Phillies Boss Hints That Team Will Not Pursue Another Superstar in Free Agency

Don't expect the Phillies to take another huge swing in free agency.

Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies are having to turn the page to the offseason following a third consecutive postseason in which the season ends in gut wrenching fashion

After making an unlikely run to the World Series in 2022, the team made went to the NLCS and lost in seven games in 2023. With a better regular season in 2024 than they had in the two previous deep playoff runs, hopes were high that Philadelphia could return to baseball's biggest stage. But it was not meant to be, falling in their first series to the New York Mets in a four game NLDS domination.

In the end of season press conference from Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and manager Rob Thomson, fans who are hoping for the team to swing big in free agency and potentially go after the biggest names available *cough cough Juan Soto* got slapped with a dose of reality with Dombrowski essentially pouring cold water on the possibility.

"I don't think we need to add more star players, we have as many stars as anyone in baseball," Dombrowski said. "[Owner John Middleton] is very accommodating and giving, but you're also in a position where you're still working with the payroll and trying to make things work for you and go into the future with what you have...We had eight All Stars right? That's more than anybody in baseball...I don't necesarilly think that the answer is always a star player. I'm not saying we won't get one, but I don't think it's a necessity."

What happens with Soto is going to hang over the offseason for the entire league. Many believe the most likely outcome is that he re-signs with the Yankees on a huge deal and forgoes leaving, which for the Phillies would probably be the second-best case scenario. Some have speculated that the Soto sweepstakes is going to come down to the Yankees and their crosstown rival Mets. If the superstar were to land in Queens and in the NL East, it would be an absolute disaster for Philadelphia.

Soto is a week away from turning 26 and is arguably the best hitter in all of baseball. Not only that, but he has a demonstrated ability to perform when the lights are brightest, practically carrying the Nationals to a World Series in 2019 in just his second year in baseball. Him ending up on the Mets for the next decade after they just easily dispatched Philadelphia already is a nightmare waiting to happen.

If Soto does in fact leave the Yankees, the Phillies must not get outbid by their division rival.