The Philadelphia Phillies Top Three Winter Meeting Priorities

The most important week of the offseason is coming up, the winter meetings. The Philadelphia Phillies and Dave Dombrowski should have these three needs in mind.

Author:
Andy Jasner
Dec 2, 2022 3:44 PM EST

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Philadelphia Phillies

From 2007-11, the Philadelphia Phillies qualified for the playoffs.

They made three appearances in the National League Championship Series, two in the World Series and celebrated one championship in ’08.

During that five-year stretch, the Phillies easily could have won at least three titles.

But nothing is guaranteed in sports.

The Phillies advanced all the way to the World Series in '22 and fell just two wins short against the powerful Houston Astros. The deep postseason run was magical and re-energized what had been a rather dormant fan base.

Not earning a spot in the postseason for 11 straight years will do that.

Enter Dave Dombrowski.

The veteran baseball executive rebuilt the roster and the Phillies won 87 games, squeaked in as the sixth seed and nearly completed an improbable run.

The goal now is to maintain that positive momentum and embark on another five-plus year streak of playoff baseball.

It won’t be easy.

The roster is far from complete, but there are more than enough pieces to realize that the Phillies could very well be competing in the playoffs once again.

The Phillies even awarded Dombrowski a three-year extension through 2027, so they must believe another run is on the way.

In 33 seasons as a president or general manager, Dombrowski has guided 10 teams to the playoffs with seven division titles and two World Series.

For the Phillies to qualify again for the postseason in ’23, here are the top three priorities for Dombrowski:

Sign Trea Turner. Now. Let John Middleton deal with the luxury tax. Turner is a perfect fit to leadoff and play shortstop for the Phillies. Adding Turner automatically makes the Phillies much better.

Add at least one free agent starting pitcher who’s good enough to be slotted into the No. 4 hole behind Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suarez. One more solid starter and the Phillies might have upset the Astros.

Strengthen the bullpen with another pitcher who would be on par with Ryan Madson from ’08. Madson was nearly unhittable at times and almost always got the job done ahead of closer Brad Lidge. Madson was the premier set-up man of the 2000s. Jose Alvarado was terrific most of the way and Seranthony Dominguez looks to be a dominant closer. One more relief pitcher would go a long way.

Now there are so many other details for Dombrowski. It’s that way for any franchise in the offseason. Bryce Harper obviously needs to come back healthy and quickly turn into a Most Valuable Player candidate again.

Before that happens, look for a plethora of transactions from Dombrowski. Anything less would be surprising.

The city came alive in October and November thanks to the Phillies.