Outfield issues holding Phillies back in offseason roster rankings

The MLB Winter Meetings are less than a month away, and all signs point to the Philadelphia Phillies being far more active in signing free agents and making deals than they were last offseason.

Following a couple of recent reports signaling that the team is willing to deal a handful of established players in trades this winter, it's looking likely that the Phillies could be fielding a very different-looking ball club in 2025. A recent ranking of all 30 MLB teams by one MLB.com writer places the Phillies well out of the top spot.

Outfield issues holding Phillies back in offseason roster rankings

With Alec Bohm's recently reported trade availability adding an interesting wrinkle to next season's infield picture, it's easy to forget that the Phillies outfield was far from a team strength this year.

Nick Castellanos had a relatively good season at the plate in 2024, playing all 162 games and batting .254, while swatting 23 home runs and driving in 86 RBI. But chasing pitches out of the zone remained a major problem for Castellanos as evidenced by his 37.8 percent chase rate. It's probably not a coincidence that the Phillies recently expressed a desire to have a more disciplined approach at the plate next season that's centered around chasing fewer pitches.

Obviously a major change in the Phillies' offensive approach could spell the end for Castellanos' time in Philadelphia this winter, but Castellanos is arguably the only Phillies outfielder who pulled their weight offensively for most of last season.

An outfield containing Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas simply has too many flaws, as evidenced by the lengthy list of platoon partners the Phillies tried this season that could fill a small town phonebook. While the outfield was far from the only trouble spot on the roster that needs to be addressed this offseason, it's one of the reasons MLB.com's Mike Petriello has the Phillies ranked No. 7 out of 30 ball clubs heading into 2025.

The Phillies placing seventh on Petriello's team ranking shouldn't come as a surprise after a host of concerning flaws became fairly evident this past season. The back of the starting rotation was a total disaster after Taijuan Walker, and a collection of Triple-A pitchers mostly failed to deliver every fifth day. That said, Petriello's assessment of the Phillies outfield being a major part of the problem on this year's team is hard to deny, and he touched on a couple of those key points.

"It seems hard to believe they’d go with the Johan Rojas/Brandon Marsh/Austin Hays center/left field situation again," wrote Petriello. "Philadelphia’s outfield as a whole rated just 20th in WAR– and there are going to be some questions about whether they commit to Alec Bohm at third base again, or try to move on from Nick Castellanos. They’d probably like their lineup to chase less. It’s not like there’s nothing to do."

Ranking 20th out of 30 teams in outfield WAR is not good enough for a team built like the Phillies, who ended this past year with the fourth-highest payroll in MLB at $247 billion and whose only acceptable goal this offseason should be winning a World Series. If the Phillies hope to re-enter the conversation of remaining a legitimate threat to teams like a fully healthy Atlanta Braves and the 2024 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers next season, making a substantial upgrade at least one outfield spot is a pretty obvious must, but will they?

Johan Rojas is starting to look like a fourth outfielder

Objectively speaking, Rojas did very little at the plate last year to suggest he should be an everyday player in 2025. Outside of 25 stolen bases and providing Gold Glove-caliber level defense at times this year, Rojas' .243 batting average and lack of developing power are starting to suggest he's nothing more than a future bench player.

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski admitted as much when speaking with reporters in October, stating that the team has another offseason training plan for Rojas in the batting cages of Florida. Top outfield prospect Justin Crawford has now entered the discussion as a wild card contender to claim the center field job in spring training.

Rojas wasn't the only member of the outfield who has hit a steep development curve. Brandon Marsh's inability to hit enough against left-handed pitching has become a potentially career-defining problem at this point. When the Phillies traded top-catching prospect Logan O'Hoppe to the Angels for Marsh at the 2022 trade deadline, the team was hopeful that Marsh just needed a little more exposure to left-handed pitching to take the next step in his development as an MLB regular. That clearly hasn't happened yet.

A Brandon Marsh and Austin Hays platoon could still work in 2025

Either way, manager Rob Thomson has to platoon Marsh with a right-handed bat more often next season. Although the charismatic outfielder put up a respectable overall line of .249, 104 hits, 16 home runs, 60 RBI and stole 19 bases, it was his .192 batting average and 33 strikeouts against southpaws in 78 plate appearances that hopefully provided a large enough sample size for Thomson to not get tempted to repeat the same mistake again in 2025.

A healthy and productive Austin Hays could still be a major factor for the Phillies next season as well. Especially if Hays can live up to the initial promise of forming part of a successful platoon with Marsh, and becoming the right-handed hitting complement in Thomson's lineup. That combination could save the Phillies front office a lot of time this offseason, with the primary focus placed firmly on upgrading at the center field position.

Hays is just two seasons removed from being an All-Star, giving up on him as a solution at this stage of his Phillies tenure would be a major mistake, especially if he and Marsh can split time and produce.

If the Phillies want to improve on their 20th-place showing in outfield WAR from last season, it goes without saying that the front office will have to be aggressive this offseason. With names like Juan Soto, Tyler O'Neill and Teoscar Hernández all available at the corner outfield position this winter, signing one of the trio would be a substantial upgrade over the limited offensive production the team received from Rojas and numerous other players this season.

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