3 offseason decisions the Phillies are paying for right now

2) The Phillies are paying for not signing a legitimate starting outfielder

Injuries that happen in Spring Training aren't something you can plan for in advance, but Bryce Harper undergoing Tommy John Surgery in November and you doing basically nothing to fill that void was a bit odd.

Everyone knew Tommy John was coming for Harper, and people were expecting him to be out possibly the entire first half. They're lucky he came back in early-May, because some of these lineups the Phillies were running out to begin the season with Kyle Schwarber at DH and the likes of Jake Cave and Cristian Pache in the outfield were rough.

Pache has been a pleasant surprise for the Phillies this season offensively, but he wasn't even supposed to be with the team! Oakland DFA'd him right before the season, so the Phillies lucked into that. Had they not gotten him, who knows how that outfield would've looked?

Jake Cave was a disaster after a red-hot Spring Training, showing how meaningless stats from that are. Dalton Guthrie isn't really anything more than a fringe major leaguer. The Phillies needed to sign a legitimate fourth outfielder that could've played every day until Harper came back.

The Mets signed Tommy Pham for one year at just $6 million pretty late in the offseason. He's had an unbelievable year in New York, and probably would've signed with the Phillies if they gave him an offer with more guaranteed playing time available to him.

Instead, three of the five Phillies outfield spots were held by two waiver claims in Jake Cave and Cristian Pache, and one fringe Major League player in Dalton Guthrie. For a team trying to win right now, that's just not good enough.