NEW YORK — Free agent reliever Devin Williams has agreed to a contract with the New York Mets, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Monday night.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal was pending a physical and had not been announced.
Multiple media reports indicated the sides agreed to a three-year contract.
Williams spent last season across town with the New York Yankees, going 4-6 with a career-worst 4.79 ERA and 18 saves in 22 chances. He lost the closer’s job, regained it and then lost it again before finishing the year with four scoreless outings during the American League playoffs.
The 31-year-old right-hander is a two-time All-Star who twice won the Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year Award with the Milwaukee Brewers while Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns was running that team. Williams also was voted the 2020 NL Rookie of the Year.
Milwaukee traded Williams to the Yankees for pitcher Nestor Cortes and infielder Caleb Durbin last December.
With the Mets, Williams could replace free agent closer Edwin Díaz or complement him in a rebuilt bullpen.
Williams was pitching for the Brewers when he gave up a go-ahead homer to Mets slugger Pete Alonso in the deciding Game 3 of their 2024 NL wild-card series. The three-run shot put New York ahead in the ninth inning, and the Mets won the series.
Known for a changeup so deceptive it’s called The Airbender, Williams struck out 90 batters and walked 25 in 62 innings over 67 appearances during his lone season in pinstripes. He made $8.6 million in 2025.
“At first it was a challenge, but I’ve grown to love being here,” the reliever said in October following a 5-2 loss to Toronto in Game 4 of their AL Division Series. “I love this city. I love taking the train to the field every day. Yeah, I really enjoyed my experience here.”
When Mick Abel, then the Phillies’ No. 8 prospect, made his major league debut in May, it was just for a spot start.
But he impressed enough in those six scoreless innings that the Phillies decided to give him a chance in the rotation two weeks later. After a tough 2024 season, Abel was a bit of a revelation for the Phillies early on as their fifth starter.
And while he was ultimately sent back to triple A in July to reset after some struggles with command, his turnaround continued to impact the major league club when he was traded to the Minnesota Twins as part of the package for Jhoan Duran.
Of the players yet to make their major league debuts, who could be the Abel of 2026? Let’s take a look at the Phillies’ pitching prospects who are the most likely to make a major league impact next season.
Andrew Painter struggled with his command in his return to the mound with Lehigh Valley following Tommy John surgery in 2023.
Andrew Painter
Plenty of ink has been devoted to the subject of Painter’s major league debut since at least 2023, when he was under consideration for the Phillies’ rotation at age 19.
A ligament sprain and subsequent Tommy John elbow surgery delayed that timeline. But once he returned to the mound in 2025, it was expected he would figure into the Phillies’ plans by the summer.
That didn’t happen, either.
The Phillies were pleased with the quality of Painter’s stuff and his velocity. But command is typically the last thing that returns to a pitcher after Tommy John surgery, and that’s what Painter struggled with the most in 2025. He had a 5.40 ERA and issued 3.9 walks per nine innings at triple-A Lehigh Valley, and the call-up never arrived.
“I think everybody was excited about getting him back,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said in September. “I think at the end of the day you look back on it, you say, ‘First time going through this, it usually takes two years for a guy to come back [from Tommy John].’ I think we can all look back and think, ‘Man, [we] probably should have expected this.’”
Given that he remains healthy, next season should be different. Painter will have a normal offseason and spring for the first time since 2023. He will again enter camp in contention for a rotation spot, and this time he isn’t a teenager; he’ll turn 23 in April.
There figures to be a place for him, too. Ranger Suárez is likely to command a big contract as one of the top left-handers on the free-agent market, and unless the Phillies outbid pitching-starved teams or make a splash elsewhere, that would leave an opportunity for Painter to break camp with the team.
“We’re optimistic that with a regular offseason training program and getting ready to come in the season, that he’ll be able to regain that [command],” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said.
Jean Cabrera had a 3.81 ERA and 1.23 WHIP over a career-high 137 innings last season with double-A Reading.
Jean Cabrera
At the general managers’ meetings last month, Dombrowski pointed to the 24-year-old Cabrera as the Phillies’ current minor league starting pitching depth beyond Painter.
“You never have enough starting pitching,” he said. “And really, for us, after you get past Painter, now you’re talking about Cabrera, [who] would be one of those guys. But we don’t have a lot of starting pitching, so that’s something we’re going to be cognizant of.”
Cabrera spent the 2025 season with double-A Reading, where he posted a 3.81 ERA and 1.23 WHIP over a career-high 137 innings. The right-hander allowed just 0.72 home runs per nine innings. Cabrera has been on the Phillies’ 40-man roster since 2024, when he was added as protection from the Rule 5 draft.
Cabrera was consistent in terms of workload last season. He made 26 starts and none was shorter than 4⅓ innings. In the event of an injury or if a spot start is needed, Cabrera provides the Phillies with crucial starting depth.
Alex McFarlane had a strong second half in his first season back from Tommy John surgery.
Alex McFarlane
McFarlane was added to the Phillies’ 40-man roster last month ahead of the Rule 5 draft, signaling the team’s faith in the 24-year-old righty.
Like Painter, McFarlane is coming off his first full season back after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2023. He had a stronger second half, with a 2.54 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in his last 39 innings compared to a 7.02 ERA and 1.71 WHIP in his first 41 innings.
That improvement also came with a move to the bullpen in August. McFarlane was promoted from high-A Jersey Shore to double-A Reading in September to finish out the year.
With a fastball that can touch 100 mph, McFarlane could be possible bullpen depth for the Phillies in 2026.
The Phillies left pitcher Griff McGarry unprotected in the Rule 5 draft for the second straight year.
Griff McGarry
It’s possible that McGarry could find himself in a new organization come Dec. 11, as he was left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft for the second year in a row.
Another team can pay the Phillies $100,000 to select McGarry, but he must remain on that team’s 26-man roster for the entire season or be offered back for $50,000. Last December, the Twins selected right-hander Eiberson Castellano from the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft, but he was returned in March. (Castellano elected free agency at the end of the season.)
McGarry built a solid foundation for 2026 with a bounceback 2025 season. The 26-year-old righty won the Phillies’ Paul Owens Award, an internal honor for their top minor league pitcher, after posting a 3.44 ERA in 83⅔ innings.
McGarry has struggled with command throughout his minor league career and was moved to the bullpen in 2024. Last year, though, the Phillies moved him back to a starting role. He cut his walks from 10.2 per nine innings in 2024 to 5.3 per nine in 2025.
