It's little secret that the Philadelphia Phillies fell well short of expectations last season after a rough second half, and a quick and demoralizing exit in the NLDS at the hands of the rival New York Mets ended the Phillies postseason run before it even got started. That meant that this offseason would require a response in the form of making roster upgrades, with the Phillies fulfilling that response by making four notable offseason additions in Max Kepler, Jordan Romano, Jesús Luzardo and Joe Ross. That being said, the Mets have countered with an impressive offseason of their own.
While the jury is still out on how the quartet of offseason additions will improve the Phillies' chances in 2025, that leads to the valid question of whether the front office has done enough. It's clear from the patchwork approach that was laid out this offseason that Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombroski and other members of his baseball operations department felt confident that most of the roster pieces needed to get back to the postseason were already in place, and that adding complementary pieces in a few roster trouble spots would be enough to help the Phillies this season.
The Mets have shown little sign of letting last season's impressive turnaround fall by the wayside, despite the fact that it appears the Mets front office is now prepared to let longtime slugging first baseman Pete Alonso sign elsewhere instead of engaging in a high-priced bidding war with rival ball clubs. Offseason additions such as signing free agent right-handed pitchers Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes and re-signing left-hander Sean Manea have proved with little doubt that the Mets are not messing around when it comes to improving their pitching this winter.
Phillies' longtime nemesis A.J. Minter will remain in NL East after signing with Mets
The Mets' trend of upgrading its pitching staff continued on Friday when the team and free agent left-handed reliever A.J. Minter agreed to a two-year, $22 million deal that includes an opt-out after the first season, according to a report from ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan. The former Atlanta Braves reliever has a career 3.28 ERA, 36 saves, 422 strikeouts and a 10.9 K/9 in 348 2/3 innings of work.
In 45 career appearances against the Phillies since debuting with the Braves in 2017, the 31-year-old Minter has a 2.30 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP with 51 strikeouts in 43 innings. He has held Phillies hitters to an impressive .195/.251/.308 slash line.
The addition of Minter to a strong Mets bullpen that also includes hard-throwing All-Star closer Edwin Díaz is bad news for a team like the Phillies, who struggled against left-handed pitching in 2024. Minter held opposing left-handed hitters to a .222 batting average last season while recording a 13.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio, racking up 13 strikeouts in 45 at-bats. Last season, Minter produced a record of 5-4, in addition to a 2.62 ERA, 35 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.019 in 39 appearances.
The Phillies will certainly have their work cut out for them this season with a Mets team that continues to improve its roster and an Atlanta Braves team that is hoping to come back healthy and return to top form in 2025. We've see how the rivals have improved this offseason, the only question that remains is if the Phillies front office has done enough to remain the team to beat in the NL East division this year.