CLEARWATER, Fla. — In the span of three days, the Phillies agreed to the second-largest contract they have ever given to an outfielder, then made that outfielder a designated hitter before he even took his physical so they could sign another outfielder to an even larger contract and trigger luxury tax for the first time in the franchise’s history.
Advertisem*nt
The whole idea of this is brazen — a middle finger to traditional roster building and everything that was assumed about how the Phillies do business. They have crossed the Rubicon, and somehow a $240 million payroll does not come with guarantees. But it is exciting.
With Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber secured for a combined $179 million, the Phillies will still be projected to finish third in the National League East. But team officials think the gap between the Mets and Phillies isn’t as wide as public projections. The defending-champion Braves might be in a different class after their own frenetic offseason. They outscored the Phillies by 19 runs in 19 games last season, but the margin between the teams was evident in the final week of the season.
All three teams reloaded and prioritized certain traits. The Phillies look like a team built for their ballpark, one that plans to outslug everyone while constructing a pitching staff rife with potential holes backed by a defense that will be among the worst in the majors. It’s a little crazy, the whole thing, but so is a decade without postseason baseball in Philadelphia.
1. The focus in the coming days will be on the lineup — where everyone plays, who bats where — but the reality is the Phillies will have an amorphous blob as the batting order. That was what club officials discussed with manager Joe Girardi as they considered this Castellanos/Schwarber scenario. Girardi will have the latitude to move everyone around — and he will.
At the start, it might be a four-man weave between designated hitter, left field, right field and first base. The Phillies still want Bryce Harper to have some DH time sprinkled into the season because they want to keep him as fresh as possible for six months. Castellanos could shift to right field in that scenario. Schwarber could see time at first base if the Phillies want Rhys Hoskins as the DH while keeping both Castellanos and Schwarber in the lineup. Schwarber and Castellanos could just split their time between left field and DH, although the Phillies like the idea of being able to shelter a regular in the DH spot once or twice a week.
Advertisem*nt
None of this even considers possible problems on the left side of the infield, which was a serious concern at the end of 2021. The Phillies are banking on bounce-back performances from Alec Bohm and Didi Gregorius in 2022. If only one rebounds, prospect Bryson Stott could replace the other.
It’s best to just shrug about all this. It will change again and again and again. The Phillies, in the past, were not equipped to weather more than one injury to a regular. They appear to be deeper in that regard going into 2022. Stott will be their first call if there is an injury to an infielder. If Castellanos or Schwarber has to play every day in left field because of an injury to the other, that is doable.
2. Ownership has never said the Phillies treat the luxury tax as a hard cap, but front-office actions have spoken louder than words. In 2012, the Phillies made hasty trades with less-than-optimal returns to sneak under the number. They obsessed over it last season — even leaving a buffer knowing they might have to pay Bryce Harper a bonus for winning MVP that would count against the tax limit — and they slid about $600,000 under the then-$210 million threshold.
Maybe it wasn’t always a hard cap. The Phillies had discussions last summer about trades that would add salary and push them over, but in the end, they decided the team was too flawed for an all-in approach.
Why now? It was impossible to watch the Braves and Mets push their chips to the center and not think the Phillies were in a different class. They still might be in a different class than those two rosters, but the gap is smaller.
The Phillies had signaled to agents and other teams that, after agreeing to the Schwarber deal Tuesday night, they had completed their heavy lifting. They were looking for one more bench bat and a possible swing man. When the dust settled after the Schwarber and Kris Bryant agreements (the latter signed for seven years, $182 million with Colorado), the market for Castellanos was not evident. Multiple reports tied him to the Marlins, who have spent all of zero guaranteed dollars since the lockout ended. The pivot point might have been when Castellanos’ asking price dipped. Dave Dombrowski has made a career of convincing rich owners to spend their riches, and he can be compelling. The Phillies could snag Castellanos and Schwarber while spending less than the total guarantee given to Bryant.
That would be a decent reason to pay tax.
3. This is a good one too: The Phillies have about $69 million in annual average salaries that will drop off the books after 2022. Now, that will mean they have to replace their entire middle infield and find a center fielder, two mid-rotation starters and an entire bullpen. But they will have some flexibility. Stott figures to be one of the future middle infielders. The Phillies are bullish on Johan Rojas as the future center fielder, but he is an unfinished product and still needs significant seasoning in the minors. They have not closed the door on the idea that he could be a major factor in 2023.
