How do the Phillies build on their 14-win improvement this year compared to 2017 as they now look ahead to the 2019 season?
The Phillies ended the regular season in dismal fashion: they lost 33 of their last 49 games after starting the season 64-49. Considering the club’s talent level, they certainly overachieved through July, but the bottom dropped out much harder than anyone could have expected. As noted by Jayson Stark of the Athletic and several other outlets since then, they are the first time to be 15 or more games over .500 113 games into the season to finish the year with a losing record. It was quite literally a historic collapse that left many fans disillusioned with the team.
On the other hand, when you compare 2018 to 2017, they won 14 more games. That reflected in their attendance, which went up by 252,770 people, or about 3,121 per home game. They actually stayed in the race for most of the season, which was more than anyone expected coming into the year. Most projections expected the team to win around 76 games or so.
Of course, considering how well the team was playing through July, seeing them crash and burn a lot of fans. So how does the club build on this 14-win improvement and sustain their success throughout the 2019 season?
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The most obvious answer to further improve in 2019 is to pursue one, if not several, big-name free agents this year. General manager Matt Klentak said as much Monday afternoon, saying he expects to make “significant changes” to the 40-man roster the team ended the season with. Hopefully acquiring a game-changing hitter (hint, hint, Bryce Harper) can boost an offense that was below-average all season but downright bad in the last two months.
Klentak also discussed toning it downs in regards to all the unorthodox methods the team used to squeeze as many wins out of their roster as they could. These tactics drew the ire of plenty of fans, but it appears the team has learned what does and doesn’t work:
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"“As time goes on and the roster becomes more and more talented and they gain more and more experience, we will get to a point where we won’t need nor want to experiment quite as much. I would expect with the combination of an improved roster next year and an adjustable manager will mean we don’t push the envelope quite as much.”"
One experiment of the team that I have harped on profusely is their defensive tactics. Philadelphia played some of the worst, if not the worst defense in the league this year. This can be attributed to using players away from their natural positions, like putting Rhys Hoskins in left field and Scott Kingery in shortstop.
Klentak also stated he wants to improve the team’s defense as a whole, and putting these players back in their natural positions would do that.
There are plenty of things the Phillies can work on to make the team better in 2019. They made a significant jump compared to last year, but they need to make another to get into playoff contention.