justin Crawford in center, and two lesser free agents in right. In that scenario, you’re counting on six separate players to be productive in some capacity. It’s also awful roster-building, as most teams don’t carry six outfielders.
Dombrowski sounded like a man who realized he needs a guy in one of those outfield positions.
“I will say one thing: We have to have an outfielder,” Dombrowski said. “Right now, we don’t have an outfielder. But is that more important than some other things? I guess it depends upon who that outfielder is.”
On the infield, the plan remains for Trea Turner to start the season at shortstop. Oft-injured veteran Ha Seong-Kim is reportedly a target to take on the super utility role once held by free agent Edmundo Sosa. But he should not be considered an everyday player anymore.
With Alec Bohm unlikely to return, what will the Phillies do at third base? They could re-sign Luis Arraez to play second and shift Bryson Stott to third. But it also sounds as though Dombrowski is looking for Aidan Miller to win the job out of spring training.
“He’s not being anointed the position, but I also think he has a heck of a chance to make our club in the spring,” Dombrowski said. “I think that, as it stands, that would be very helpful for us to have that consideration. And frankly, I’m hoping he does. I’m not giving it to him, but I’m hoping that he does.”
It would be quite a gamble for Dombrowski and the Phils to coordinate their off-season acquisitions with the hope Miller’s back injuries are behind them and that the rookie with 37 career plate appearances at AAA to be their starting third baseman out of training camp, but if they spend big money on a corner outfielder, they may have no other choice, provided the payroll needs to stay where it is.
Make no mistake, it would be great if Miller shows he can hack it in Clearwater to be given that opportunity, and it would certainly give the Phils more payroll flexibility this off-season, too. But Miller missed virtually all of 2025 with his back problems. It’s a major roll of the dice.
It’s clear money isn’t going to solve all the Phillies’ problems. Dombrowski is not a creative trader, so asking him to solve multiple problems through trades is like asking a horse to deal cards. Still, maybe there are some solutions on the trade market that could provide some answers.
As ESPN’s Jeff Passan noted this week when writing about each team’s best offseason “fit,” the Phillies are not going to “run it back” in 2027.
The perfect transaction: Just how much of an overhaul the Phillies undergo this winter remains to be seen, but they recognize that running back last year’s outfit is a nightmare waiting to happen. The Phillies can go toe-to-toe with any team’s best five players. Beyond that is the issue, and it has doomed them long enough that they need to prioritize multiple bats and fix a lineup with far too many holes. That starts in the outfield, and it just so happens that the three best free agent hitters this winter can all play outfield. Any of them would work, but one fits especially well. Sign outfielder Seiya Suzuki.
Things are going to change. The plan on how it will happen remains murky.
