Dombrowski's Wish List

Phillies head honcho Dave Dombrowski held his end of season post-mortem today, and rattled off a few things on his wish list. His desires include a big bat in the middle of the batting order, a leadoff man, a shortstop and a closer. 

Let's take a closer look.

Big bat in the middle of the order: A healthy Rhys Hoskins. The slugging first baseman will be ready for spring training following season-ending abdominal surgery. 

Leadoff man and CFer: Matt Vierling looked good in his 71 at-bats late this season, but I don't know if you can count on him to be a big league leadoff guy just yet. Sterling Marte, who hit .308 with an .837 OPS, is a free agent and plays center And he hits leadoff. He made $12.5 million this season and will be getting a hefty raise. Will the Phillies be willing to pay up for multiple years of a 32-year-old outfielder? Memories of Andrew McCutchen will probably keep them away from Marte.

Another possibility if the oft-injured Byron Buxton of the Twins. When healthy, he's very good. But he's only played 140 games in a season once in his big league career. The other six years he's averaged about 60 games. Too risky.

My vote goes to Dodgers Swiss Army knife Chris Taylor, who plays everywhere (including shortstop and center) and is probably a more attainable free agent, unless he has his hear set on staying in Los Angeles.

Shortstop: Bryson Stott was a first-round pick a couple years back and Bryce Harper loves the kid. He has the bat to stick in the majors, but there are questions about his defense. Give him a long look in spring training with as many at-bats against major league talent as possible. Have him start the year in Triple A with Freddy Galvis holding down the fort. Stott comes up for good around May 1 and is the team's best shortstop since Jimmy Rollins.

Closer: Oy. Anyone but Hector Neris. The free agent thrived in a setup role this season, but we all have PTSD from watching him close. I'd bring him back, but not as a closer. Kendall Graveman was very good for Seattle and Houston this year, but this was the first good year in his seven-year career. The free agent is an affordable possibility. 

But relievers are impossible to predict. Brandon Kintzler was outstanding for the Marlins in 2020. He was so bad for the Phillies in 2021 that he was released in the middle of the season. It's a total crapshoot. 

Now What?

Our long national nightmare is over. The Phillies flirtation with the postseason has officially ended after being meekly swept by the Braves. The playoff drought stands at 10 years. 

There will be lots to talk about over the coming months as the 2022 team is assembled. At least there's a lot of money coming off the books. Guys I don't expect to see here next year include Andrew McCutchen ($20 million), Odubel Herrera ($10 million), Archie Bradley ($6 million), and Hector Neris ($5 million).

Let's hope Dave Dombrowski does a better job assembling next year's team. He's the guy who gave us Matt Moore, Vince Velasquez, and Chase Anderson as free agents. Add in dreadful call up Spencer Howard and those guys had a 6.51 ERA and 46 starts. That's more than a quarter of a season.

The rotation is probably set for next year with Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola (he has to be better, right?), Ranger Suarez, Kyle Gibson, and a recovering Zach Eflin toward summer. But they're going to have to take a hard look at shortstop because Didi Gregorius was awful, both offensively and defensively.

Other holes include third base, left field, and center field. There are potential options in the organization. Is Bryson Stott ready for the majors, and can he play third? Maybe Alec Bohm moves to left to limit his defensive liabilities. Matt Vierling looked good and is versatile and might have earned a place in the outfield. And there's always Scott Kingery, who maybe, after a lost year, will finally be able to put it all together. And they'll have to rebuild the bullpen. Again. The only holdovers I see are Connor Brogdon, Sam Coonrod, and maybe Jose Alvarado.

As far as potential free agents, I like Chris Taylor of the Dodgers. He can play everywhere and has a career OPS near .800. He could be what the Phillies hoped Kingery would be.

A couple other things–did Bryce Harper's 0-11 against the Braves cost him the NL MVP? He still has baseball's top OPS of 1.033.

And finally, will Joe Girardi be back? Will he want to come back? He'll be entering the last year of his contract in 2022. Maybe owner John Middleton has seen enough and will want to change managers. Again. My guess is Girardi stays but is on a short leash if the Phils are in bad shape by the middle of June.