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.