The carpet still smelled like champagne that never got poured. The clubhouse was quiet, too quiet, the way only elimination days can be. And a few feet away, Dave Dombrowski sat behind a microphone trying to explain why a team that won 96 games is watching someone else play baseball in mid-October.
He didn’t rant. He didn’t apologize. Mostly, he sounded like a man balancing logic against disappointment. Because the Phillies, in his mind, didn’t collapse — they just ran out of outs.
“We won 96 games,” he reminded everyone. The number rolled off his tongue like a defense exhibit.
He’s not wrong. The Phillies were excellent for most of six months. They hit. They pitched. They won. But the ending looked like too many others — the bats going silent, the margin for error vanishing. And in a city that grades in parades, “close” doesn’t hold up well on talk radio.
So, are they about to run it back?
The front office is convinced the bones are good. What comes next is more tune-up than teardown — a few edges sharpened, a few pieces swapped out, the same blueprint in a new frame.
Familiar faces, familiar questions.
If you listened closely, you could hear Dombrowski outlining the winter checklist in code.
Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto sit right at the top. Schwarber’s power remains the heartbeat of the lineup; Realmuto’s bat tumbled a bit, but his fingerprints are still on every pitching decision the team makes.
Ranger Suárez, meanwhile, is about to get paid like the postseason assassin he’s become. He’s now a Scott Boras client, which means his value will be tested in every corner of the free-agent market. The Phillies would love to keep him, but they also live in a world with luxury-tax math.
Schwarber and Realmuto are real targets, but it seems Suarez could be the member of the trio the club feels most content in letting walk.
The fanbase will go bonkers if Schwarber walks, and Realmuto is really the only logical option at backstop for this club right now given the thinness of the free agent market for catchers.
José Alvarado will be back on his $9 million option. The rest — Kepler, Robertson, Romano, Buehler — are moving on.
But the conversation everyone keeps circling back to begins and ends with Nick Castellanos.
For two years, the Phillies have quietly explored moving him. Now, after the season he just had, it feels less like exploration and more like inevitability.
He hit .250, reached base .294 of the time, slugged 17 homers, and drove in 72. On paper, those aren’t disasters. In context, they’re career lows. His defense graded near the bottom of the league, and for the first time in 13 years, his WAR dipped into the red (–1.0).
He has one season left on that five-year, $100 million contract. If the Phillies are willing to eat a chunk of the $20 million remaining, there’s a trade to be made. If not, an outright release can’t be ruled out.
Dombrowski wouldn’t say it directly, but everyone in the room could read between the lines.
And while the front office has to figure out what to do with Castellanos, they’ll also be listening on Alec Bohm, who’s been in and out of trade conversations for a year. Aidan Miller, the organization’s No. 2 prospect, is coming fast. Brandon Marsh could also be on the move, depending on who you ask — and that's because his path will cross with one of the organization's top prospects.
Justin Crawford.
When Dombrowski was asked who might crash the Opening Day roster next spring, he didn’t hesitate.
“I’m not going to declare that anybody has a job,” he said, “but there will be some people we’re really open-minded to being with our big-league club next year.”
Then he said Crawford’s name first.
The 2022 first-round pick, just 22 years old, spent all of 2025 in Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he hit .334 to lead the entire International League. In 112 games, he stacked up 23 doubles, four triples, seven homers, 46 steals, and an .863 OPS. He didn’t just hold his own — he dominated.
“I don’t know what else he really does at the minor-league level at this point,” Dombrowski said.
Manager Rob Thomson agreed:
“Not much more you can do down there for him. It’ll be very interesting next spring. Those guys are on the doorstep, and a couple of them are ready to go.”
Crawford, ranked No. 3 in the system and No. 54 overall in baseball, is the player who could reshape this roster fastest. He’s the one who makes Marsh tradeable, the one who gives the Phillies something they haven’t had since Shane Victorino — elite speed with a gear no one else on the roster owns.
And he’s not alone. Andrew Painter should finally be healthy enough to fight for a rotation spot. Gabriel Rincones Jr. and Miller aren’t far behind. For a franchise long dependent on free-agent spending, homegrown energy might be the biggest offseason upgrade of all.
José Alvarado will be back on his $9 million option. The rest — Kepler, Robertson, Romano, Buehler — are moving on.
But the conversation everyone keeps circling back to begins and ends with Nick Castellanos.
For two years, the Phillies have quietly explored moving him. Now, after the season he just had, it feels less like exploration and more like inevitability.
He hit .250, reached base .294 of the time, slugged 17 homers, and drove in 72. On paper, those aren’t disasters. In context, they’re career lows. His defense graded near the bottom of the league, and for the first time in 13 years, his WAR dipped into the red (–1.0).
He has one season left on that five-year, $100 million contract. If the Phillies are willing to eat a chunk of the $20 million remaining, there’s a trade to be made. If not, an outright release can’t be ruled out.
Dombrowski wouldn’t say it directly, but everyone in the room could read between the lines.
And while the front office has to figure out what to do with Castellanos, they’ll also be listening on Alec Bohm, who’s been in and out of trade conversations for a year. Aidan Miller, the organization’s No. 2 prospect, is coming fast. Brandon Marsh could also be on the move, depending on who you ask — and that's because his path will cross with one of the organization's top prospects.
Justin Crawford.
When Dombrowski was asked who might crash the Opening Day roster next spring, he didn’t hesitate.
“I’m not going to declare that anybody has a job,” he said, “but there will be some people we’re really open-minded to being with our big-league club next year.”
Then he said Crawford’s name first.
The 2022 first-round pick, just 22 years old, spent all of 2025 in Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he hit .334 to lead the entire International League. In 112 games, he stacked up 23 doubles, four triples, seven homers, 46 steals, and an .863 OPS. He didn’t just hold his own — he dominated.
“I don’t know what else he really does at the minor-league level at this point,” Dombrowski said.
Manager Rob Thomson agreed:
“Not much more you can do down there for him. It’ll be very interesting next spring. Those guys are on the doorstep, and a couple of them are ready to go.”
Crawford, ranked No. 3 in the system and No. 54 overall in baseball, is the player who could reshape this roster fastest. He’s the one who makes Marsh tradeable, the one who gives the Phillies something they haven’t had since Shane Victorino — elite speed with a gear no one else on the roster owns.
And he’s not alone. Andrew Painter should finally be healthy enough to fight for a rotation spot. Gabriel Rincones Jr. and Miller aren’t far behind. For a franchise long dependent on free-agent spending, homegrown energy might be the biggest offseason upgrade of all.
And that's important, because money still matters.
The Phillies finished 2025 with a $290 million payroll, fourth-highest in baseball. Dombrowski knows it will climb again — but not by much.
“[Owner] John Middleton is very supportive,” he 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.”
Translation: they’ll spend, but selectively.
It’s the arithmetic of contention — and Dombrowski’s job is to make those equations work before April.
Because the Phillies aren’t starting over. They’re trying again, smarter.
The Phillies finished 2025 with a $290 million payroll, fourth-highest in baseball. Dombrowski knows it will climb again — but not by much.
“[Owner] John Middleton is very supportive,” he 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.”
Translation: they’ll spend, but selectively.
It’s the arithmetic of contention — and Dombrowski’s job is to make those equations work before April.
Because the Phillies aren’t starting over. They’re trying again, smarter.
They still believe Thomson’s steady hand is the right one to steer them.
But belief without banners ages fast. And this team has officially reached the point where “close” no longer counts as progress.
But belief without banners ages fast. And this team has officially reached the point where “close” no longer counts as progress.
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