As Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings draw near, the Philadelphia Phillies have yet to make any move of real significance to their roster.
Entering the offseason, it was made clear that the club would like to upgrade their outfield and starting rotation depth, plus add a right-handed reliever.
While it is never easy to upgrade a roster in the game's current market, some positions are easier to fill than others. Starting pitching, for example, will be the most expensive area to upgrade given the state of the market.
If the Phillies want to add to their rotation, they will likely have to shed a pretty penny to get a pitcher who is worth the money or trade capital.
Phillies will have to pay up if they're serious about upgrading starting rotation
The start to the offseason has been relatively slow for most positions around the league as bigger-spending teams waited for Juan Soto to sign. The Phillies have been no exception as they bide their time and wait out some of the market movement.
The starting pitching market, on the other hand, has been moving rather quickly. Blake Snell, Luis Severino, Yusei Kikuchi, Frankie Montas, and Matthew Boyd have all signed contracts worth at least eight figures with new clubs this winter. Some have been surprisingly lucrative given the performance of some of these pitchers.
Boyd, for example, has not thrown over 100 innings since 2019, having made just 50 starts since then. Kikuchi sported a 4.05 ERA over 175 2/3 innings with the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros. Those numbers are not terrible for a third or fourth starter, but given the fact that he is making $21 million per season, that seems like an overpay.
Snell is good for keeping a low ERA and striking out batters at a high rate but rarely pitches more than five innings in his outings. In 2024, the newest Los Angeles Dodger surpassed five innings in just half of his 20 games started.
Montas had an ERA close to 5.00 in 2024 in 150 2/3 innings and will make $17 million per season. Severino had a solid season with the New York Mets in 2024 and was rewarded with the biggest contract in Oakland A's history.
Snell may be the only player capable of producing "ace" type outings consistently out of this bunch. This just goes to show how ridiculous the market for starting pitchers has become.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com noted one National League executive perspective of the current state of pitching contracts around baseball.
“The market for pitching is insane right now,” the executive said, per Feinsand. “It’s through the roof.”
It is also worth noting that some of the biggest free agent pitchers in Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and Jack Flaherty have not inked deals yet. The same executive added: “There are two tier-one guys, and more than two teams [are] looking for a guy like that. The prices just keep going up.”
The Phillies are not in the market to sign a big-time free agent starter. Instead, it has been rumored that they are exploring the possibility of upgrading the area via a trade. Garrett Crochet has been the pitcher that the Phillies have been most connected with over the last year.
It was already assumed that any deal for Crochet, or any other quality starter, would come with a big price tag, but now that cost has likely risen as middle-tiered pitchers are getting top-tier money.
The way that game has changed and the lack of quality starting pitching around the league has driven up the price of top-tier starters tremendously. This is a trend that will likely not stop any time soon. While a starting pitcher may not be at the top of the priority list for some, stocking up as many quality arms as possible can only help the Phillies in their goal to win a World Series while the window is open.