Addressing a big Phillies question at every position

Addressing a big Phillies question at every position originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Breaking down a key question at every position on the Phillies’ roster …

Manager: Why was Rob Thomson extended?

The Phillies didn’t want to go into the season with Thomson as a lame-duck manager. His contract had previously been set to expire after 2025, now it ends after 2026.

“I don’t think going into a manager’s last year is ever a good spot to be going in if you can prevent that from happening,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Tuesday. “He deserves the extension in that regard. I’ve been in the position — sometimes willingly, sometimes unwillingly — where your manager goes into the last year of his contract and right off the bat you lose three games in a row and there’s speculation on his job status. I think it secures it, people know how we feel about him. He’s deserved it, he’s done a great job for us.”

Coaches: Why no changes?

Because, despite the disappointing finish, the Phillies won 95 games and the division and Thomson wanted his staff to remain intact.

By keeping Thomson and all his coaches, Dombrowski and John Middleton are essentially saying, OK, show us why this is the staff that can push the Phillies closer to a championship. If they can’t in 2025, or if the team struggles early, it would not be surprising to see some sort of shake-up.

“They’re very efficient, they do their jobs well, we have a good manager. He would have liked all his coaches back. To me, it’s pretty simple in that regard,” Dombrowski said.

Kevin Long is a well-respected hitting coach who’s had a long relationship with Harper and Trea Turner and is beloved by his players. He’s also tight with the top free agent on the market, Juan Soto, though that obviously won’t be the main factor in Soto’s choice.

The Phillies want many of their hitters to implement changes and feel Long can get that message across.

“If you go around baseball and you talk to every baseball person and say, OK, give me your top five hitting coaches, he’s going to be on almost every list and he’d be number one on a lot of lists,” Thomson said. “It’s a random game. People get sped up. You’ve got to be able to slow them down, and even if they have the opposite-field approach, still they get sped up at times. We have to make sure we do the little things, pass the baton, trust your teammates, keep the line moving.”

Catcher: How much will the Phillies reduce J.T. Realmuto’s workload?

Dombrowski and Thomson didn’t divulge a ton at Tuesday’s press conference but one specific acknowledgment both made was that resting Realmuto more could make him more effective throughout a long season and in October when the Phillies need him most.

Realmuto turns 34 in March. The 2025 season is his last under contract. He started 130 games behind the plate in 2022 and 2023. He started 99 this past season, missing six weeks with a right meniscus injury that bothered him early in the season and required surgery in mid-June.

He struggled mightily in the playoffs, going 0-for-11 with four strikeouts, one of many Phillies who couldn’t catch up to fastballs in the NLDS.

Rafael Marchan, whose career has been plagued by injuries to this point, turns 26 in February and seems ready to step into a role as Realmuto’s backup. He’s a solid defender and has hit .279/.333/.477 in a small sample of 121 big-league plate appearances, better production than in the minors. The Phillies will still want to protect themselves against a Marchan injury by adding other catching depth in the upper minors.

Thomson said Tuesday that he hadn’t yet spoken to Realmuto about reducing his playing time and that he expected some pushback. Decreasing from the 130-range to somewhere around 110-115 starts seems realistic.

First base: How much will the offseason help Bryce Harper’s injuries?

Harper dealt with nagging wrist and elbow issues in 2024 but played through them and still delivered, hitting .285/.373/.525 with 42 doubles, 30 homers and 87 RBI and playing strong enough defense to qualify as a Gold Glove finalist.

With an offseason of rest, the Phillies expect Harper to show up to Clearwater in February at 100 percent. He was still very good in 2024 but not quite the MVP-level version of Bryce Harper.

Second base: Can Bryson Stott get back on track?

One of the Phillies’ biggest question marks, Stott hit .245 after hitting .280 in 2023. Both Dombrowski and Thomson said Tuesday that Stott should not be thinking about hitting 20 home runs, he should be focused on grinding out at-bats and getting on base. He has so much more value to the Phillies as a guy hitting .275 with a .345 OBP than he does trying to sell out for power or cheat to get to fastballs.