“Heading into this year, early in the spring, they kind of made it known to me that I’d be back in a starting role,” McGarry said in September. “I think I definitely am capable of doing both. And I love starting; I love relieving. So it’s kind of wherever the Phillies want me, I’m willing to perform.”
McGarry spent most of the season at double-A Reading, but he finished the year on a high note with a final start back up in triple A.
“I think in years past in triple A, I’ve had my ups and downs there,” he said. “It’s good to really finish there and kind of finish the season how I wanted to, with a successful start.”
Gage Wood, the Phillies’ 2025 first-round pick, is likely to be on an innings limit in 2026.
Names to know, but unlikely for this year
Moises Chace was a deadline acquisition from the Baltimore Orioles in 2024 and had an intriguing fastball that missed a lot of bats. But the 22-year-old right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in 2025 and is still rehabbing.
Since the Phillies drafted right-hander Gage Wood out of Arkansas — going the college pitcher route in the first round for the first time since Aaron Nola in 2014 — questions have swirled about how soon he could arrive in the majors.
But don’t bank on Wood following the breakneck trajectory of Pottstown’s Trey Yesavage, who went from starting games in single A to the World Series with the Blue Jays in four months. The Phillies plan to build him up as a starter, but Wood is likely to be on an innings limit in 2026, according to Dombrowski.
Wood didn’t experience a full starter’s workload in his college career. He pitched 37⅔ innings for Arkansas in 2025, missing almost two months due to a shoulder impingement. In his two college seasons before that, Wood was primarily a reliever for the Razorbacks.
The Washington Post’s opinion section enlisted nine writers to share which American city they think deserves the title of the nation’s best sports city.
Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Boston — even the likes of Kansas City and Cleveland got a mention. Which city was snubbed? Philadelphia.
Taking a look through the comments of their recent Instagram post promoting the list, not to mention the nearly 800 comments on the column itself, we’re not the only ones who raised an eyebrow at the exclusion of Philly from the list.
So we got nine of our own writers to argue why Philadelphia is the nation’s best sports city. Enjoy.
It means more to us
Mike Sielski, sports columnist
Philadelphia is America’s best sports city because sports — not national sports, not the Olympics, but the teams and athletes here — is the lingua franca of the town and the great connector of the city and its surrounding suburbs and communities. Do you flinch when someone says the name Chico Ruiz or Joe Carter? Do you smile at a random mention of Matt Stairs or Corey Clement? Then you know and love Philadelphia sports.
It’s America’s best sports city because Philadelphia is a provincial, parochial region where the love of and devotion to the teams’ histories and traditions are passed down from one generation to the next — a succession of unbroken bonds over a century or more. Did you sit out on your front stoop on a summer night and listen to Harry and Whitey call a Phillies game over the radio? Do you still sync Merrill and Mike’s broadcast to the TV telecast? Do you know who J.J. Daigneault is? Then you know and love Philadelphia sports.
It is America’s best sports city because you can walk down the street here after an Eagles loss or a Phillies loss or a Sixers loss and know that those teams lost just from the vacant looks on the faces of the passersby. Do you turn up the talk-radio station on those terrible Monday mornings? Do you remember where you were when Kawhi’s fourth bounce fell through the net? Then you know and you live and you die with Philadelphia sports.
Most of all, Philadelphia is America’s best sports city because people here care more and sports here matters more than it does anywhere else. If you don’t believe me, go ahead. Tell a Philadelphia sports fan that your city, your teams, your traditions are better. Go ahead. Dare ya.
Philly fans celebrate the Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX win in near City Hall.
Nobody parties like us
Stephanie Farr, features columnist
Philadelphia is undoubtedly the best sports city in the United States and it has everything to do with our fans, who are as passionate and dedicated as they come. Here “Go Birds” is a greeting, talking trash is an art form, and being a part of it all is totally intoxicating, even if you’re completely sober (which, to be fair, most of us aren’t).
Nobody celebrates a major win like Philly — by partying in the street with Gritty and Ben Franklin impersonators, dancing with Philly Elmo and his drum line, and climbing greased poles. When the Phillies won the NLCS in 2022, I watched Sean “Shrimp” Hagan climb a pole and shotgun seven cans of Twisted Tea thrown to him by the crowd. To his credit, at some point Hagan realized he was too drunk to get down safely and waited for firefighters to bring a ladder.
“It couldn’t have happened without the crowd being so [expletive] Philly,” he told me. “What other city’s first thought when they see a guy on a pole would be to throw him a beer?”
Do our Bacchanalian celebrations border on absolute lawless anarchy? Yes, but if you want to live safe and know how something will end, go watch a Hallmark movie. This is Philly, where we are fueled by the raging fire of a thousand losses — even when we win — and we thrive off the unpredictability of life.
In my early 20s, I lived in Tampa for a brief stint. The downtown area is small enough that all of its neighborhoods are in proximity to each other. My apartment was in a section popular among locals for its dining and nightlife scene. But it was close enough to the hotel district to be in the eye of the storm when the Eagles came to town.
One Saturday evening in late October, we were sitting at a popular outside bar when the place was suddenly overcome by a wave of midnight green. Everywhere you looked, there were packs of Eagles fans who looked like they hadn’t seen the sun in two months. They swaggered through the place in their Brian Dawkins jerseys with zero regard for humanity. They ordered their Bud Lights in multiples of two and yelled Eagles chants at each other as horrified young women clung desperately to each other and wiped errant sloshes of domestic Pilsner off each other’s going-out clothes. A friend of mine stepped off the patio to have a cigarette. He returned with a stunned expression on his face. “An Eagles fan just peed on my foot,” he said with a mixture of anger and respect.
Tampa got the last laugh the next day when Matt Bryant kicked a walk-off field goal from 62 yards out. But I always think of that weekend when people ask me if Philly sports fans are as crazy as their reputation.
An Eagles fan sits on top of the traffic light post at the intersection of Broad and Pine Streets after the team won Super Bowl LIX in February.
There are a lot of different prerequisites that a city needs in order to consider itself a great sports town. For instance, it must be an actual city, one with history and character that stands on its own even without sports. Furthermore, a great sports town requires a certain level of market penetration. Sports must sit atop the pedestal in a way that it doesn’t in places like New York and L.A. There must be a critical mass of folks who are born and raised, which eliminates pretty much any city south of the Mason-Dixon and west of the Mississippi. The list is a short one. Boston, Chicago, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Detroit, maybe Milwaukee.
