Philadelphia Phillies Boss Makes Bold Claim About Future of This Group

With the Philadelphia Phillies waiting for their playoff opponent, their president of baseball operations has opened up about how long he thinks this group can compete at a high level.

Apr 10, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski before game against the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies earned the right to sit back and wait for their opponent in the National League Division Series.

They did that by putting together a great season where they won their first NL East title since 2011 and finished as the second-best team in the National League.

It's a much different situation for the Phillies this year compared to their two deep playoff runs in 2022 and 2023 that began in the Wild Card round. While there are challenges that come from having a bye when facing teams who are already in do-or-die mode, they believe they will be ready when they take the diamond in Game 1.

With Philadelphia having some down time, there are plenty of opportunities to think and analyze things.

One question that was presented to president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is about how long he thinks this championship window will be open for this group considering the age of some players on the roster.

The future Hall of Fame executive made a bold claim when it comes to the length of time the Phillies will be competing for World Series titles.

"So first of all, I don't feel like our window is closing. I keep hearing that. But what I think happens is that sometimes it closes with the current players that you have, but it doesn't mean that it closes overall. And I'm not saying that this is the time period, but we have young players coming that we really like. And we also have ownership that's very kind to us with our expenditures on payroll," he said per Tim Kelly of Phillies Nation.

Many of Philadelphia's current star players are in their 30s, and while they didn't show signs of decline this season, baseball is a young man's game and production can fall off a cliff in a hurry.

How long this group can continue to go deep into October without bringing home a title is certainly a fair question, and is one of the reasons why it almost feels imperative the Phillies have to pay off this season with a championship.

Still, Dombrowski thinks they have the infrastructure currently in place to keep winning.

"So I think if you're in a position where some players age and they get older. Some of their skills diminish at times. That's just a fact. And some at different paces and all. But what you need to be doing is having young players coming in the meantime. And we think that we have some really good young players coming within the system. And some of them are here. I mean when you see guys like [Bryson] Stott and [Alec] Bohm and [Brandon] Marsh and then [Cristopher] Sánchez ... who's going to be around for a while ... and [Orion] Kerkering and [Johan] Rojas. But we have another group of people behind it," he added.

Philadelphia has done a much better job of building a strong pipeline than they have previously, something that Bryce Harper emphasized to the organization during the early parts of his tenure.

Another crop could be coming soon by way of star pitchers Andrew Painter and Mick Abel, with their other blue-chip prospects Aidan Miller and Justin Crawford continuing to look the part in the minors.

What the Phillies are somewhat hoping for is to be like the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox teams of years past when they had their core group of elite players who were bolstered by a batch of youngsters who allowed them to win games and multiple championships.

That's the ideal scenario for Philadelphia, but it all starts with winning the World Series in 2024.