Top 5 promising Dave Dombrowski quotes on Phillies’ future

1. Dave Dombrowski considers the current state of the Phillies as a ‘retool,’ not a ‘rebuild.’

"“Well, I consider it a retool and not a rebuild, for sure. I think there are too many good players on the club.” – Dave Dombrowski"

While work needs to be done, new Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski does not believe the roster needs to be reworked from the ground up.

When asked whether he considers the current state of the team a “rebuild” or a “retool,” Dombrowski replied with the latter.

“I think there are too many good players on the club,” he said. “The way I’ve looked at it, we have a star player in right field in Bryce [Harper] and some other good players around him.”

Dombrowski continued that any time a team has “three good starting pitchers as we have at the top of the rotation” — in reference to Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, and Zach Eflin — they are in “pretty good shape” to be competitive.

“Now, there are other things that need to be done,” Dombrowski said. “We talk about Nola, Wheeler, and Eflin. That’s a good place to start, with some other arms behind them. I think it’s a retool.”

The team’s newest front office executive joins the team midway through the offseason. Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to Clearwater, Florida, in two months. There may be a lot of work ahead for Dombrowski in a little amount of time, but he seems to be ready for the task.

“There won’t be a lot of sleep involved over the next couple of weeks. I’ve done this before. There’s a lot to be done,” he said. “You’re walking into the middle of it in December, when a lot of things are already taking place. You have to get up to par very quickly.”

Dombrowski labeling the Phillies as a retool, rather than a rebuild, means fans should have some reason for optimism that the club can turn things around in 2021. While it may not be World Series-contending, just perhaps it can return to the postseason for the first time in a decade.