The Philadelphia Phillies hold a winning record, but a sweep at the hands of the New York Mets is raising some serious questions.
After winning just one playoff game in 2024, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski opted to keep the majority of the roster intact as constructed. The significant winter additions included starter Jesús Luzardo, outfielder Max Kepler and reliever Jordan Romano.
But Romano’s early struggles and the state of the bullpen at large are making it seem as if Dombrowski should have acted with more urgency.
Romano holds a 13.50 ERA in 9.1 innings so far this season, while the Phillies bullpen has the second-highest ERA in all of Major League Baseball at 5.56. The team has struggled after losing two of its highest-leverage arms to new deals this past offseason, as Carlos Estévez joined the Kansas City Royals and Jeff Hoffman joined the Toronto Blue Jays.
In the wake of Romano’s latest issues against the Mets, Dombrowski suggested the team had tried aggressively to retain Hoffman.
“We tried to sign Hoffman, very aggressively, right?” Dombrowski said, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic. “He turned down our offer, and he ended up signing. At the time, he was still looking for more dollars… And we just didn’t feel we were going to match the dollars that he was looking to get at the time. But we were very aggressive in trying to sign him.”
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But Gelb also reported that anonymous sources pushed back on that explanation of negotiations with Hoffman.
“League sources familiar with the Hoffman negotiations disagreed with Dombrowski’s framing of how it unfolded,” he wrote. “The Phillies remained in contact with Hoffman’s camp, but it is unclear whether they ever made a formal offer to Hoffman, even at the start of the offseason. There were more opportunities, especially after Hoffman’s market tumbled following … two failed agreements. But league sources said once the Phillies signed Romano on Dec. 9, they moved on completely.”
Gelb added that there “was no communication between the two sides” after the Phillies added Romano.
It seems there is some disparity between Dombrowski and others familiar with the negotiations about what an “aggressive” pursuit entails. Or perhaps the executive is looking back on the offseason in a different light, as the team’s relief corps encounters significant issues.
But, in any case, the Phillies will almost certainly seek some bullpen reinforcement at some point after taking a step back in the offseason.
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