From there, the thing that sets Philly apart is the people. They are a strange lot, prone to overexcitement and, every now and then, over-indulgence. But, man, do they care. You see it any time one of their teams hits the road. You hear it, too. There is an energy that is difficult to define but impossible not to feel. It’s the secret sauce of this place. And, yeah, it’s the best.
A veteran Eagles reporter wrote recently that last Sunday’s Eagles-Cowboys game was the Birds’ worst ever loss to their rival. They blew a 21-point lead, exposed some glaring flaws, and lost on a walk-off field goal. Fair point. But it was pushed back immediately on social media. You think this loss was bad? That’s what makes Philadelphia a great — maybe the greatest — sports city. We celebrate our wins like no other but we also wear our losses forever. This was a brutal loss but we still remember that botched chip shot on Monday Night Football in 1997. And that blowout loss in the playoffs while we were stuck inside during the Blizzard of ‘96. Oh yeah, remember what happened in 2010?
I don’t know if any city in the U.S. holds onto losses more than Philly. We do that because we care. We lose sleep when the Phillies blow a save, have a bad week if the Eagles lose, still can’t believe they didn’t call the Islanders offside, and are still waiting for Ben Simmons to dunk it. So yeah, that’s why it means more here when the teams do win. Because we care so much when they lose. You can have L.A., Seattle, and Kansas City. I’ll stay in Philly.
A Phillies fan holds up a sign paying tribute to another viral Phillies fan before the team’s 2025 home opener.
We feed off being underdogs
Julia Terruso, politics reporter
Look, I’m not pretending to be neutral here. I went to spring training in Clearwater in pigtails as a child. I fell in love at an Eagles tailgate and flew to London to watch the Phillies play the Mets on my honeymoon. But even non-Philadelphians would be out of their minds not to put us in the top three — let alone the top nine.
Rooting for the Phillies, Sixers, Eagles, and Flyers is a cross-class, cross-generation rite. We’re one of only eight U.S. cities with all four major teams, and our stadiums are actually accessible — yes, Los Angeles, I’m looking at you. Tickets are (mostly) affordable, the crowds are electric, and the fervor is real. We boo because we care. And unlike other cities, we don’t sneer at bandwagoners. The citywide greeting is “Go Birds,” and the uniform is fair game for the lifer who knows about pickle juice and The Process, along with the new Fishtown transplant who couldn’t diagram a wheel play but looks fantastic in kelly green — because everyone looks fantastic in Kelly green.
But the thing that really makes Philly a great sports town is our shared history of heartbreak and near-misses that drives us forward. We’re used to being underestimated. So go ahead, leave us off your list, WaPo. Underdogs run on disrespect, and we’ve got miles to go.
Stand on the South Street bridge at 7 a.m. and you’ll know the time of year, and that says it all. The rivers of medical professionals walking and biking back from their night shifts, and those heading to their morning duties, give it away in unison. Red caps? It must be October. Kelly and midnight green beanies? The NFL playoffs are coming. Blue or black starred jackets? The NBA playoffs are underway and our hearts will soon be broken, again.
I am a Philly transplant who comes from the tradition of European soccer, where rivalry between teams from the same city is the driver of passion. I always thought that there is nothing more electric than winning a derby game, and having your team crowned as the city’s best. But Philadelphia taught me that I was wrong. There is something more electric: a city united, together, declaring love to its teams in every nook and corner.
Jubilant Eagles fans dance around a fire on Broad Street after the Birds beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX.
Philadelphia isn’t just the best sports city in America (“next year on Broad?”), it’s an organism that breathes sports fandom unlike any other place.
The days of throwing snowballs at Santa or batteries on a hated player are far gone. This is the city that gave a struggling shortstop who just arrived in town a standing ovation, that travels in droves so E-A-G-L-E-S chants come through the broadcast of every away game, and has a community of sickos who rode with its Sixers through one of the weirdest experiments in NBA history.
The electric energy isn’t confined to the city lines. It’s a moment that every Philadelphian cherishes. Don an Eagles hat in any other city in America, or even abroad, and you are more likely than not to lock eyes with a stranger passing by.
“Go Birds,” they inevitably say.
“Go Birds!” you respond.
Nothing beats that. And if you don’t like it. All good. We don’t care.
The Washington Post’s opinion section has been having a rough go of it. Which makes me wonder if this list, too, had to be cleared by the Amazon overlord, and maybe Jeff Bezos just hates Philadelphia?
I mean … Cleveland?
The size and scale of the two recent Eagles parades speak for themselves. The fact that there used to be a jail in the bowels of Veterans Stadium speaks for itself. Attending one Phillies playoff game at Citizens Bank Park would speak for itself. “Go Birds,” is a passing “hello” to a fellow Philadelphian in another town, a phrase of familial camaraderie. Due respect to Los Angeles, a city I love to be and eat in. But the sheer number of sports that happen in a place doesn’t make it a good sports city. That’s not human. People and passion make a place.
The Penn Relays at Franklin Field are one of just a few annual sports traditions in Philadelphia.
We have much more than pro sports
Tommy Rowan, cheesesteak/Philly history expert
A criteria would have helped, but really, any discernible or coherent formula would have really pulled that Washington Post list together. Here, instead, are three reasons why Philadelphia is one of the cornerstone cities in American sports …
History: The fabric of American sport was woven here. The Heisman Trophy is named after John Heisman, who played at Penn. The Phillies are one of the key reasons fans are allowed to keep foul balls that land in the stands. All because an 11-year-old Phillies fan didn’t blink when the team had him thrown in jail for larceny.
Tradition: We’re more than pro sports. We’ve hosted the annual Army-Navy game, and the Dad Vail Regatta, and the Penn Relays. Tennis found an American foothold at the Philadelphia Cricket Club.
Passion: Support is an undergarment. This city has passion. Fandom here is passed down from generation to generation, just like their houses. And sure they’re loud, and they generally take it the worst of any fanbafan base. But they’re vocal, they’re informed, and they care. These teams mean something to these people.
Sports fans start young in Philly, as fandom gets passed down from generation to generation.
We know our stuff
Ariel Simpson, sports trending writer
Oct. 9 was a tragic day for Philly sports fans. The Phillies season ended with a heartbreaking loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Eagles suffered a devastating 34-17 loss to the New York Giants, and the Flyers dropped their season opener to the Florida Panthers.
That very next day, I wandered the streets of Philadelphia in what felt like a walk of shame. The heartbreak could be seen on each fan’s face as they still sported their favorite team’s colors. And when asked about the losses, each fan gave me a full breakdown of what needs to be done in order for the teams to be more successful.
