Winter Meetings kick off while MLB's Hot Stove heats up originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
ORLANDO – The wait continues.
The first day of the Major League Baseball Meetings brought nothing magical to the Phillies, so neighboring Disney World need not worry. Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto and Ranger Suarez remain for sale in the free agent market, and President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and general manager Preston Mattingly pulled no trades in a very quiet first day.
While many expect a Schwarber signing to be the first domino to fall, when and where the designated hitter opts to take his talents will have a massive effect on how the Phillies will be formed for the 2026 season. The leading contenders for Schwarber’s services appear to be the Phillies, Mets, Red Sox and his hometown Reds. It was reported Sunday night by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal that the Pirates made a four-year offer worth over $100 million. That doesn’t appear to be a serious threat to offers that will probably go to five years and approach the $150 to $160 million, or more, mark.
Many gathered for the meetings still believe the Phillies to be the front-runners to land the National League’s MVP runner-up, and to bring back Realmuto, who will be 35 entering the regular season. If that is the case, it would certainly appear to be another “run it back” season for an organization that has made the playoffs each of the past four seasons but been eliminated in the first round each of the past two.
If Schwarber should move on, certainly Dombrowski, Mattingly and company must have backup plans that may or may not include Pete Alonso, the all-time home run leader in Mets history. Kyle Tucker is a free agent outfielder that is drawing interest from almost everyone. Cody Bellinger would certainly lend a great glove and bat to a Phillies outfield that is certainly going to look different from last season.
On the trade market, Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte has been linked in some reports to the Phillies, but that would probably require the organization giving away a prospect or two that they may not be comfortable in parting with.
“I don’t like that expression,” said Dombrowski of “running it back” in a sit down with the local Phillies media.
“We’re not running our club back. There’s already some changes (with Justin Crawford in the mix) and (Aiden) Miller is getting close to playing. When I say that, I’m not so sure that when you win 96 games, that you should really look to have to do a lot of things differently .But you’re always looking to get better so it’s very dependent upon if you sign guys, how much money you spend, who else is available. If somebody’s better than what you have then by all means we’re open-minded to it.
“I think (Alec) Bohm’s going to have a much better year offensively. He was hurt last year for a time period. He drove in close to 100 runs two years before that. I think he’s much closer to that type of hitter than he was last year. I think that’s a pretty good addition in itself right there. It’s hard to find right-handed hitters. I’m not sure how it will fall. We’ve explored all different type of options.”
The biggest option for the Phillies, and for some other teams, is the signing of Schwarber. Dombrowski reiterated what he’s been saying since last season about the power-hitter and clubhouse leader.
“I’m just not sure what’s going to happen,” he said. “We continue to have that interest and there’s optimism but the reality is at this point is I don’t really know. I don’t really know.”
And the need-to-know time period is coming quickly for the organization, and Dombrowski and company haven’t hidden their feelings when it comes to that.
“I think that we’ve properly expressed that (they want clarity soon),” he said. “The one thing that I would not have wanted to do is that I want those guys to know how much we respect them, how much we’d like to have them back. At some point you have to move some things forward. I think that’s been properly communicated. I’m not saying that we’re sprinting forward with a lot of different things, but that’s been properly communicated that we’re prepared to shift if we need to.”
The catching position is a tricky one with Realmuto as the Phillies don’t appear to have a viable option to replace the three-time All-Star, also a treasured presence in the clubhouse. The guess is that he’ll be back behind the plate for the next for years, if possible, but if not?
“We have done very, very thorough job, I would say thoroughly on every position, so it’s not just catching, but any position that we might think we’ll have a hole or a void,” said Dombrowski. “We’re prepared. We’re ready to move in any position with priority rankings.”
While Schwarber and Realmuto are the top priorities, forming an outfield isn’t far behind for the organization, which currently boasts a contingent of players who don’t possess a bunch of power in Brandon Marsh, Justin Crawford, Otto Kemp and Johan Rojas.
“We’ve got work to do, is what we need to do,” said Dombrowski of the outfield. “Really, we’ve got a couple of options with Marsh and the situation that we’ve talked about with Crawford, we’re going to give him that opportunity to make the club and we feel good about it. Rojas is out there. We’ve got Kemp who can go out there and play. We’ve talked about trying to find a change of scenery for Nick (Castellanos). Really, we’ve got work to do, is what it comes down to. We continue to try to make things happen.”
Is finding some sort of power out there, particularly if they lose Schwarber, a major concern?
“Not really,” Dombrowski said. “I really have always preferred having a good hitting club that’s a doubles-oriented team. And that doesn’t fit everybody, it’s usually a generality. It means you usually have a better approach, you use the whole field, and you score a bunch of runs like that. And then some guys have power, and they hit a few more home runs than other years. I think some guys might naturally hit more home runs still. I just assume have extra base hits. I think that some guys may do that just in a natural progression.”
There seems to be a variety of ways the 2026 Phillies team could look. Perhaps we’ll find out some more this week as the meetings progress through Thursday.
Stay tuned.
NOTES
•Manager Rob Thomson is scheduled to meet with the media Tuesday afternoon.
•Pete Alonso, who many have suggested could be the replacement for Schwarber should he sign elsewhere, was in Orlando for the meetings.
•Jeff Kent, who holds the record for most home runs by a second baseman with 377, was introduced as the most recent Hall of Fame inductee after being voted in by the Contemporary Era Committee and mentioned Phillies legend Dallas Green as someone who taught him how to play the game during an interview session.
•When asked if an extension for Rob Thomson had been discussed, Dombrowski said: “You would know that would happen when we would make an announcement but we’re not at that spot.”
•Dombrowski said he does not see moving Trea Turner from shortstop or Bryce Harper from first base at this time. He lauded the defensive play of Turner, saying he made great strides.
•Dombrowski said three more arms in the bullpen to add with Jhoan Duran, Matt Strahm, Tanner Banks, Jose Alvarado and Orion Kerkering.
•The Phillies continue to have interest in bringing on Don Mattingly as their bench coach.
