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Dave Dombrowski Casually Points Out the Phillies Don’t Have a Cleanup Hitter as if He Himself Didn’t Build the Team
By Matt Schultz
Published:
The Phillies lost their seventh straight game on Tuesday, and if you’re looking for answers, it’s probably not worth checking in with President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski. In a radio interview with Gregg Murphy, transcribed by Destiny Lugardo at Phillies Nation, Dombrowski addressed the Phils’ recent slump with a truly fascinating proclamation: the Phillies don’t have a four-hole hitter.
“You really don’t have a No. 4 hitter at this time. Maybe Bohmer will step back up. Maybe (Adolis) García will do it. There’s no harm trying (Felix) Reyes because he’s going to get in there and he’s going to give you a good at-bat and do everything that he can to drive the ball somewhere.”
You almost gotta respect the audacity from Dave here. It does kind of rule. I love that Dave is talking about this team like a WIP caller who has to be reminded to turn his radio down… when he’s the guy in charge of putting a cleanup hitter on the team. That’s your job, man! You’re dressed like a hot dog!
In fact, you straight-up just said that you’re in charge of roster construction the other day:
“They’re not happy with their performances. Shoot, I’m responsible for putting the club on the field, so I’m not happy with the way it’s going. But I think you just balance that all the time on a daily basis.”
It should go without saying, of course, that Dave is right. The Phillies don’t have a viable cleanup hitter. Having Felix Reyes bat cleanup in his second-ever Major League game tells the whole story; that’s not something a winning baseball team does. Not that I blame Rob Thomson for sticking him there – I don’t see any other answers, either. Alec Bohm’s hitting has been abysmal (.384 OPS). Adolis Garcia hasn’t given you the pop you were hoping for (.634 OPS). Brandon Marsh’s hot start hasn’t lasted. Bryson Stott has been hitting some lately, but his OPS is still just .511. Who else is there? Otto Kemp was sent back down to AAA. Justin Crawford is fourteen years old. Bleak stuff!
It is crazy, though… I got this weird feeling… Like a premonition, but backwards… It’s almost as if Phillies fans have been loudly telling anyone who would listen that this roster needs another significant middle-of-the-lineup bat for years now. Can that be possible? Have we been regularly announcing to no one in particular, “This team… is getting old,” “Every single bat we have… is prone to chasing,” “After Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and sometimes-Trea Turner, this lineup falls off a cliff,” for several seasons in a row? It feels like we have!
Think about all the names we’ve been saying the Phillies need to go out and get, either at the trade deadline or in the offseason, over the last few years: Kyle Tucker, Eugenio Suarez, Steven Kwan, Alex Bregman, Juan Soto, Jarren Duran, Cody Bellinger, Bo Bichette – I’m not saying all of these were financially plausible, or that these players even panned out for the teams who signed them (Bichette’s OPS is .536, lolMets). What I’m saying is, it’s been abundantly clear for some time that this lineup needed to add a reliable, quality hitter – preferably a right-handed one – and the fans have been plenty vocal about it. And time and time again, Dave told us we were wrong.
But now look who’s come crawling over to our side… Ol’ Davey Dombrowski… Mr. “I Like Our Team” Himself…
I, for one, say he’s not allowed on our squad. I don’t want to hear Dave do his weird word salad about how the Phillies are bad at every position, but also, at the same time, he somehow believes in every one of them. It’s confusing, and frankly, irritating. We don’t need that sort of thing over here. We’re glad you finally see the problem, Dave. Now go and fix it for once.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…)