Philly Front Office

[UPDATE: Dave Dombrowski says the Phillies are now set in the outfield]

The Phillies signed outfielder Adolis Garcia yesterday for 1/$10m. After failing to trade him, the Rangers released El Bombi due to poor performance and a projected $12m arbitration salary. The Phillies don’t give up anything but cash to sign him, but now have the same issues the Rangers had. Aren’t we essentially signing the same player a lesser team didn’t want?

Money

That’s not really true because the Rangers and Phillies are not apples to apples. Texas had their biggest revenue rug pulled out from under them a few years ago when Diamond Sports blew up. They went from being pretty confident about running a $250m payroll to now being around $185m and fielding offers for Corey Seager. The Phillies are consistently running a $300m operation. What would have been a $12m contract based solely on past performance for the Rangers is a $10m flyer for Philly. The teams are simply in different stratospheres financially.

Of course, the Phillies do not have an unlimited budget. Before bringing JT Realmuto back but factoring in Garcia, the Phillies are around $298m in tax payroll. The next luxury tax threshold, the one that comes with a more than dollar for dollar penalty, is only $6m away. While there are ways to reduce the bill, the team is going to jump well over that line. Afterall, we still need a centerfielder and a reliever.

One way to lower the bill is by trading Nick Castellanos and his $20m salary. By simply releasing him, the full boat floats right to the top of the balance sheet. Trading him though could lower that cost depending on how much money we either take back or throw into a trade. Otherwise, we are basically paying $30m for a right fielder.

Trading Nick Castellanos

Garcia vs Castellanos on the Field

What does $30m get us for right field? Well, statistically, more of the same. Garcia broke out in 2021, his first full season and kept that production up for 3 years including a dynamic playoff run that landed him an ALCS MVP, a World Series trophy, and the hearts of Rangers fans forever.¹ The last two though have seen his already low batting average take a dip and his power drop off a bit. When you already don’t walk much, a drop from a .250 AVG to a .225 AVG and a .500 slug to a .400 slug is significant. Shockingly, Nick Castellanos was better than Garcia almost across the board at the plate (but not by much) last year.

Ok, well that stinks! Not completely. I promise there is room for optimism here. Garcia didn’t hit great against righties last year, but he wasn’t terrible either, right around a .700 OPS. However, he fell off a cliff against lefties to the tune of a .600 OPS. That’s not supposed to happen to a right-handed hitter. Even just the previous year he was .730. That seems more like something needs fixing rather than he has lost a step. If he can just recover that ability, he becomes a huge upgrade over Nick.

Wait, why is he an upgrade over Nick? Because he is an elite right fielder with a cannon for an arm. For all the things Castellanos isn’t in the field, Garcia is. There was a difference of 3 WAR between the two just on defense. That’s absurd. It’s like going from Alec Bohm to prime Nolan Arenado at 3rd base.² If he can get back to normal against lefties, he will be night and day better than Castellanos.

Garcia vs Castellanos Off the Field

There’s also what he will bring to the clubhouse. Despite seeming like a pretty great person in general (think of how he reacted to Kerkering), Nick wore out his welcome in Philly. While he seems like the kind of guy all of us would be friends with or at least would like to grab a beer with and watch a game, that’s really not the guy you want on your baseball team. It’s hard to explain, but he is such a Miami Bro.³ He is incapable of turning the other cheek, forgetting a slight, or simply letting something go. Whatever happened between him and Topper and him and Harper, those relationships are over and not coming back (let alone the Philly media). Combine that with the guessing at the plate, power loss, and inability to diagnose a slider and there is nothing left for him here. Garcia will be completely different. He was beloved in Texas. I was reading a Rangers blog and saw a comment that was surprised that Phillies fans seemed more unhappy to have him than Rangers fans were that he was leaving. That kind of tells you all you need to know. This is a guy who gave them all the good memories and none of the bad ones.

So many characters have been spilled on the internet about the Phillies whitewash. I don’t think it was something done on purpose, but by the end of last year, the Phillies were regularly running out lineups 1-9 of suburban white guys. Max Kepler, the German, was the closest thing the lineup had to someone different. While that isn’t inherently a problem, baseball especially is known for its diversity. That diversity helps get you through the monotony of 9 months, day in day out, baseball. Different life experiences bring different talents, different thoughts, and different reactions. While I am in no way saying this was the reason the Phillies disappointed in the playoffs the last two years, it certainly isn’t going to hurt.⁴

Dave Dombrowski prioritized bringing back Kyle Schwarber for two reasons. First, 56 HRs is 56 fucking HRs. Second, he’s a winner and a leader. He damn near always makes the playoffs and everyone raves about how he’s the glue in the clubhouse. Garcia is the same type of guy. His teammates love him, he rises to big moments, and the fans trusted him. He is going to bring power, competence, and likeability back to right field.

Your 2026 Phillies CF is…umm?

The Outfield Market

One thing fans who are disappointed in this signing need to understand is that the outfield market STINKS. I was a Kyle Tucker over Kyle Schwarber guy because the outfield market is just so barren of talent. Getting a red hat on a guy like Tucker solidifies a weak position for a long time. If not Garcia, then who? I already profiled how weak the CF market is, but corner outfield isn’t better. Do you know how many plus fielding corner outfielders are available who aren’t Tucker? According to MLBTraderumors, nobody. The trade market stinks too with the few guys available coming with huge prices. To only pay $10m for Garcia is a good move.

MLB Trade Candidates

Next Steps

The Phillies outfield situation is now Garcia in right, Justin Crawford in center, and Brandon Marsh as half a platoon in left. This does not seem like the way they drew it up in October, but it is what it is: a solid defensive group with offensive upside. The real question is if this is it for the rest of the offseason. It almost can’t be. No one thought the Jesus Luzardo trade was coming when it happened and the door is open for another deal like that. I’ll get into possibilities tomorrow, but the team still has options.

1. Damnit the Phillies should have been there and won that one ↩︎
2. I don’t mean that Garcia is as good as prime Arenado, but that’s how bad Castellanos is in right that he makes Garcia seem like prime Arenado in comparison ↩︎
3. I’ve lived here for almost 20 years. A Miami Bro would give you the shirt off his back the day you meet them, but do anything even just a little different or something that they find even a little disrespectful and the relationship is frayed forever. I personally love the consistency in that, but it’s tough. ↩︎
4. The gymnastics it took to write that paragraph, damn! ↩︎