During the offseason, the Philadelphia Phillies made various moves with hopes of bolstering their roster for the 2025 MLB season. Whether it was signing impact players via the free agent market or making acquisitions via the trade route, the Phillies looked to the additions to play a key role in helping the team to sustainable winning and success going forward.
Now, after one month of baseball in the books, how have these offseason moves turned out for the Phillies so far? Here, we will take a look at and regrade the four most relevant transactions made by Philadelphia this past winter based on their performances to date.
Regrading the Phillies’ offseason moves after the first month of the 2025 season
Free agent signing: Max Kepler, OF
Signed to a one-year, $10 million deal for the 2025 season, Max Kepler was expected to be the solution to the outfield for the Phillies. As a proven veteran, Kepler had put up solid numbers both offensively and defensively throughout his 11-year MLB career.
The 32-year-old outfielder initially got off to a rough start with his new club when he hit a dismal .200 with only one home run and RBI through his first 13 games of the season. However, Kepler has begun to turn things around recently. In fact, in his last 15 games, he has batted a solid .283 with an .884 OPS, along with nine runs scored, three home runs and six RBIs.
He has also been perfect defensively all season, primarily as the left fielder. He's sporting a 1.000 fielding percentage in 240 2/3 total innings in the Phillies’ outfield, while registering +2 DRS in the process.
As Kepler slowly but surely starts finding his groove, his steady improvement bodes well for the Phillies going forward as they work out of their recent offensive funk. As a result, he has gradually brought his grade back up closer to the B+ we assessed at the time of his signing.
Previous grade: B+
Regrade for Max Kepler free agent signing: B-
Free agent signing: Jordan Romano, RHP
As perhaps the most prominent offseason acquisition by Philadelphia with respect to the retooling of their bullpen, Jordan Romano has been a complete flop so far in his short tenure with the Phillies. Projected to be the potential closer for the team prior to the start of the regular season, Romano has struggled immensely with his control and command right out of the gate.
In 13 total relief appearances, the former two-time All-Star reliever has posted an 0-1 record with an unsightly 11.12 ERA and a 1.85 WHIP, giving up a whopping 14 earned runs, including three home runs, with six walks and 10 strikeouts in just 11 1/3 innings of work. In doing so, Romano has also blown two of his four save opportunities and has yielded multiple runs in five of his 13 outings to date. He has also yet to go more than three games without having a huge blow-up appearance.
With both former Phillies bullpen standouts Carlos Estévez and Jeff Hoffman doing well with their new respective teams so far in 2025, it has made the Romano deal a bitter pill to swallow for Phillies fans. As a result, the 32-year-old reliever will need to be a lot better to prevent his grade from being an absolute failure in the long term.
Regrade for Jordan Romano free agent signing: E
Free agent signing: Joe Ross, RHP
In addition to Romano, the Phillies made an under-the-radar move to bolster their bullpen by signing veteran pitcher Joe Ross to a one-year, $4 million deal. As a former World Series champion with the Washington Nationals in 2019, Philadelphia was hoping that he could bring his wealth of experience and winning pedigree to the club. Added to his previous swing man experience as both a starter and a reliever, Ross provided the Phillies with some much-needed flexibility to their pitching staff entering this season.
After a dismal start to his 2025 campaign in which he yielded runs in four of his first seven relief appearances, Ross has settled things down more recently. On the season, the right-handed reliever sports a 1-1 record with a 4.41 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, along with 11 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings of work.
More importantly, Ross has looked more like his old self over his past 8 2/3 innings of work, holding the opposition scoreless with one walk and six strikeouts. As a result, the 31-year-old veteran will look to help stabilize the Phillies bullpen by providing much more consistency going forward.
Previous grade: Not assessed
Regrade for Joe Ross free agent signing: C+
Trade: Jesús Luzardo, LHP
Finally, we have the Phillies’ biggest move this past offseason. On Dec. 22, the front office made the aggressive trade to acquire the promising Jesús Luzardo, along with minor league catcher Paul McIntosh, from the Miami Marlins for two prospects: Starlyn Caba and Emaarion Boyd. Already with an elite starting four in Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez and Ranger Suárez, Philadelphia was looking to make their rotation one of the best in the business with the addition of the ace-in-the-making in Luzardo.
Well, their bold investment has been paying off big time so far in 2025. In fact, one could arguably say that Luzardo has been the Phillies’ most reliable and dominant starter this season. In seven starts to date, the 27-year-old left-hander has been dealing, compiling a perfect 3-0 record with a stellar 1.94 ERA and 1.06 WHIP, with 11 walks and 47 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings. More significantly, Luzardo has greatly improved in inducing more ground balls while reducing fly balls this year, leading to only one home run surrendered thus far.
As for the pieces going the other way, both Caba and Boyd have been off to slow starts in their respective minor league seasons in the Marlins organization. Caba has hit just .200 with a .631 OPS and three RBIs in 11 games, while Boyd has amassed a feeble .176 average and .558 OPS with one home run and five RBIs in 18 games.
With Wheeler and Nola both enduring some uncharacteristic struggles to start 2025, who knows where the Phillies might be right now without Luzardo’s heroics to date. In fact, whenever Luzardo has taken the mound this season, he has been able to keep things close and give the Phillies a good chance at winning every time out.
Regrade for Jesús Luzardo trade: A+