That’s what makes Philly such a great sports city. Not only are the fans passionate, but they are knowledgeable when it comes to their sports teams. Sure, sometimes they may rush to call for a head coach to be fired or boo their own teams, but that’s only because they care so much.
They wear their heart on their sleeves and they expect more from each team. And when they do succeed, they show up and celebrate like no other. If you need an example, look no further than the city greasing its light poles in an attempt to stop fans from climbing them in celebration.
The lack of hand-wringing about the Phillies bullpen this offseason isn’t too surprising. By the time everyone finishes worrying about the offense, their palms are raw. Nearly half of the starting lineup from Game 1 of the NLDS is no longer under contract. They need to re-sign or replace their catcher, left fielder, center fielder, and designated hitter. The guy who was their longtime right fielder is a $20 million sunk cost. Other than that, the bats are looking great.
But, hey, save some angst for the later innings. Dave Dombrowski has 99 problems and a pitcher is one … namely, a pitcher who is capable of locking down high-leverage situations. Even if Jhoan Duran is the guy he has been throughout his career, and if Matt Strahm is the guy he has been during the last three regular seasons, if Jose Alvarado is the guy he was in 2022-23, the Phillies will still need a fourth guy who is better than Orion Kerkering was even before he short-circuited in Game 4 of the NLDS loss to the Dodgers.
Phillies pitcher Orion Kerkering posted a 3.30 ERA in 2025.
That’s true whether Dombrowski realizes it or not. You’d think he would by this point in time. But, then, you’d be thinking. Everyone knows the cliche. Doing the same thing over and over is the definition of Dombrowski’s bullpen plan. As the nation at large celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, there’s a very good chance that the Phillies will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of realizing they need another reliever six days after the season starts. The Masters isn’t the month of April’s only tradition unlike any other.
It’s getting to the point of mathematical certainty. If ’n’ is the number of high-leverage arms the Phillies need in order to win a postseason series, then ’n-1’ is the number of such arms the Phillies actually have. Feel free to alert the Fields Medal committee.
Look at the list of relievers who have pitched make-or-break innings for the Phillies over the last several postseasons.
Craig Kimbrel? The Phillies probably win a World Series if they have an elite shutdown arm to pitch the ninth inning of Game 3 and/or the eighth inning of Game 4 in the 2023 NLCS.
David Robertson? He faced three batters last postseason, all in Game 1 of the NLDS, two of whom scored.
Jordan Romano? Nope. Just kidding. He didn’t pitch a make-or-break inning in the postseason. Actually, he didn’t pitch any innings.
Jesús Luzardo? He was exactly what the Phillies needed out of the bullpen in the 10th and 11th innings of Game 4 against the Dodgers. There was only one problem. He was their No. 2 starter. And he will be again.
Phillies president of baseball operations David Dombrowski is tasked with building the Phillies’ bullpen.
Nobody wants to admit this, but the best way to fix the Phillies offense is to build a roster where the offense doesn’t need to matter so much. It’s easy to forget that the Phillies took a 1-0 lead over the Mets into the eighth inning of Game 1 of the 2024 NLDS before Jeff Hoffman and Strahm combined to allow five runs in the eighth. As lopsided as that series felt in hindsight, the Phillies were two shutdown innings away from potentially heading to New York with a 2-0 series lead. They also blew a 1-0 lead when the bullpen allowed four runs in the bottom of the sixth in Game 4.
Bryce Harper and Trea Turner are fast approaching the points of their careers where the next season probably won’t be as good as the previous one. Same goes for Kyle Schwarber, assuming the Phillies re-sign him. J.T. Realmuto is already there, and re-signing him is still their best option at catcher. At some point, building an elite bullpen becomes a more feasible option than counting on a Max Kepler bounce back season.
Unless we assume that John Middleton is going to bump up his spending to the level of the Dodgers, then we’re wasting our breath arguing that what the Phillies really need is Kyle Tucker or Alex Bregman or Pete Alonso. It would be a silly thing to assume. If you are worth $2 billion, then a $100 million contract is 5% of your net worth. Even us common folk aren’t lighting our cigars with $1,000 dollar bills.
Which brings us to the real issue with the Phillies’ bullpen. You have to squint a lot harder to see a fiscally sound path to improvement. The Orioles just signed closer Ryan Helsley to a two-year, $28 million deal after a lackluster campaign. Braves closer Raisel Iglesias took a big step backward last season and will be 36 years old next year. He just re-signed for one year and $16 million.
Chances are, both of those deals will look awful a year from now. Look at last year’s market. Of the 12 relievers who signed for an AAV of $8.5-plus million, seven finished with an ERA north of 4.30, five of whom had an ERA over 5.00. That group doesn’t include the Mets’ A.J. Minter, who pitched only nine innings after signing for two years and $22 million.
Essentially, the success rate on big-ticket bullpen signings was 33%. Even that is overstating things. The Dodgers spent a combined $39.9 million in AAV on Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates and Blake Teinen. The odds said that one of them should have panned out. But none of them did.
Unless the Phillies are willing to shell out $20-plus million for Edwin Diaz, they’ll be fishing in treacherous waters. There are a lot more Jordan Romanos than Josh Haders, at pretty much every price point. Dombrowski has found value before with Strahm, Hoffman and Alvarado. He’ll need to do it again in order to win this offseason.
The Phillies have been relatively quiet so far this offseason, which presents the opportunity for some hypothetical exercises.
Here are three trade ideas for the Phillies that could address their winter to-do list, and reasons that they may or may not work if they came across Dave Dombrowski’s desk:
Infielder Aidan Miller to the Red Sox for outfielder Jarren Duran
Why it could work
Boston already has a logjam in its outfield, and top outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia is near-MLB ready. That makes the Red Sox logical trade partners for the Phillies, who need outfield help.
Duran, who primarily plays left field but has seen time at all three outfield positions, has a controllable contract through 2028. Last season, the 29-year-old slashed .256/.332/.442 and hit 16 home runs. He also posted 11 defensive runs saved, which ranks second behind Steven Kwan among MLB left fielders. He’s speedy as well, ranking in the 91st percentile of sprint speed.
Miller, the Phillies’ No. 2 prospect, would bolster the Red Sox’s infield depth.
Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran hit 16 home runs in 2025.
