Tuesday, November 10

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski walked into the GM Meetings in Las Vegas this week with a significant offseason to-do list. His successes or failures with that list will determine if they catch the Brewers, Dodgers and Braves in the National League in 2027.

What should be his top priority?

Dombrowski is scheduled to talk to reporters on Tuesday. Maybe he offers a hint then. Maybe not. A strong argument can be made for a top-of-the-line setup man to complement closer Jhoan Duran, considering the bullpen’s woes in the second half.

Adrian Morejon would be a fantastic addition, but relievers are a volatile bunch, so the Phillies would have to swallow hard to pay him what he is projected to earn in free agency: ESPN (four years, $88 million), MLB Trade Rumors (five years, $80 million) and The Athletic (five years, $100 million). Morejon also received a qualifying offer, so if he rejects it, the Phillies would forfeit their second- and fifth-highest selections, as well as $1 million from their international bonus pool for the upcoming signing period, to sign him.

But what this team needs more than anything is a legitimate, right-handed top-of-the-lineup bat.

Phillies cleanup hitters had a combined .645 OPS in 2026, which ranked 29th in baseball. They ranked 20th in 2025 (.720) and 17th in 2024 (.732), making this a multiyear problem. The Phillies hoped Max Kepler would bounce back in ’25. He did not. They hoped Adolis García would do the same this year. He did not.

The Phillies must do better.

The two most obvious choices to help are free-agent outfielders Seiya Suzuki and Randy Arozarena. Like Morejon, neither will come cheap. Suzuki and Arozarena are projected to earn a four-year contract in the $90-$110 million range. Both will likely reject their qualifying offers, so the Phillies also would have to pay the QO penalty to sign either one.

If it’s not Suzuki or Arozarena, perhaps it’s Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández, who could be traded.

Maybe it’s somebody else. But they must find somebody.

The Phillies had two above-average hitters in 2026, based on OPS+: Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. It won’t be enough to roll into Spring Training saying they hope to get bounce-backs from Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto and others.

Because even if they do, they need more.

Cristopher Sánchez went 18-7 this season. Who’s the last Phillies pitcher to win 18 or more games in a season?

A. Cliff Lee

B. Zack Wheeler

C. Cole Hamels

D. Roy Halladay

Phillies manager Don Mattingly dropped by the MLB Flagship Store in New York last week for a Gold Glove event. MLB.com’s Elizabeth Muratore talked to him, and he offered a few interesting thoughts following Milwaukee’s first World Series championship in franchise history:

MLB.com: I'm wondering how much of the World Series you watched and what most impressed you about either one particular person or any aspect of it in general?

DM: It really felt like it was the two best teams playing. Both teams were very similar from the standpoint that they both had speed, they both ran the bases, tried to steal bags. Both would bunt a lot on you. Tried to play more small ball. So it was a little bit, I mean, everybody says old school, but I just thought it was good baseball when you look at the fact that it's hard to score, and so any run that you could put up, an extra run here, an extra run there, started being a big deal.

MLB.com: Having watched these two teams in the World Series, how might that impact your philosophy towards next year and what you want out of your team?

DM: I think all the leagues are always copycat, right? When you're seeing a team win, you're starting to look at that, especially teams that don't have the highest payrolls, where you say, "OK, these guys are doing it a different way, and it's working." I think it takes time to get that into place, to be able to be drafting that player -- I shouldn't say creating that player, but you're drafting what you want to be able to do on the field. And so if you're building it from the Minor Leagues on up, then you're always replenishing and you're staying with it. So I think everybody's going to try to do some version of it.

You have to have your personnel. You have personnel that’s signed. I look at Philly personnel, we’ve got guys that are signed that are going to be there for ‘X’ time. How do we get that group to play the best baseball we can? That's always going to be, the better we pitch, the better we catch the ball for those guys. Every run we get, it's still the same thing. I just think going about it differently, right? Because you're able to measure with outfielders, breaks, jumps. How do we prevent runs? Which makes us have to score less, because scoring's the hardest part in the game nowadays. And so, the more you can prevent, the better chances you have.

Brad Lidge and Carlos Ruiz appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated on Nov. 10, 2008, commemorating the Phillies’ World Series championship.

D. Roy Halladay

He went 19-6 with a 2.35 ERA in 2011. Halladay is the last Phillies pitcher to win 20 games in a season, too. He went 20-11 in 2010, when he won the NL Cy Young Award.

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