Philadelphia Phillies fans are waiting, with varying degrees of patience, for the front office to make its first big move of the offseason. News from Saturday won’t help matters, as a surprising team is now lapping the Phillies in big offseason moves so far.
After completing a trade for left-handed pitchers Jeffrey Springs and Jacob Lopez from the Tampa Bay Rays, the Athletics have made more splashes than the Phillies so far. The trade comes on the heels of the Athletics signing another starter, Luis Severino, to a franchise record two-year, $67 million contract — a move that seemingly came out of nowhere and surprised everyone.
It has been surprising to see the Athletics more active than the Phillies this offseason
Just like that, the A’s have made a name for themselves this offseason, while the Phillies are quietly trying to implement their offseason plan with minimal results thus far.
To be fair, the two teams are in very different positions financially this winter. The Phillies’ projected 2025 payroll for luxury tax purposes sits at $289.9 million, according to FanGraphs. The A’s project to have a $88.5 million payroll. With the A’s abandoning Oakland to begin a nomadic stint in a Triple-A ballpark in Sacramento for a few seasons, it has been somewhat surprising to see them all of a sudden making big moves.
However, there is good reason for Athletics general manager David Forst to continue spending this winter. While the Phillies are already strapped by some hefty contracts and are trying to stay under the top luxury tax threshold of $301 million, the A’s are dangerously close to having a revenue-sharing grievance filed against them by the players union (subscription required), per Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
"Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement requires teams to carry a payroll more than 1 1/2 times the amount they receive from local revenue sharing," per Drellich and Rosenthal. "A club in violation doesn’t automatically receive punishment, but puts itself at greater risk of penalty if the union brings a grievance."
With a 2024 payroll that finished at an estimated $63 million, the MLBPA will have the A's in its sights if they don't spend enough this offseason.
Phillies have whiffed on their few big opportunities
All that being said, Phillies fans just want to see their team do something. Signing Jordan Romano is a shrewd move with considerable upside, but hasn’t appeased the masses. Fans want to see president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and general managers Sam Fuld and Preston Mattingly get out of the shallow end and dive into the deep end.
So far, we’ve seen the Phillies miss out on a trade for top starter Garrett Crochet. That was followed by striking out on a trade for All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker on Friday. That deal was particularly tough to see after seeing what the Chicago Cubs gave up, with many wondering how the Phillies couldn’t match the package.
Add on a missed opportunity after seeing top closer Devin Williams dealt from the Milwaukee Brewers to the New York Yankees, and things are getting tense from the fans’ perspective.
There's obviously a plan in place, and plenty of options are still available, but until we see the Phillies get involved, it's hard not to fret.