Why it might not
Ideally, the Phillies need a right-handed bat, and Duran is a lefty. Their No. 2 prospect is a high price to pay for yet another left-handed outfield bat. But that’s likely the cost for a player of Duran’s caliber with three years of team control and several clubs needing outfield help. Even so, it would be a big blow to an already thin farm system.
Duran doesn’t counteract the Phillies’ main offensive weaknesses, either. He had a strikeout rate of 24.3% and a chase rate of 31.1% last season. His career OPS against lefties is .620, compared to .837 against righties.
The Red Sox might also prefer to use one of their biggest trade chips to prioritize their more immediate need of starting pitching.
The trade
Pitcher Gage Wood, pitcher Alex McFarlane, and infielder Aroon Escobar to the Orioles for catcher Adley Rutschman
Why it could work
If Plan A of re-signing J.T. Realmuto doesn’t work out for the Phillies, they will need to turn to Plan B. But the catching free-agent market this winter isn’t exactly robust, so trading for one might be the most logical avenue.
There has been trade buzz surrounding Rutschman since the Orioles signed their top catching prospect, Samuel Basallo, to an eight-year extension in August. Rutschman is under team control through 2027.
The 27-year-old switch-hitter was is coming off his least productive major league season, and was limited to 90 games with oblique strains. Even so, he had an above-average chase rate (21.7%) and whiff rate (14.5%) in 2025. Over his four-year career, Rutschman has a .254/.344/.412 slash line.
The Orioles need pitching. The Phillies’ top pitching prospect, Andrew Painter, was off the table at the trade deadline, and it’s unlikely that has changed. To avoid including their top three prospects — Painter, Miller, and Justin Crawford — it probably would require a bigger package to net Rutschman.
McFarlane, 24, is the closest of the three included prospects to being major league ready was recently was protected by the Phillies ahead of the Rule 5 draft. He finished the 2025 season, his first back from Tommy John surgery, as a reliever with double-A Reading and posted a 4.84 ERA across two levels.
Wood, whom the Phillies plan to develop as a starter, was the Phillies’ first-round draft pick out of Arkansas this year.
Rounding out the package is Escobar, the Phillies’ No. 5 prospect. He had a .270 batting average and .774 OPS across three levels, ending the season with a September promotion to double A.
Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman slashed .220/.307/.366 in 90 games in 2025.
Why it might not
Rutschman is coming off a down year, and the Orioles would be selling low on a player who was envisioned as the future face of their franchise when he was drafted first overall in 2019.
While the Orioles vastly underperformed preseason expectations in 2025, finishing last in the American League East, Baltimore president of baseball operations Mike Elias could be banking on a return to contention in 2026. There’s certainly precedent, after the Blue Jays went from last to first in the AL East in one year. If so, Baltimore might prefer to keep Rutschman around, as he’s more polished behind the plate than Basallo.
From the Phillies’ perspective, sending away three top-30 prospects would be a big setback for a farm system that already is lean. They also would be betting that Rutschman would bounce back from a career-low OPS+ of 90.
And if the Phillies re-sign Realmuto, this trade would be redundant.
The trade
Third baseman Alec Bohm and pitcher Jean Cabrera to the Mariners for catcher Harry Ford
Why it might work
Bohm, who is entering his final year before free agency, has been the subject of trade rumors for two straight offseasons. The Mariners need a third baseman, with Eugenio Suárez now a free agent.
Seattle’s top catching prospect, Ford, is blocked from a starting role by Cal Raleigh, the 2025 AL MVP runner-up. Ford, 22, made his major league debut in September and played eight games for the Mariners, but he currently doesn’t have a path to regular playing time. Ford played 97 games in triple A last season, where he hit .283 with an .868 OPS. Behind the plate, he had zero passed balls and caught runners stealing 23% of the time.
He could make sense for the Phillies whether they re-sign Realmuto or not. After sending Eduardo Tait to the Twins in the Jhoan Duran trade, the Phillies lack future catching depth. Bringing Ford into the fold also would help the Phillies get younger.
Garrett Stubbs and Rafael Marchán are under contract with the Phillies for 2026. If Realmuto signs with another team, Stubbs or Marchán could work in a tandem with Ford as he continues to develop.
Why it might not
If the Phillies are trading from their major league roster, they will have to make additional moves to fill the holes it creates. That means they suddenly would be in the market for a third baseman.
That is, unless the Phillies are confident that Otto Kemp and/or Edmundo Sosa will be a sufficient stopgap until Miller is ready for the majors. But third base is not the strongest defensive position for Kemp (minus-7 outs above average) or Sosa (0 OAA).
The Mariners could be looking for an even higher price for Ford, who is ranked as the No. 42 prospect in MLB.
Luke Murton just completed his first season as the Phillies’ minor league director. He joins Phillies Extra to discuss the state of the farm system, including the 2026 expectations for Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter, and Aidan Miller, as well as less heralded players to monitor. Watch and listen.
Ahead of Friday’s deadline, the Phillies tendered contracts to seven arbitration-eligible players.
Infielders Alec Bohm, Edmundo Sosa, and Bryson Stott, outfielder Brandon Marsh, right-handed pitcher Jhoan Duran, and left-handers Tanner Banks and Jesús Luzardo were tendered contracts by the organization. Both sides have until Jan. 9 to exchange salary figures for 2026, and if a deal cannot be reached, they will head to arbitration.
The Phillies also agreed to terms withcatchers Rafael Marchán and Garrett Stubbs on contracts for the 2026 season, shoring up their catching depth with J.T. Realmuto currently a free agent.
On Friday, the Phillies also agreed to terms with Garrett Stubbs to return for the 2026 season.
The Phillies did not tender contracts to pitchers Michael Mercado and Daniel Robert, who became free agents.
Mercado, formerly ranked the Phillies’ No. 30 prospect by MLB Pipeline, had a 4.59 ERA in 49 innings with triple-A Lehigh Valley this season and also made three major league appearances.
Robert ended the season on the injured list with a right forearm strain. In 15 relief appearances with the Phillies, he had a 4.15 ERA and 1.62 WHIP.
The Phillies also claimed Pedro León, 27, off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles. The outfielder slashed .253/.314/.505 in the Houston Astros organization during the 2025 season. He was limited to 25 games between rookie level and triple A because of an MCL sprain in his left knee. León played seven games with the Astros in 2024.
Twenty-four hours after throwing 96 pitches to shove the World Series to a seventh game, the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto ran in from the bullpen to this: ninth inning, one out, winning run at second base.
It was a legend-making moment.