Stott hit just .200 this season on fastballs of 93 mph or harder. He hit .319 the year before. It’s a worrisome sign that he needs to correct ASAP to avoid being exploited. He’ll play next season at age 27 so he’s not exactly a young guy in baseball terms anymore.

Shortstop: Can Trea Turner make the necessary adjustments?

The other player Dombrowski and Thomson mentioned most regarding adjustments was Turner, who has been incredibly streaky both years as a Phillie and has for some reason veered into pull-side power hitter territory. When you think about his hottest points of 2024, you’re probably recalling a bunch of lofted home runs to left field. But no player can maintain that kind of power binge for two months much less six.

The Phillies need Turner to be a good hitter, not a power hitter. He hit .311 with a .361 OBP from 2019-22. As a Phillie, he’s hit .279 with a .328 OBP. That is just a markedly different hitter than they thought they were getting.

They want Turner to utilize the entire field and get back to a more line-drive approach. He also needs to chase less. He’s an aggressive hitter by nature but as a Phillie has chased outside the zone 35% of the time as opposed to 28% prior.

Third base: Which Alec Bohm shows up in 2025?

Bohm hit .313 with an .873 OPS through June 24, then .242 with a .673 OPS the rest of the way. He suffered a left hand strain at the end of August which cost him more than two weeks and probably affected his offensive output upon returning.

Bohm pouted or expressed visible frustration on the field as he slumped more than the Phillies would have liked at the end of the season and it all played into his benching in Game 2 of the NLDS.

He’s still a hugely important piece of the Phillies’ future. For all the talk Tuesday about hitters needing to utilize all fields, it’s hard to ignore that Bohm does it better than any of his teammates. He makes a ton of contact and has hit over .300 with runners in scoring position annually. His is an offensive profile the Phillies need.

Outfield: Who returns?

Anything can happen in the Phillies’ outfield.

Johan Rojas will need to compete for the center field job.

Brandon Marsh has not proven he can play every day. Like Stott, he did not step forward in 2024 and will play next season at 27.

Nick Castellanos has two years and $40 million remaining on his contract.

Dombrowski said that Castellanos and Marsh will be in the Phillies’ outfield picture. Don’t be surprised, though, if one is shopped. If the Phillies bring back the entire team while just replacing Rojas and giving Marsh a new platoon partner, that sure doesn’t seem like enough offensive change.

DH: Where will Kyle Schwarber hit?

It was very interesting to hear Thomson say Tuesday that he’ll re-examine the leadoff spot this offseason. Schwarber has thrived there as the biggest leadoff home run threat baseball has ever seen, and his .366 on-base percentage last season was just what you’d want atop the order.

But Schwarber’s power and protection could be more important elsewhere. He drove in 104 runs two straight years out of the leadoff spot; what might that number be in more of a run-producing spot?

Turner is not a great choice to lead off because he doesn’t work counts much. The 2023 version of Stott might have been but not the 2024 version. It would be an ideal fit if one of the outfielders the Phillies add this winter is a high-OBP guy who can lead off.

Starting pitching: How much depth do they add?

The first four rotation spots are set with Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sanchez and Ranger Suarez. The Phillies are in as good a place with their top four as any team in baseball.

The No. 5 spot was obviously a disaster the final six weeks of the season with none of Taijuan Walker, Tyler Phillips, Seth Johnson or Kolby Allard able to fill the role and Spencer Turnbull unable to return in time from a lat strain.

Walker will have to compete for the No. 5 spot, and top prospect Andrew Painter cannot be counted on to pitch a full season because the Phillies will handle his workload with care coming off Tommy John surgery. The Phillies will add multiple fifth-starter candidates of the Turnbull ilk this offseason to better position themselves to avoid the September disaster they experienced at the back of the rotation.

Bullpen: How do they reconfigure the ‘pen?

The Phillies are unlikely to re-sign both Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez, Dombrowski said Tuesday. Both are expected to command multi-year deals in the $12 million range. Losing one of the righties will push Orion Kerkering into an even more important spot on the relief depth chart.

The Phils will need to add multiple relievers they feel comfortable using in high leverage. They won’t just be losing one of their three most important relievers, they also dealt with inconsistency in 2024 from Jose Alvarado, who’s no sure thing to be a reliable back-end guy himself next season.