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Curbing My Enthusiasm for the Philadelphia Phillies
By Tim Reilly
Published:
It seems strange to think about the start of the baseball season in a week that featured yet another snowstorm. It’s been a long, cold winter, but the weather is beginning to warm and spring is nearly upon us.
In just under a month, the Philadelphia Phillies will host the Texas Rangers on Opening Day. Until then, the Boys of Summer continue their preparations for 2026 in Clearwater, where hope flows as abundantly as the Coors Banquet:
Maybe you haven’t heard, but Andrew Painter’s delivery looks like it did before his Tommy John surgery. Justin Crawford is a natural in centerfield, while Bryson Stott is slugging opposite-field home runs. And the Phillies’ ace-on-the-mend Zack Wheeler, minus a rib, is back to throwing on the mound just five months removed from thoracic outlet decompression surgery.
Any day now, I expect to read about Brandon Marsh’s new approach at the plate, which will guarantee the consistent success against southpaws that has eluded him so far in his career. Free agent acquisition Adolis García will be reinvigorated with a change of scenery and return to his 2023 form, when he helped power the Rangers to a World Series title. Aaron Nola will figure it out and become one of the best pitchers in the world again.
Just this week, manager Rob Thomson compared newcomer Brad Keller to Roger Clemens. ‘Tis the season.
Hope, like snow, has a way of covering over unpleasant realities. Eventually it melts away, and the piles of dead leaves that you never got around to raking in the fall will reveal themselves once again.
Dave Dombrowski, Phillies President of Baseball Operations, didn’t do much yard maintenance this offseason. Jettisoning Nick Castellanos was a wise (and overdue) decision, but replacing him with García introduces a different set of problems into the lineup. While the former Ranger offers a defensive upgrade in right field, his deficiencies at the plate will hamper the offense. Can he really be expected to provide protection for Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper when he struggles against lefties? Castellanos outpaced García in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, and on-base percentage last year, which doesn’t augur well.
Dombrowski also sent Matt Strahm packing to Kansas City after growing tired of the lefty reliever’s act. The emergence of Tanner Banks last year and the return of José Alvarado made Strahm expendable, and I personally never enjoyed watching the guy pitch. It seemed like he was always courting disaster, struggling to put hitters away after working good counts and throwing pitches that caught way too much of the plate. But he got outs in high leverage situations and could toss multiple innings. He was good, but the Phillies’ bullpen is still solid without him.
Departing for greener pastures was Ranger Suárez, who signed a lucrative contract with the Boston Red Sox. Unlike Castellanos and Strahm, Suárez is not a case of addition by subtraction. Although he struggled with injuries and occasional lulls, as well as diminished velocity in 2025, Ranger was a warrior on the mound. He took the ball in any situation, and Thomson regularly called on him to start games, close games, and pitch multiple innings out of the bullpen in the postseason.
With Ranger gone, the much-heralded Andrew Painter projects to slot into the starting rotation. Painter rocketed through the minor leagues and didn’t face much adversity until he hurt his elbow in 2023. The resulting Tommy John surgery cost him two seasons, and his return to action in Lehigh Valley last year was predictably inconsistent. Is he ready for the challenge of pitching in the big leagues? The Phillies certainly think so. We’ll find out soon enough.
The other top prospect in the Phillies’ system, Aidan Miller, has yet to get his spring started, but his future remains as bright as ever. Futures have a way of doing that when talk turns to the next generation of talent.
Although he initially scuffled after making the jump to Double A in 2025, Miller found his swing and even earned a promotion to Lehigh Valley by the end of the year. With third baseman Alec Bohm on the last year of his deal, it’s only a matter of time before Miller gets his chance to show if the hyperbolic words of scouts comparing him to Mike Schmidt will have any semblance of reality.
And they might need him, or at least his bat. The Phillies’ lineup has the same problems and lack of balance that derailed their last four postseason runs. In Trea Turner, Schwarber, and Harper, the top of the order is solidified. The other six guys are all serviceable bottom-of-the-order hitters, but no one has been able to fill the middle-of-the-lineup void. The Phillies will certainly try with J.T. Realmuto, Marsh, and Bohm, and the results will likely be the same as they’ve been.
Dombrowski has seen this show before, and yet he insists on rewinding and replaying it year after year. He inexplicably bid against himself for Realmuto, re-signing the aging catcher to a three-year deal. Schwarber is back on a five-year contract, to which no one in Philadelphia will object. However, Bohm, Marsh, and Stott all remain on the roster.
Where is the creativity to experiment with this core, to try something new or different? To take a chance? To find someone who can hit behind Harper and ensure the Phillies’ best player gets a chance to see some pitches? Or at least someone who can work a count and get on base?
Doing something—anything—different that might get this team back into the World Series was too tall an order for Dombrowski. He did take a serious run at Bo Bichette, but after getting outbid by the Mets, what was Plan B? Standing pat? Seems so.
When you’re competing against teams with deep pockets like the Mets and the Dodgers, standing still means falling behind. Meanwhile, the track figures to look much different after 2026, with a work stoppage all but guaranteed. The owners want a salary cap, and they seem determined to get one, even if it leads to a shortened or canceled 2027 season.
Change is on the horizon, and the sun is setting on this version of the Phillies. If owner John Middleton really wants to recapture the World Series trophy that has eluded the club since 2008, why haven’t we seen any urgency to fix the problems that have kept the Phillies from getting over the postseason hump? Will we see it as the year unfolds, if this team shows it has a chance to make the playoffs again?
I hope, but I’m not hopeful. And isn’t that the beauty of baseball fandom? Optimism may have its season, but pessimism springs eternal.
Tim Reilly is a freelance writer from Northeast Philadelphia. He can be reached at reillyt7@gmail.com.