Halfway around the world, Tora Otsuka chuckled.
In 2023, his first season as a Japan-based scout for the Phillies, Otsuka hosted three team officials, including assistant general manager Jorge Velandia, on a scouting visit. Among their stops: Chiba, a short drive from Tokyo, to watch Yamamoto pitch for the Orix Buffaloes.
“He threw a no-hitter in that game,” Otsuka said this week, laughing into the phone from Japan. “We had all our people watching this one game, and he threw a no-hitter. Only special players do that, you know? I feel like some players have ‘it.’ He’s one of those guys that has ‘it.’”
Otsuka laughed some more.
“When I saw that,” he continued, “I was like, ‘Yeah, I know he will do good in the States.’”
Just not for the Phillies.
Oh, they tried. The Phillies took a Bryce Harper-size swing at signing Yamamoto two years ago. They flew a seven-person delegation to Southern California to meet him and make a $300 million guarantee, plus add-ons that boosted the offer to more than $325 million, multiple sources said at the time.
The Phillies tried hard to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto as a free agent out of Japan two years ago.
But the Phillies have never signed a player out of Japan to a major league contract.
And Yamamoto wasn’t interested in being the first.
It’s a common sentiment. When Shohei Ohtani was courted by teams in 2017, he famously told MLB.com that he wanted to snap a selfie with the Rocky statue but didn’t want to play here. Last year, right-handed phenom Roki Sasaki wouldn’t even meet with the Phillies, a snub that owner John Middleton described as “hugely disappointing.”
And with a trio of Japanese stars available this offseason — right-hander Tatsuya Imai entered the posting system this week, joining slugging infielders Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto — the Phillies are at a disadvantage relative to teams that have been active in Japan over the years, notably the Dodgers but also the Mets, Yankees, Cubs, Mariners, and Red Sox.
“Well, you still compete,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. “Sometimes there’s a little bit more of an obstacle we’re facing. Maybe [Philly] is not the No. 1 place, first and foremost. But you don’t give in to that. You try to create an atmosphere that people want to join, and you’re hopeful that at some time it works out for you.“
Dombrowski maintains that the Phillies have made inroads, even though it’s difficult to see. They employ two full-time scouts in Japan now after years with one or none. Otsuka, the son of former major league pitcher Akinori Otsuka, is based near Tokyo; Koji Takahashi, hired away from the Twins, lives 300 miles to the southwest in Osaka.
With Otsuka and Takahashi building connections on the ground, at the amateur level and especially within Nippon Professional Baseball, the Phillies believe they’re better positioned to attract players.
But when?
“I feel like it’s going to happen sooner or later for the Phillies,” Otsuka said. “Timing-wise, it just hasn’t happened yet. We’re very close, I would say.”
Assistant general manager Jorge Velandia heads up the Phillies’ international scouting efforts, including in Japan.
Playing catch up
It all started with “Nomomania.”
Hideo Nomo signed with the Dodgers in 1995, bringing a distinctive pitching style that translated into major league success. Since then, 72 players have gone from NPB to MLB, with seven teams (Mets, Dodgers, Mariners, Red Sox, Cubs, Yankees, and Rangers) accounting for more than half those deals.
Conversely, the Phillies, Rockies, Astros, and Marlins have been shut out. (Second baseman Tadahito Iguchi and outfielder So Taguchi played for the Phillies. But Iguchi was traded over from the White Sox in 2007, and Taguchi signed as a free agent a few months later after six seasons with the Cardinals.)
The Phillies fell behind other teams in scouting Japan. After getting hired in December 2020, Dombrowski felt that he lacked adequate information about available Japanese players. He appointed Velandia to lead international scouting, with a directive to “build a better infrastructure in how we approach the Far East.”
Velandia tasked scouting director Derrick Chung with interviewing talent evaluators. Chung, who joined the Phillies in 2017 as an interpreter for South Korean outfielder Hyun Soo Kim before moving into scouting, recommended Takahashi.
Otsuka was clinging to hopes of playing professionally in Japan when Chung met him at a tryout for an independent league team. A former outfielder for the University of San Diego, Otsuka impressed Chung with his knowledge of the game and fluency in both Japanese and English.
After a formal interview process, the Phillies hired Otsuka, now 27, as a full-time scout.
Tadahito Iguchi became the Phillies’ first player from Japan after being acquired from the White Sox in a 2007 trade.
Velandia and Chung each make two or three trips per year to Japan. The Phillies send their special assignment scouts, too. Otsuka said this was a “very busy year, with scouts coming in and out” to watch Imai, Murakami, and others in “a very, very solid class of guys.”
“The stuff we were doing three years ago and now, I’d say we have gotten better just understanding more about the market,” Otsuka said. “We’re more dialed in now compared to maybe before. We send scouts all the time to come to Japan. Just the process of everything has gotten smoother and smoother as the years have gone by.”
Otsuka claims that the Phillies’ brand recognition has improved in Japan, too. Amid four consecutive playoff appearances, and with popular stars such as Harper and Kyle Schwarber, the Phillies are often featured on television in Japan.
They aren’t the Dodgers, of course. For 30 years, from Nomo through pitchers Kazuhisa Ishii, Takashi Saito, Hiroki Kuroda, Yu Darvish, and Kenta Maeda, Japanese baseball culture has extended to Los Angeles. And after signing Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Sasaki in the last two years, the Dodgers might as well be Japan’s national team.
The connection extends to the players. Yamamoto cited a desire to play with Ohtani as a reason for choosing the Dodgers’ $325 million over similar offers from the Mets, Yankees, and Phillies. Sasaki made no secret that he wanted to be alongside Ohtani and Yamamoto.
And social media was buzzing this week over a photo of Murakami, who holds Japan’s single-season record with 56 home runs, dining with Yamamoto.
“There is the difficulty of we have not had a player straight from Japan,” Otsuka said. “Players do talk with each other, saying what is a good organization, what is not a good organization. It would be nice to have one player be signed from Japan who plays in the big leagues to have more viewership from the Japan side for the Phillies.”
For a brief time last winter, Otsuka thought he might have found that player.
The Phillies signed Japanese reliever Koyo Aoyagi to a minor league contract last winter but released him in July after he struggled in triple A.
Chicken-or-egg situation
Koyo Aoyagi was a three-time all-star in nine NPB seasons. He won a gold medal in the 2020 Olympics. Three years later, he started Game 7 of the Japan Series and spun 4⅔ scoreless innings for the champion Hanshin Tigers.
But his dream was to play in the majors.
