Following the Wild Card series loss to the Atlanta Braves, it feels as though the Phillies’ window is closing fast, if not already shut.
At first glance, the roster is bad. Trea Turner took a nosedive after securing the National League batting title in 2025. He was one of the worst qualified batters in baseball with an 83 wRC+ and .675 OPS. He did not fare much better on defense, dropping from one of the best defenders at shortstop to the worst.
The young players have not stepped up. After a well-earned start for the All-Star Game, Brandon Marsh posted a .184/.243/.259 in the second half of the season. Among qualified players, Marsh’s WAR in the second half was -1.3, good for 164th…out of 164. Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott spent most of the season fighting to get back on track after abysmal starts at the plate.
Their best prospect took massive steps back, at least in terms of health. Aidan Miller did not play baseball until September 5th. Ideally, he would have been ready to make his debut sometime in 2027. That timeline seems farfetched now.
The high-priced veterans all went cold in October again. Outside of back-to-back plate appearances in Game 2 of the Wild Card, the stars the Phillies pay to lift the team in their biggest moments did not show up.
The bullpen is a disaster. Alex McFarlane was the second most-trusted arm in the bullpen after only seeing significant time with the big-league club beginning in August. The bullpen was in such bad shape that Manager Don Mattingly tried to push Jhoan Duran through three innings of work in Game 1 with disappointing results. Brad Keller, the bullpen’s big acquisition for the 2026 season was unavailable due to injury, not that he would have solved Mattingly’s bullpen issues after a bad start to his season.
The problems that doomed the 2022 World Series team, the 2023 NLCS team, and every iteration of the Phillies since, remain.
It would be easy to look at the position the Phillies are in and think it may be time to blow it up. Trade the veterans while they are still worth something and hope a reset can yield a team that contends in October.
Take a deep breath.
This core is not done yet. Not while they have this starting rotation, Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber.
The starting rotation is dominant. Over the 2026 season, the starters ranked second in K/9. They had the fourth lowest BB/9. They had the second best xERA and the third best FIP. They were a hair behind the Dodgers for the best WAR of any starting rotation in baseball. Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo remain signed through at least 2031, and it is hard to imagine the Phillies lose Zack Wheeler to anything besides retirement. How long he decides to continue pitching is a mystery, but as long as he is still playing, he will remain a Phillie. Andrew Painter returned to the big-league club with a vengeance, providing one of the only joyous moments of the Phillies’ short-lived 2026 postseason run: a scoreless 3 IP performance to close out Game 2.
As for the offense, blowing it up would mean parting with the 13th and 15th best hitters in baseball (OPS). You heard that correctly; Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber remain top-20 batters in baseball. Not a bad place to start when putting together an MLB-contending offense.
You are right in wanting to fix the offense; it has not been good enough in October. The good news is the Phillies will have plenty of ways to improve the lineup. Alec Bohm, Adolis Garcia, Luis Arraez and Edmundo Sosa are all free agents this winter, and the Phillies will no longer have to work around the Nick Castellanos and Taijuan Walker contracts. While there are no superstars available in free agency this offseason, there are plenty of valuable bats at positions of need to give this offense the depth throughout the lineup they sorely need. John Middleton just needs to keep the checkbook open.
So do not lose hope. These Phillies are not done just yet.
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