With the 2024 MLB Winter Meetings now officially over, the Philadelphia Phillies have come out of it with their lone prize in adding star reliever Jordan Romano to the bullpen. However, at the same time, the Phillies found themselves missing out on many big names who were on the move this past week, including Juan Soto, Max Fried, top trade target Garrett Crochet and now Kyle Tucker.
Even with the Winter Meetings coming to an end, the offseason action has just started for many teams, including the Phillies. After all, Philadelphia still has a few areas that need addressing heading into 2025 to make the team complete. Let’s take a look at three more moves that the Phillies must make in the coming weeks to ensure that they have a legitimate shot at making it back to the World Series next season.
3 needs the Phillies still have to address after conclusion of 2024 Winter Meetings
The Phillies desperately need to add a power-hitting outfielder
Ever since the Phillies moved Kyle Schwarber off the field and into the designated hitter’s role in 2023, the offensive production of their outfield has been predominantly carried by veteran right fielder Nick Castellanos. As for the other two outfield positions during 2024, the Phillies’ left and center fielders ranked in the bottom third in the entire league for home runs and RBI totals. Despite the strong defensive play of both Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas, when it comes to their production at the plate, it has left a lot to be desired.
As a result, one of the main priorities of the Phillies this offseason was to look for a power-hitting outfield bat to help them significantly improve in that regard. Of course, Soto was the best possible option available, but the Phillies never appeared interested in the 26-year-old phenom as he ended up with the division rival New York Mets. More recently, they also missed out on the promising Tucker, who was promptly traded to the Chicago Cubs shortly after landing on the trade block.
But with prime outfield targets such as Anthony Santander and Tesocar Hernández still available in free agency, the Phillies still have the perfect outfield solution staring them in the face. With both outfielders being capable of easily amassing 30+ home runs and 100+ RBI per season, either of them would be exactly what the team needs to help them reach the next level.
The Phillies still need another bullpen arm
Following the signing of Romano, the Phillies appeared to be confident already in what they have heading into 2025 based on the comments made by president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. According to Matt Gelb and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Dombrowski indicated that despite being open to potentially still adding to the bullpen, they feel comfortable where they are with their relief corps (subscription required).
As of this moment, the Phillies’ current depth chart has Romano joining regulars José Alvarado, Matt Strahm, Orion Kerkering, Tanner Banks and José Ruiz. However, following those six, the potential remaining bullpen spots remain a question mark, with the likes of Tyler Gilbert, Michael Mercado, Max Lazar and perhaps even Taijuan Walker in the mix as well. If that is what the Phillies are aiming to go into 2025 with, that group would be worse off than what they had in 2024 when Carlos Estévez and Jeff Hoffman were still with the team.
To ensure that they are at least on par with the strength of their bullpen from last season, Philadelphia must add at least one more elite arm to the group. With some high-end options such as Tanner Scott, along with the potential reunions of Carlos Estévez and Jeff Hoffman still available in free agency, the Phillies should round out their 2025 relief corps by making one more key reliever signing. Being arguably the top reliever in the market, Scott would be the ideal addition, as he would instantly make the group even better than last season.
The Phillies should add one more starting pitcher, for obvious reasons
Assuming Ranger Suárez doesn’t end up being moved this offseason, the Phillies will head into 2025 with their big four: Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez and Suárez. However, the fifth spot in the rotation could potentially present some of the same problems that the club ran into last season.
As of now, it is uncertain if Walker will be able to regain his prior form despite working on fixing his mechanics during the offseason. If he is unable to do so, the Phillies will be forced once again to look at internal options to fill the void, a strategy that failed miserably in 2024. That was because no matter who they put in, whether it was Tyler Phillips, Kolby Allard or even Seth Johnson, they were unable to maintain a steady hold of the spot with unconvincing outings.
Perhaps the best internal option that the Phillies have for the coming season could come from their top pitching prospect, Andrew Painter. However, coming off Tommy John surgery and missing over a year and a half of action, Philadelphia will manage his workload in what should be his debut this upcoming season.
As a result, the Phillies need one more solid depth starter to serve as the insurance sixth man. Especially if Suárez does end up getting traded, then this depth starter should be able to automatically join the rotation without much drop-off in performance. Or if the Phillies really want to dive into the go-big-or-go-home mentality, they can even aim high for Corbin Burnes or Roki Sasaki to fortify their starting five for years to come.