At 31, coming off a 2024 season that he said didn’t meet his standards, Aoyagi signed a minor-league contract with the Phillies. The side-arming reliever attended major league camp but agreed to go to triple A.
Upon arriving in spring training — his first visit to the United States — Aoyagi said through an interpreter that he “wasn’t too aware” of the Phillies’ inability to break through in Japan. But he also acknowledged that “me pitching on the big-league mound will definitely bring some attention to the Phillies that would be able to recruit Japanese players more.”
It was a low-risk, high-reward union of player and team.
And it didn’t work out.
Aoyagi struggled to throw strikes all spring, and it carried into the season. He had a 7.45 ERA with 23 walks in 19⅓ innings in triple A. After getting demoted to double A, he posted a 6.91 ERA and 15 walks in 14⅓ innings. The Phillies released him in July.
But Otsuka, who recommended that the Phillies take a flier on Aoyagi, stands by the team’s process. He also believes in what Aoyagi represented.
“Even though he didn’t make it to the big leagues, just him being on the team [in spring training], that still brought some attention in Japan,” Otsuka said. “I see a lot more Phillies hats walking around town. That’s all I can say. And I hear a lot of people talking about the Phillies just being a really good, strong team.”
Japanese reliever Koyo Aoyagi pitched in the minors for the Phillies last season before getting released.
Maybe. But the Aoyagi experience re-raised a chicken-or-egg conundrum: Do the Phillies have to gain more traction in Japan in order to attract an impact player? Or must they sign a Japanese player to a major league contract in order to really penetrate the Far East market?
The answer might not be found in this year’s class.
Murakami, 26, has prodigious left-handed power but also strikes out a lot and is a poor defender at third base. Okamoto, 30, is a right-handed hitter with less upside than Murakami who also profiles best at first base.
Imai, 28, draws intriguing comparisons to Yamamoto. The Phillies aren’t prioritizing the rotation. But that was the case in each of the last two offseasons, and they made a mega offer to Yamamoto and discussed trading for Garrett Crochet before acquiring Jesús Luzardo.
“When most teams talk to me about Imai, they say, ‘Oh my,’” agent Scott Boras said at the recent GM meetings. “He’s that kind of guy. … He loves big markets. We go through a list of places he may want to play, and, believe me, he is someone who wants to be on a winning team and compete at the highest level.”
But whether it’s now or in the future, the Phillies’ biggest challenge in mining talent from Japan is selling players on Philadelphia.
Velandia said the pitch highlights the city’s restaurants, doctors, and other resources that would make a Japanese player feel comfortable. Otsuka likes to emphasize the area’s golf courses, such as Pine Valley and Merion East.
The fact is, though, Philadelphia has a smaller Japanese population than many other major league cities. As one team official said, it makes sense that a Japanese player coming to the U.S. would be drawn to L.A. or New York, just as an American soccer player going to Spain would focus on Barcelona or Madrid.
“We just spit out all the good things about Philly,” Otsuka said. “We give the most information about Philadelphia, where it is as a city, what it’s like to play for the Phillies. It’s not like the worst sell ever. It has its difficulties, but it’s good. We can make it work.”
It might take a trail blazer, a player who wants to forge his own path. Otsuka intends to find him.
“That’s actually one of those selling points, that you could be ‘The Guy,’” Otsuka said. “You can be the first. When they think about Phillie Japanese players, you could be that player. Definitely the right player’s out there, the player that we want to go after.
“When the time’s right, it’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of time. We have the right processes. We’re doing everything possible now. I think we have all the necessary resources now to actually make it happen. I’m not frustrated about it. I’m just patiently waiting.”
ESPN and Major League Baseball appeared headed for an ugly separation after the network opted out of its rights deal in February.
Nine months later, it appears to be the best thing to happen to both parties.
ESPN has a reworked deal that includes out-of-market streaming rights while NBC and Netflix will televise games as part of a new three-year media rights agreement announced Wednesday by MLB.
Commissioner Rob Manfred also was able to maximize rights for the Home Run Derby and wild-card series.
NBC/Peacock will become the new home of Sunday Night Baseball and the wild-card round while Netflix will have the Home Run Derby and two additional games.
Netflix will have MLB at Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, on Aug. 13 when the Phillies face the Minnesota Twins. It will be the first time the game has been played in Dyersville since 2022.
Netflix also has the first game of the season on March 25 when the New York Yankees visit the San Francisco Giants. It also has the Home Run Derby and will stream an MLB special event game each year.
The three deals will average nearly $800 million per year. ESPN will still pay $550 million while the NBC deal is worth $200 million and Netflix $50 million.
How ESPN benefits
ESPN, which has carried baseball since 1990, loses postseason games and the Home Run Derby but gains something more valuable for its bottom line by becoming the rights holder for MLB.TV, which will be available on the ESPN app.
ESPN also gets the in-market streaming rights for the six teams whose games are produced by MLB — San Diego, Colorado, Arizona, Cleveland, Minnesota, and Seattle.
Even though ESPN no longer has Sunday Night Baseball, it will have 30 games, primarily on weeknights and in the summer months.
Baseball is the second league that has its out-of-market digital package available in the U.S. on ESPN’s platform. The NHL moved its package to ESPN in 2021.
Welcome back, NBC
NBC, which celebrates its 100th anniversary next year, has a long history with baseball, albeit not much recently. The network carried games from 1939 through 1989. It was part of the short-lived Baseball Network with ABC in 1994 and ’95 and then aired playoff games from 1996 through 2000.
Its first game will be on March 26 when the defending two-time champion Los Angeles Dodgers host the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The 25 Sunday night games will air mostly on NBC with the rest on the new NBC Sports Network. All will stream on Peacock.
The first Sunday Night Baseball game on NBC will be April 12 with the next one in May after the NBA playoffs.
The addition of baseball games gives NBC a year-around night of sports on Sundays. It has had NFL games on Sunday night since 2006 and will debut an NBA Sunday night slate in February.
NBC will also have a prime-time game on Labor Day night.
The Sunday early-afternoon games also return to Peacock, which had them in 2022 and ’23. The early-afternoon games will lead into a studio whip-around show before the Sunday night game.
NBC/Peacock will also do the Major League Futures game during All-Star week and coverage of the first round of the MLB amateur draft.
Don’t forget the others
The negotiations around the other deals were complicated due to the fact that MLB was also trying not to slight two of its other rights holders. MLB receives an average of $729 million from Fox and $470 million from Turner Sports per year under deals that expire after the 2028 season.
