Dave Dombrowski is the president of baseball operations for the Phillies, while Kevin Long is the hitting coach. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-USA TODAY Sports
OnPattison's Tim Kelly and Anthony SanFilippo answer your questions in the latest Phillies Mailbag.
@brianros1 on X: Why are they so resistant to the obvious need for a cleanup hitter — which has plagued them for 3 years? The Dodgers beat them because of a better 4 and 5 hitter & yet, they keep pretending they don't need another big bat.
Tim Kelly: I don't think they are resistant to it. They gave Nick Castellanos a five-year/$100 million coming into the 2022 season based off of him hitting .309 with 34 home runs, 100 RBIs and a .939 OPS for the Cincinnati Reds. Across four seasons with the Phillies, Castellanos has hit .260 with a .732 OPS. He's definitely had some moments, but the contract overall has been a failure.
I also think around the time of the Phillies signing Castellanos, they still thought there was a chance Bohm would develop into someone that could hit fourth. He did drive in 97 runs in both 2023 and 2024, but he's definitely not a cleanup hitter.
Both Castellanos and Bohm — who will account for approximately $30 million in payroll in 2026 — will come off the board next offseason, opening up a sizable portion of money.
Spending that much on those two in 2026 — with Castellanos almost certain to be playing for another team — is a major reason why you don't have an appropriate No. 4 hitter. I'm sure Anthony can give some other reasons.
Anthony SanFilippo: Somewhere, deep down inside, in places the Phillies will never let the public see, they know they need another bat that can do the things that most people think is what a cleanup hitter should be. But don't get lost in the fact that it has to be a cleanup hitter — it doesn't. It just needs to be another productive bat to lengthen the lineup.
Too often fans get caught up in the lineup debate, and really the only debate for a lineup should be which players get the most chances to bat in a game, and that's usually the leadoff hitter and maybe the No. 2 guy. Beyond that, it's not nearly as important as most people think it is.
Using the Dodgers as an example, since you mentioned them, in the past two years they've mostly employed either Teoscar Hernández or Will Smith as their cleanup hitter. Over those two seasons combined, Hernandez has 24 homers as a cleanup hitter and Smith has 17. And the Dodgers won two championships.
Now, is that better than both Bohm and Castellanos? Yes, of course. And Tim's right, the Phillies were asking them to be those guys and neither delivered. But it's not like Hernández and Smith were posting traditional, bopper numbers out of the cleanup spot. You want to know who did? Josh Naylor had 47 homers over those two seasons as a cleanup hitter. He played for three different teams and didn't reach a World Series. Pete Alonso had 42. The Mets missed the playoffs entirely in 2025 and now he's in Baltimore. Christian Walker had 41 for two different teams, neither of which made the playoffs. Matt Olson had 40 for the Braves. They also missed the playoffs in 2025.
So, it's not so much about who is hitting where, as much as it is having good production throughout the lineup. Bohm and Castellanos came up way too small for the Phillies, especially in 2025, which is why the Phillies were looking to upgrade both positions.
But you just can't go out and throw another couple hundred million dollars at guys when you already took that swing and mostly missed.
Brian Merkel on Facebook: What are the chances of signing Tatsuya Imai this week? They need him badly.
Jason on BlueSky: Odds we sign Imai?
Tim Kelly: During the Winter Meetings earlier this month, I did a deep dive on the attempt that the Phillies are making to break into the Japanese market.
I certainly think it's an organizational priority, and it would not surprise me if some money became available that otherwise wouldn't be for the right opportunity to sign a Japanese talent.
The Phillies were prepared two offseasons ago to spend $300+ million to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto. It likely won't take anywhere near that to sign Imai, though I projected on Bleacher Report that he would sign for five years and $80 million, which is still a significant chunk of change. John Middleton would have to really believe in Imai, because I don't think the Phillies are otherwise planning to make that type of investment the remainder this offseason.
