The Phillies Season is Officially Over, Now What?

The 2019 Philadelphia Phillies season is officially over.  A season of disappointment and frustration has finally come to a merciful end.  At times like this, most people like to look back on the season and try to figure out what went wrong.  I have decided to look ahead and try and figure out what the Phillies can possibly do on the field (and off) to try and make sure that this train wreck does not happen again next year.

First of all, I am not going to start with a declaration that the Phillies need to fire Gabe or fire Klentak. My goal with this article is to talk about other directions the Phillies can take this offseason to ensure a better 2020.

The first thing they should do is sign J.T. Realmuto to a long term contract. Realmuto is technically under contract for 2020, but that is arbitration.  You traded your top pitching prospect in Sixto Sanchez to aquire him, so you need to lock him up.  If you disregard the Buster Posey contract, the biggest contract for a catcher is Russell Martin at 5 years 82 million dollars.  J.T. might ask for a little more than that, but fans would feel comfortable giving that to him based on his performance this year.  This also gives notice to the clubhouse that if you perform, you will be rewarded.  The team gets this done with a 5 year deal somewhere in the 85-95 million dollar range.

Secondly, and most importantly, the pitching staff needs to be addressed.  You can’t go into next season with any combination of Pivetta, Velasquez and Arrieta again.  The entire city will riot. The easiest solution to help fix this problem is walk up to Gerrit Cole’s representation at the winter meetings and offer him all of the money.  Just give it to him.  Patrick Corbin got 140 million dollars this past offseason from the Nationals, and he isn’t close to the pitcher Cole is.  If John Middleton is serious about winning, that has to be the big offseason acquisition.

After Cole, you need to add another quality starter as well.  By this point you might be running out of room in your budget, so it might hamper the pitchers you can look into, depending on price.  I would look at a reunion with Cole Hamels.  I would also look at guys like Chris Archer, Gio Gonzalez, and Dallas Keuchel or Rick Porcello if the money is right.  These may not be names that jump off the page, but they need quality major league starters who can last more than 2-3 innings a start. It would be great if they had prospects they could develop into quality starters so they don’t have to spend absurd money doing this.

Lastly, the bench needs to be improved.  You already know what your starting lineup for next year is going to be: Realmuto, Hoskins, Hernandez, Segura, Kingery, Harper, Mccutchen and I believe Haseley has earned the opportunity to be the third full time outfielder.  That is pretty much set in stone.  Who do you have on your bench though? Jay Bruce and Franco?  Is that pretty much it?  I am finished with Nick Williams and Andrew Knapp better not be the backup catcher next year.  I hope and pray that the Phillies can find a better backup catcher than Andrew Knapp.  He has long since worn out his welcome.  Other than those Bruce and maybe Franco (he’s probably gone too), who else is there? Roman Quinn and Phil Gosselin? Those aren’t the kind of names that instill fear in an opposing manager.

I am not going to bore you by rattling off names that the Phillies could sign for the bench because that would be too long and tedious.  The point is that there is a severe lack of depth on this team and it needs to be addressed for this club to have any success next year.

Frustratingly, the Phillies front office now has more time than anyone would have hoped for to fix the issues facing this ballclub. The issues are clear, and it will be ANOTHER make or break year for Matt Klentak (maybe) and Co.