The Philadelphia Phillies wrapped up their spring training exhibition schedule with an 8-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Monday, and with the 26- roster seemingly set for Opening Day, the collective attention now shifts to the start of the regular season which begins Thursday afternoon on the road against the Washington Nationals.
With the Phillies expected to contend for an NL East pennant again this season, it could be the last chance for the aging veteran core to bring a championship back to Philadelphia with players like Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto due to become free agents at the end of the season. And after failing to deliver in the postseason over the last three years, the 2025 season could be the end of the road for one of the most beloved Phillies clubs ever constructed in team history.
That being said, the front office was active this offseason trying to fix some of the problems that caused the Phillies to hit a wall after the All-Star break last season despite running away with the division, and then falling flat during the NLDS versus the New York Mets. A slew of additions, such as signing outfielder Max Kepler and right-handers Jordan Romano and Joe Ross to free agent deals, and swinging a four-player trade with the Miami Marlins for left-handed starting pitcher Jesús Luzardo, signaled a greater sense of urgency from Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.
The biggest questions the Phillies must answer in 2025
Like all MLB teams expected to compete for a World Series title this year, the Phillies will have to prove that its aging roster has one more postseason run in it. This is a team that's now three years into its current competitive window. And with major roster changes expected after this season with some key veterans headed to free agency, let's look at some of the major questions this Phillies squad will have to answer this year as they make another attempt to bring a World Series title back to the City of Philadelphia for the first time since 2008.
Did the Phillies do enough to fix an outfield that ranked 20th in fWAR last season?
The first major question the Phillies must answer this season is whether or not they have settled on an outfield that can stay healthy and produce after last year's outfield mix ranked 20th overall in team fWAR. With the newcomer Kepler starting in left field and Brandon Marsh making a full-time move over to center, the outfield and offense should be vastly improved after being a major cause for concern for much of last season.
Phillies fans know by now what to expect from right-fielder Nick Castellanos, but Kepler and Marsh will have to prove they can stay healthy and hit left-handed pitching this year after both have struggled to hit consistently against southpaws over the course of their careers. That's especially true for Marsh, who manager Rob Thomson has said will receive the majority of starts against left-handed pitching to begin the year despite only hitting .231 with 71 strikeouts in 307 career at-bats.
Did the Phillies front office stabilize the back end of the starting rotation?
The fifth spot in the Phillies' starting rotation shared a lot in common with the outfield last season, as injuries and poor performance led to the team fielding open auditions to fill the role by the middle of last summer. Much of the problem came as a result of Taijuan Walker putting together one of the worst 15-start performances in recent team history. With better options like Spencer Turnbull sidelined due to injury, the team opted not to trade for a starting pitcher at the MLB trade deadline, and that big mistake became magnified after depth options such as Tyler Phillips, Michael Mercardo and Seth Johnson all tried and failed to deliver results when given the opportunity.
The Phillies front office made it a point to reinforce the starting rotation this offseason by trading for the hard-throwing Luzardo. The addition of Luzardo to a rotation that already includes Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez and Ranger Suárez has led many baseball insiders to rank the Phillies rotation as one of the best in baseball. But to live up to that promise, all five are going to need to remain healthy.
But health remains a major question mark for the Phillies ahead of Opening Day with Suárez being placed on the 15-day IL to begin the season with a back issue. The 29-year-old southpaw is obviously no stranger to back injuries, as he went on the shelf before the All-Star break in 2024, and missed considerable time during the second half of the season while rehabbing the injury.
While Suárez's recent back troubles don't appear too serious, his absence has once again opened the door for Walker to rejoin the rotation for the first few weeks of the 2025 season. With top pitching prospect Andrew Painter not likely to make his MLB debut until the summer, the Phillies could face considerable challenges if multiple members of the starting rotation are sidelined with injuries.
Did the Phillies front office do enough this offseason to make the team better?
The 2025 season is shaping up to be championship or bust for an aging veteran core that has failed to deliver a World Series title over the last three postseasons. That's especially true with designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and catcher J.T. Realmuto both free agents after the end of the season. Unlike last winter, the Phillies front office took a more active approach to roster construction this offseason, evidenced by signing outfielder Kepler, Romano and Ross, while also trading for Luzardo and right-hander Devin Sweet.
The Phillies once again shied away from signing top free agents, and while rival NL ball clubs like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets stole all the headlines with record-setting free agent contracts, Dombrowski and his baseball operations team opted for a patchwork approach to adding players this offseason while trying to find middle-tier MLB talent to reinforce areas of weakness on the team's already talented and expensive 26-man roster.
The success of the offseason moves will be judged on a few factors this year. Will Kepler hit enough and stay healthy while adding the type of thump that was sorely missing from the lineup last season? Luzardo also comes with a significant injury history, and the health of both players over the course of the season is far from guaranteed. And with a bullpen that lost key pieces when Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez signed elsewhere this winter, can Romano and José Alvarado fill the ninth-inning void in tandem as closers this season?