Philly Front Office

FREE AGENCY

Phillies sign Kyle Tucker for 10/$425m ($5 left to spend)

With the money saved on Schwarber and Realmuto, Kyle Tucker is set to don red pinstripes.  The remaking of the Phillies outfield is taking shape with Tucker manning right and Justin Crawford set to debut in left field.  Now we just need a LF and a DH.

Phillies sign Rob Refsnyder 2/$5m

I did this same move in my Bring-Back-Schwarber hypothetical. With a guy like Marsh in the outfield, having him platoon with one of the better weak-side platoon partners in baseball just makes sense.

TRADES

Phillies trade Aroon Escobar to Tampa for Yandy Diaz and $2m ($-5m left to spend)

Diaz had a shockingly good year last year. He hit over .300 doesn’t strike out much, and can alternate with Harper between 1B and DH. He is a righty but can hit from both sides of the plate. He will bring some much needed consistency to the lineup with Tucker.

CUT

Phillies cut Nick Castellanos who agrees to a buyout of $18m ($-3m left to spend)

No one agrees to the Phillies asking price of $5m for Nick, so he agrees to a buyout allowing him to sign wherever he wants.

OVERVIEW

By signing Tucker, Phillies free agency is effectively over. They could still sign Realmuto if they wanted, but that would really strain things and force a trade of Taijuan Walker when we need pitching or salary dumps of Marsh, Sosa, and/or Bohm. The team is still very good and the outfield is miles better. I do not feel like the needle has moved though.

FREE AGENCY

Phillies Sign Yoan Moncada for 2/$10m ($42.5m to spend)

Yoan Moncada was already in Boston when Dave Dombrowski was hired, but he did trade him to the White Sox. With this move, the Phillies are getting a stop gap 3B/utility infielder on the cheap. Moncada is solid against righties, but cant really hit lefties at all despite being a switch hitter. He will start by platooning with Edmundo Sosa then becoming a utility depth guy once Aiden Miller arrives.

TRADES

Phillies Trade Aroon Escobar, Alex McFarlane, and a Player to Be Named Later (anyone from the most recent draft not named Gage Wood) to the Boston Red Sox for Jarren Duran and Masataka Yoshida (16.2m left to spend)

There are a whole lot of reasons not to do this trade like Duran being a shitty person, the Red Sox hating Dombrowski, and it costing a lot, but the one reason to do it is screaming…WHO ELSE IS GOING TO PLAY CF??? Harrison Bader leaving sucks bad. He isn’t great in CF, but we are going to have to live with that.

The thing to know about the Red Sox though is that they are more invested in making money than winning and that creates an opportunity. This is why Masataka Yoshida is in the deal. He is signed to a 5/$90m deal but hasn’t hit well and is a bad fielder. With 2 years left he gives the Phillies a Japanese presence and he just happens to LOVE Bryce Harper. I’ll take him to DH/play right.

Phillies Trade Alec Bohm to Angels for Taylor Ward ($14.2m left to spend)

These two could not be more opposite, but they fit needs for each team. The Phillies need Ward’s power and will deal with the strikeouts in left field. The Angels need a 3rd baseman who can actually hit the ball instead of whiffing all the time. Jo Adell can move over to left for the Angels to make room for their other OFs while Moncada and Sosa can split 3rd base duties until Aiden Miller arrives.

Phillies trade Taijuan Walker and $9m to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Anyone ($23.2m to spend)

The Phillies likely need more starting pitching, but getting rid of $9m of the last year of Walker’s contract is too good to pass up. Arizona simply needs the arms and has the money after last year’s fire sale and possible loss of Zac Gallen in free agency.

Phillies trade Nick Castellanos and $15m to the Minnesota Twins for Nobody ($28.2m left to spend)

Need that extra cash, we getting ready to do something…

Posting System

Phillies pay 6/$180m (plus $30m posting fee) for Tatsuyama Imai

Imai is the next in the increasingly long line of ace pitchers to come out of Japan. First it was Ohtani, then Yamamoto, then Sasaki, and now Imai who pitched to a 1.92 ERA in 163 innings last year. Evaluators believe he is the worst of that bunch, but still plenty talented.

Make no mistake, this is an overpay and a ridiculous one at that. The Phillies have Wheeler, Nola, Sanchez, Luzardo, and Painter all under contract this year, but desperately want to break into the Japanese Market. They were willing to give Yamamoto more than this two years ago and now have to give him the boat to lure Imai to Philly.

The Phillies make this move because they are unsure about Wheeler, Painter, and Nola this season. Add to that, Luzardo may not be back next year and Wheeler is a question mark going forward. Pitching goes from being a surplus to a need real quick in this league

OVERVIEW

Despite not breaking the bank in the initial stage of free agency, the Phillies still end up improving the team and getting younger.