Fox’s Saturday nights have been mainly sports the past couple of years with a mix of baseball, college football, college basketball, and motorsports.
Apple TV has had Friday Night Baseball since 2022.
The deals also set up Manfred for future negotiations. He would like to see MLB take a more national approach to its rights instead of a large percentage of its games being on regional sports networks.
Kyle Schwarber spent much of his first five major league seasons trying to get things right against lefties.
Joe Maddon watched the struggle up close.
Schwarber was a .198 hitter with a .658 OPS in 374 plate appearances against lefties from 2015 to 2020, and as the Cubs’ manager, Maddon was hard-pressed to keep him in the lineup. After the 2020 season, under an ownership mandate to cut payroll, Chicago let Schwarber go.
It must have been quite a sight, then, for Maddon to watch Schwarber bat .300 against lefties in 2024 for the Phillies and set a single-season major league record with 23 left-on-left homers this year.
Schwarber became a complete hitter in four seasons with the Phillies — and put himself in position to cash in this offseason in free agency. As Schwarber’s market develops, Maddon sat down with Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast, to discuss the slugger’s maturation as a hitter.
Maddon also weighed in on how the Phillies can best protect Bryce Harper in the lineup, the value of experience in the manager’s seat, and more. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation, edited for brevity and clarity.
Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Phillies Extra podcaston Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Q: You managed Schwarber in his first five years in the big leagues, and there were real questions about his ability to hit lefties and be an everyday player. What goes through your mind this year, when you see him set a record with 23 homers against left-handers and evolve into a complete hitter?
A: The guy’s all heart. He comes from a family of first responders. He’s got a great charity organization. I love his wife, Paige. Also haven’t met the baby yet, but there’s a lot to love about this guy. He’s real … and that’s why he fits in so well in Philadelphia.
When we had him there [in Chicago], I wanted to hit him leadoff because of all the attributes that we’re discussing right now, the fact that I thought he had a good eye at the plate, he would accept his walks, and he could put you up 1-0 before the first hitter is done right there. However, he was deficient against left-handed pitching at that time. He didn’t wait on the ball as well as he does right now. … You can see the difference in the way that Schwarbs just lets the ball get to him, as opposed to wanting to go get it, especially against the left-handed pitcher, the ability to hit the ball to left-center has really highlighted that even better. So am I surprised? No, I thought that eventually it would get to that point.
If you’re the Cubs, at that point in his career, it’s hard to be patient. I was criticized for [hitting him] leadoff, even though I really thought it was a great idea, and you’ve seen it’s worked well, even in Philadelphia when they do that. But he really did need to learn a new approach, mentally and physically, against left-handed pitching. And he has. They’ve done a wonderful job.
The other part that was against him was his defense. He had been a catcher. When he came up, we put him in the outfield, and he was a below-average outfielder. There’s no way to describe it otherwise. But he had a good arm. He made some really great throws. And of course, he’s one of those guys, if you tell him he can’t do something, he’s going to prove you wrong, which he’s done his entire existence, from [college at] Indiana on up, and even probably when he was in high school. So these are the things he had to learn. He has learned them.
I’m so happy for him and his family that this all happened now, so that probably, I would say absolutely, a three-year heavy contract with maybe a fourth year as an option is in order right now. I’d love to see him stay in Philadelphia, because I think his sensibilities, his personality, plays with that fan base extremely well, and that’s not going to go away.
However, I know Dave Dombrowski really well. David and I scouted together in Arizona back in the ’80s. David’s a real baseball guy. He’s going to look beyond certain components of this. They know what they see, also talking to him and the impact he has in the clubhouse. I would like to believe he’s going to stay in Philadelphia, and I think he should. I don’t know that if somebody wants to give him a couple more million bucks than the Phillies do, that, I still think Schwarbs is grounded enough that he’s going to go where he wants to go, as opposed to being swayed by a couple extra dollars.
Rob Thomson’s Phillies have been bounced from the playoffs in the NLDS each of the last two seasons.
Q: What do you make of where the Phillies stand in their competitive cycle, and how far do you think they can go with the same group?
A: If you’re going to change things, you’ve got to pretty much make sure that you’re getting better, right? They are good. I like watching them. I watch them often, and I think they have grit. I think they have great camaraderie. I love their leadership. I don’t know what else you want, really. I mean to say that we’re just going to blow this up and all of a sudden we’re going to be as good next year as we were the last two or three years, and then we’re going to do better in the playoffs, that’s kind of a reach for me.
With this group, I would look to tweak it a little bit. I wouldn’t necessarily look to blow it up. There’s just too many good players on that roster, and I really think they interact well.
The division itself, with the Mets, the Braves off a bad year are going to probably be better. But I still think Philly’s the right team, the team that has a chance to repeat again as the champs of their division again next year.
My biggest thing I would look at is, “how do we prep for playoffs? What are we doing there?” My big thing is, when you get to the playoffs, I like to do less and not more. And analytical departments like to do more and not less. That time of the year, you’ve already played all these teams. You’ve played them; you’ve seen them. And then there’s the meetings. If they become more laborious, more detailed, longer, you’re putting more stuff on guys’ plate, that would be the mistake I would consider. So I don’t know this. I’m just saying I would really look at the prep work, because what would always frustrate me, we would go through the whole year, you get to this particular juncture, and now is the time to really let your players get out there, rested body, rested mind, and free. Give them a nugget or two, but let them go play some baseball, which is why we just love the World Series.
… I had Shohei [Ohtani], I’ve had a lot of these guys — they don’t hold on to analytical nuggets when the game’s played. They don’t. That’s for managers and coaches to really decipher before a game. But then again, it has to be distilled. When you get too much information, it only serves to confuse. And again, I don’t know anything here, because I’m not privy to this, but I would look into, how are we prepping going into the playoffs? What are we laying on these guys, and how are we approaching them at that point? Because, quite frankly, they look a little bit more uptight to me in the playoffs than they do during the regular season. Like with Arizona a couple years ago [in the NLCS], I couldn’t believe that.
So, I would really research and analyze my approach into that part of the year. Because obviously the approach during the year looks pretty darn good, and I don’t see that changing. So whatever you feel as though there was a deficiency, yes, try to add on to that. There’s got to be some micro stuff. But to blow that thing up doesn’t make any sense to me.
Watch or listen to the full interview to hear Maddon’s thoughts on protecting Harper in the lineup, his connection with Phillies manager Rob Thomson, and more.
