Dombrowski on Phillies' top free agents, other offseason priorities

PHILADELPHIA -- Dave Dombrowski spoke for nearly an hour on Thursday at Citizens Bank Park.

A large chunk of his time focused on the team’s regular-season successes vs. its postseason failures over the past four years. In short, the Phillies still believe they are good enough to win a World Series. But for the second consecutive year, they lost in the National League Division Series.

Changes are coming. But how many and how significant remain to be seen.

“We’re close to them,” Dombrowski said about the Dodgers, who beat the Phillies in four games. “We battled them, and I think we’re in the same neighborhood. But we didn’t beat them, and we have work in order to do that.”

Rather than rehash what went wrong in the NLDS and why regular-season success hasn’t translated into postseason success, let’s look ahead:

Big changes coming?
The Phillies have a host of free agents, including Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, Ranger Suárez, Harrison Bader (mutual option), José Alvarado (club option), David Robertson, Max Kepler, Walker Buehler and Jordan Romano.

Dombrowski said Schwarber, Realmuto, Suárez and Bader are the Phillies’ priorities, but it is unlikely they will re-sign everybody.

The Phillies will almost certainly exercise Alvarado’s $9 million club option. (Dombrowski said it’d be a surprise if he isn’t back.) Robertson, Kepler, Buehler and Romano are not expected to return.

“Needs to be more change?” Dombrowski said. “We won 96 games. You’re always looking to get better, so we will be open-minded to that. There’s some built-in situations for us that are going to have to be addressed. So, where you go as a club is very much dictated on some of those moves that end up happening.

“We also have some young players that are going to mesh into our club.”

The young players include outfielder Justin Crawford (Phillies’ No. 3 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, and No. 54 overall) and right-hander Andrew Painter (No. 1, No. 16 overall), who have good chances to make the Opening Day roster. Dombrowski also mentioned Aidan Miller (No. 2, No. 32 overall) and Gabriel Rincones Jr. (No. 9).

Who’s in the outfield?
If you want significant change, look in the outfield.

“The infield is pretty well solidified,” Dombrowski said.

Crawford will open camp as a heavy favorite to make the team. He can play left or center field. So can Brandon Marsh and Bader, if he returns.

Is Nick Castellanos back? It sounds unlikely. He is entering the final year of a five-year, $100 million contract. He batted .250 with 17 home runs, 72 RBIs and a .694 OPS this season. His -0.6 fWAR ranked last out of 145 qualified players in baseball. His -12 Outs Above Average tied for last among outfielders. He got benched in June in Miami for saying something offensive to manager Rob Thomson. He raised his issues with Thomson again in Arizona in September, when asked about his reduced role.

Asked if that relationship can continue for another season, Dombrowski said, “Well, we’ll see what happens. I mean, I’m not going to get into specific players that are on our roster, under contract, but the things that you talked about are accurate, but we'll see what happens.”

Payroll?
The Phillies had the fourth-highest payroll in baseball in 2025 at $290 million, according to Spotrac. It likely will increase, especially if they bring back Schwarber, Realmuto and Bader and address other holes on the roster.

“[Owner] John [Middleton] is very supportive of that,” Dombrowski said. “We have a good club with a lot of good players, but you don't have unlimited [money] … I don't think we're going to have a $400 million payroll. I just don't think that that's a practicality, but we will be open minded to get better and make a move.”

Last winter, the Phillies limited themselves to three offseason free-agent signings: Kepler, Romano and Joe Ross.

All were one-year deals.

None worked as planned.

Will the Phillies be limited to one-year deals beyond what it might take to re-sign their own free agents?

“I don’t know, and even if I did I don’t think I’d answer that question,” Dombrowski said. “Because I wouldn’t tip ourselves with where we’re going to go this wintertime.”