Either way, the Phillies’ competitive advantage was always money. It was the separating factor between them and the rest of the division until Steve Cohen bought the Mets. Now, paying tax and carrying a payroll that is more than 15 percent higher than a season ago is just the cost of keeping pace.
4. Don’t forget this: When Harper signed for $330 million in 2019, the club pushed to extend the term of the contract, and Harper’s camp welcomed it. The Phillies said they did that to not prevent them from making other additions. Would the Phillies have signed Zack Wheeler later that year or re-signed J.T. Realmuto last offseason had Harper counted closer to $35 million per year? Maybe not.
Harper said he did it because he wanted to make sure the front office could surround him with the proper pieces. The Phillies have invested at the top end of the roster, but in the past the tax often dictated how they filled the margins of the roster.
Harper, as of now, will play in 2022 with the 19th-highest AAV in baseball. He was the NL MVP last year. He doesn’t turn 30 until October. Harper has fulfilled his obligations in the first three years of his 13-year deal, and the Phillies have now built the strongest roster around him yet.
5. Who was the biggest long-term loser in all of this? It might be Hoskins. That’s a difficult reality because Hoskins has done everything he’s been asked to do, including changing positions and serving as de facto team spokesman, all while making less money than just about everyone else in the lineup. Hoskins isn’t going anywhere in 2022 or even 2023. The Phillies have him under club control through then. But, right now, it’s hard to see the Phillies investing in a long-term deal for Hoskins when 2024 and 2025 will be years when they might need to find a home for Castellanos at first base. Or even Schwarber. The DH can only do so much for a roster built like this in 2022, let alone 2024.
Advertisem*nt
On a lesser scale, it will be interesting to see what the Phillies do with Mickey Moniak and Adam Haseley. Both former first-round picks are on the 40-man roster. The Phillies will now have nine outfield types on the 40-man roster. They cannot keep cutting pitching depth when adding bats, so something will give. They have mentioned Haseley as someone who could nudge his way into center-field time with a good spring and start to his minor-league season. Moniak’s name hasn’t been mentioned at all this spring.
6. There are a few small unfinished details to the roster. The Phillies are expected to pursue one more bench player — a utilityman to slot alongside Johan Camargo on the bench — and that addition could come through a trade. Chad Pinder, who is making $2.8 million on an Oakland team looking to dump anyone making money, is one possibility. There are some unsigned free agents, too.
The Phillies had considered more pitching moves but most of the viable arms remaining on the free-agent market signed elsewhere in the last 48 hours. Their bullpen is going to be an adventure; no one can deny that. Now that the Phillies have entered the tax zone, they will not be restricted by an artificial cap to make further additions during the season. The bullpen is one place where this could happen. The next tax threshold is $250 million; the Phillies are about $10 million short of that.
7. The defense is going to be bad. Really bad. It’ll be the source of jokes and frustration and long nights. It will make some pitchers look worse than they are. It is how you, a Phillies fan, will be clowned on by your non-Phillies friends. If the Phillies can average more than five runs scored per game, something they have not done in a full season since 2009, it might just be something everyone laughs about. Maybe.
8. None of this matters if Wheeler is compromised. He will not start the season in the rotation after shoulder soreness prompted him to pause his offseason throwing program and an illness delayed his progressions in camp. Wheeler might throw a bullpen session this weekend and, if he does, it would be just his second time throwing off a mound. Even if he has no physical limitations, Wheeler, who led the majors with 213 1/3 innings pitched last season, will need time to reach a point where he is ready to pitch in big-league games. Maybe he misses a few turns in April, then the Phillies treat his first few starts like spring ones and pitch him three or four innings. Might as well use those innings in the majors.
But, if the Phillies do not have Wheeler for the majority of the season, it will be hard to make this whole crazy idea work.
(Photo: Aaron Doster / Associated Press)
Matt Gelb is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Philadelphia Phillies. He has covered the team since 2010 while at The Philadelphia Inquirer, including a yearlong pause from baseball as a reporter on the city desk. He is a graduate of Syracuse University and Central Bucks High School West.