A Japanese outlet linked the Phillies to Imai previously, though I've yet to see any of the sources we typically read stateside say that the Phillies are a serious player. So while it wouldn't completely floor me, I don't expect the Phillies to wind up signing Imai, who has until Jan. 2 at 5 p.m. ET to sign with a team.
The Phillies made the front page of a Japanese newspaper. https://t.co/iwqajPa5it pic.twitter.com/r0BbJCHDXQ
Anthony SanFilippo: While I wouldn't have called the Phillies a favorite, or a frontrunner, I also believed there was/is interest in Imai. Up until this past week, I was more inclined to believe that they were trying to be as clandestine as possible and that it wouldn't have surprised me if all of the sudden we heard that they were in the hunt or a finalist for him.
Much in the same way the Chicago White Sox came out of left field as the team that signed Munetaka Murakami, I felt that there was a chance the Phillies could swoop in, under the radar, and get Imai.
As Tim pointed out, landing a Japanese player is a priority for this organization, but they don't want to just get one to get one. They want to get the right one. They believed Yamamoto was the right one — and I think everyone saw why in the playoffs and World Series.
Imai is not Yamamoto.
That said, I would expect an answer on who does sign Imai either today or tomorrow as his posting window closes Friday and teams need to get a player in for a physical before confirming a signing. I would have thought, with that deadline so close, that teams who met with Imai, or who made a pitch to him, would have leaked out by now. Other than The New York Post listing the Phillies as an interested team, it seems more like the Imai market was much cooler than he and his agent Scott Boras expected.
That could play into the Phillies favor, or it could just be that their interest level was more "intrigued" and less "hell-bent" when it comes to potentially signing him.
Strick on X: Pretty sure I asked the exact same thing last year. Convince me why I should spend March though September watching this team, only for them to get bounced in the playoffs after the lineup goes silent again. I'll hang up and listen.
Tim Kelly: We're all going to die one day, why do anything?
Anthony SanFilippo: If everyone had your attitude, no one would watch sports because, in the end, only one team can win. Everyone else loses. And when everyone else loses, there's always going to be a dissection about why they lose. If you are so stuck on "the lineup went silent again" as for what happened to the Phillies in the playoffs in 2025, then you likely don't watch enough baseball to begin with. The Phillies lost a very tight series to the best team in baseball. It could have just as easily swung the other way if one or two things went differently. Losing to the Mets in 2024 was bad. Losing the last two games the the Diamondbacks in 2023 was worse. Criticisms in both instances were fair —the Phillies were clearly the better team in both cases and couldn't get the job done.
But each season is unique and different from the ones that happened previously. You can't lump them all together. And the fact that baseball's flawed playoff system had the two best NL teams meeting in a five-game divisional series, and the Dodgers won it, should not be as big a slight on the Phillies as the previous two ousters. Those four games were a pitching war. The Dodgers just happened to win it.
History will be far kinder to the 2025 Phillies than you are.
@Shermaning on X: Are we to believe that the Phils are really gonna go with an outfield of Marsh, Crawford and Garcia on Opening Day?
Tim Kelly: Yes, I do believe as things stand today that the Phillies are going to go with Adolis García in right field, Justin Crawford in center field and Brandon Marsh in left field on Opening Day, with Otto Kemp as a platoon partner for Marsh. Things can change, but I don't necessarily believe that should be expected.
Anthony SanFilippo: While I'm in the camp that doesn't particularly love the García signing, and also in the camp that I need to be convinced that Crawford can play center field (I think he'll ultimately be better in left field), this outfield makes sense considering what the Phillies had as options.
I know what you're thinking — go get Kyle Tucker. Sign Cody Bellinger. Those are unrealistic. The Phillies spend more than all but three teams in baseball, but even they have a limit to what they are going to spend. They aren't going to suddenly dole out more hundreds of millions of dollars for another outfielder.
So, they have to be creative.
Everyone was clamoring for Crawford last year when the outfield debacle was what it was, why then is it not the right time to turn to him now? García may be no different than Castellanos at the plate, but he's a significant upgrade defensively, so that's an improvement.
