Philadelphia Phillies Front Office Refuses To Make Meaningful Moves

The Philadelphia Phillies have made moves this offseason, but none have been meaningful.

Feb 25, 2024; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and general manager Sam Fuld talk in the dugout before a game against the New York Yankees at BayCare Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

There was a long stretch in 2024 when the Philadelphia Phillies held the best record in MLB.

An abysmal second half would see them not end the year on top, getting beat out by the Los Angeles Dodgers who went on to win the World Series.

The National League has continued to improve this offseason, with the rich teams getting richer.

Even teams like the Chicago Cubs have improved their outlook for 2025 with free agency signings and a blockbuster trade for Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker.

The New York Mets were the team to knock the Phillies out of the playoffs, and they made the biggest signing of the winter with a 15-year, $765 million contract for superstar Juan Soto.

In the meantime, Philadelphia has signed *checks notes* reliever Jordan Romano and outfielder Max Kepler?

If there was ever a time to add big-name stars to the roster, it was this offseason.

Nick Castellanos has been dreadful during his time with the club, and will only get worse with age. Trea Turner's numbers have looked good on the surface, but the underlying metrics tell a harrowing tale of a massive decline to come and a drastic underperformance for the contract he holds.

Bryce Harper alone can not bring a World Series home for the Phillies, and there were superstars available this offseason to add around him.

Juan Soto would have been a perfect fit for this club; Teoscar Hernandez and Anthony Santander are still available and would be massive additions.

Instead, Philadelphia decided to bring in a reliever coming off of the worst season of his career that ended early with arthroscopic elbow surgery in July.

Kepler has spent parts of 10 seasons in MLB, crossing over 500 plate appearances only three times in that span, with the most recent coming in 2019. He has a 102 OPS+ for his career.

Remaining stagnant while the rest of the National League improves is not the way to contend for World Series championships.

As things stand, Philadelphia looks to finish as high as second in the division, and fans will have to wait and see if they can do any better next postseason than they did in this one.

This winter was the perfect time for the Phillies to make a much-needed splash and shake up the landscape of the National League East.

To this point, they have yet to make even a ripple.