Staff Writer
Last year, the Phillies spent yet another season towards the bottom of the MLB standings as the team’s painfully slow rebuild continued. Despite missing the playoffs for the sixth straight year, promising signs of progress in the rebuild were seen last season with strong performances from center fielder Odubel Herrera and starting pitcher Aaron Nola in their second year in the majors. Other young players, such as catcher Jorge Alfaro, shortstop J.P. Crawford, and first baseman/left fielder Rhys Hoskins, were called into the majors for the first time and delivered with promising results. However, even with these prospects likely to improve as they get used to major league competition, the rebuild still has ways to go and playoff contention seems unlikely in the 2018 season.
However, in the last few months, general manager Matt Klentak has led the franchise to a surprisingly busy off-season with a series of moves that look to speed up the rebuild and perhaps push the Phillies closer to playoff contention sooner than previously expected.
First, Klentak made a splash when he signed first baseman Carlos Santana to a three-year, $60 million deal. Santana has hit 57 home runs over the past two seasons and hopes to add some power to a Phillies offense that has been struggling for the past few seasons. If Hoskins can continue to hit with power as well, then the Phillies would have a solid pair of power hitters in the middle of their lineup to help end the team’s run-scoring issues.
The Phillies then made two moves that will give their bullpen a boost. First they signed Tommy Hunter, who finished with a respectable 2.61 ERA in 58⅔ innings last season. They then signed Pat Neshek, who was also with the Phillies last season before he was dealt at the trade deadline to the Colorado Rockies. Neshek finished with a 1.59 ERA in 62⅓ innings between the Phillies and Rockies last season. The Phillies bullpen was ranked around the middle of the pack last season, so these signings could make the bullpen one of the best in baseball.
Perhaps the biggest splash though occurred recently when on March 11, the Phillies signed starting pitcher Jake Arrieta to a three-year, $75 million deal. Arrieta has been one of the most successful pitchers over the past few years, winning the National League Cy Young reward with the Chicago Cubs in 2015 and leading them to a World Series title the next season. While Arrieta took a small step back last season, he nonetheless finished with a respectable 3.53 ERA in 30 starts and will undoubtedly be a huge boost to a starting rotation that struggled last season and lacked any reliable starter other than Nola.
With these signings, the Phillies now have a real chance to make some noise in the National League sooner than expected. They will most certainly improve from their 66-96 record last season, and if some luck goes their way, it’s not crazy to think they could get involved in the Nation League Wild Card race as early as next season.