The thing, I think, that everyone has an issue with is the platoon of Marsh and Kemp. If the Phillies signed Garcia and, say, Harrison Bader and played Crawford in left field, fans would be much happier. But, the platoon could work. I wrote about it on the first day of the Winter Meetings and then on the second day, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski made an interesting historical comparison of how Marsh and Kemp could work.
When you combine their splits (Marsh vs. righties, Kemp vs. lefties) you get a very good player in your lineup.
Tim's right, there's still time for something to change, but it's looking like this is the outfield they're going to go with, and while it may not be a huge upgrade, it's likely marginally better than what they had a season ago.
@jimbobbish2019 on X: Do you think it gives a bad look to J.T. that he hasn’t gotten back to the Phillies about their offer? Personally, it has to me. I’m starting to take Tim’s stance that it would be ok to move on from him.
Tim Kelly: My point entering the offseason wasn't necessarily that the Phillies should move on from J.T. Realmuto, but that he shouldn't be seen as their only option.
I do ultimately still believe Realmuto will be back with the Phillies, but it may take a bit of swallowing his pride. He's definitely going to take a pay cut from the $23.1 million he's made over the last five years. If he also isn't getting the number of years he expected on top of that, you can understand how that might burn a bit.
The biggest thing that stands out to me is that another serious suitor has yet to emerge publicly. Maybe another team will give Realmuto a better offer in terms of dollars and/or years, but if they aren't one with a track record of contention, is the 34-year-old going to walk away from the Phillies? I'm skeptical.
Anthony SanFilippo: It's called gamesmanship, or a negotiating tactic. I wouldn't make a mountain out of a molehill here. The Phillies need Realmuto and Realmuto needs the Phillies. I'm not sure which one needs the other more, but this is simply a matter of who budges first. I still think there's going to be a little bit of movement on both sides. Realmuto will come down in terms of dollars. The Phillies will move slightly in term, and everyone will be all smiles about a two-year reunion with a vesting option for a third year, sometime in January.
@jrburkhart6 on X: If you move Stott and/or Bohm, realistically, what impact bat are you getting back? If both are moved, is Sosa a temp until they deem Miller ready?
Tim Kelly: I never thought Stott — who posted an .855 OPS after the All-Star Break — was a serious candidate to move.
With Bohm, the problem may be that he's more valuable to the Phillies than in a trade. By now, we know what the deal is with Bohm. He's better equipped to hit sixth than fourth. But are the Phillies going to get a better option than him right now? It's not as simple as it might seem, especially if the Phillies don't want to block the position beyond 2025, recognizing that the hot corner is Aidan Miller's most likely landing spot. Eugenio Suárez would be a great cleanup hitter from a power perspective, but he's a worse third baseman than Bohm, strikes out quite a bit and is a 34-year-old that's going to require a multi-year deal. I'm not saying Suárez wouldn't be an upgrade, there's just a lot to consider.
I think Edmundo Sosa is a tremendous role player, and he and Stott were a strong platoon at second base last season. Sosa can play occasionally at third base, but I don't know that giving him three months of runway at the spot would be a wise decision.
If you made me guess, it's going to be Bryce Harper at first base, Stott at second base, Trea Turner at shortstop and Bohm at third base to start the season.
Anthony SanFilippo: Everything Tim said is true, but he didn't answer your question. So, I will.
You aren't getting an impact bat back if you trade Bohm or Stott. Not if they are the key piece to the trade. If they were a secondary piece, maybe. But then, you are bailing out on a high level prospect — such as Miller or Andrew Painter — and the Phillies aren't doing that.
If you were to trade one of them individually, they likely would bring you a quality prospect in return for you to stock the middle levels of the minor league system, and then you can either sign or trade for their replacement.
And as much as they'd like to move on from Bohm — this is the second offseason in a row where they've tried to trade him — unless they get what they want for him, they're better off holding on to him because he does add a little something to the Phillies lineup. He's just not what they need as a middle-of-the-order bat, bringing this whole mailbag conversation full circle.
