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The offseason has begun for the Phillies. Missing the playoffs yet again, they were lucky to not be placed atop the list of longest playoff droughts in the game thanks to the Mariners missing the playoffs as well. The coming offseason offers a lot of uncertainty, not only from a team standpoint, but from a league standpoint as well thanks to the CBA negotiations currently going on.
One thing that is for sure is that there are many, many areas of the team that can be improved. You’ve heard from our podcast that there are several positions that can stand to get better, but there are also other ways as well. How will they improve defensive coaching? What will happen with the player development program? How can they make sure players that did take a step forward in the minor leagues can continue to get better? This offseason offers a chance to step back, take a good hard look at why this team continually underachieves and try to get about fixing it. Missing the playoffs in 2022 is not an option; it is the clearly stated goal for them. They cannot waste another season of Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola’s prime. Doing so would be a waste of money.
On to the links.
Phillies news:
- The Phillies started Sunday by cleaning house a bit on the coaching staff, firing the hitting and infield coaches.
- This is a critical offseason for Dave Dombrowski, especially considering all of the things that need to be fixed.
- Seranthony Dominguez made a surprise appearance this weekend, throwing a scoreless inning in relief and completing an improbable comeback for him.
- Bryce Harper has given the best way for the team to improve, though you have to wonder if the manager is on board with it.
MLB news:
- Chaos did not reign in baseball as the AL Wild Card was wrapped by the Red Sox and Yankees with frantic finishes.
- Shohei Ohtani just completed the greatest individual season in baseball history, one even the Babe would be impressed with.
- The Yankees’ long time announcer Ken Singleton announced he is retiring after the season is complete.
- The Orioles have the top pick in the draft again thanks to a walk off win by the Diamondbacks.
- First, the Dodgers lost Clayton Kershaw and now it looks like they’ll be without Max Muncy for at least Wednesday night’s wild card matchup.
- Shockingly (re: not shockingly), Charlie Blackmon plans on exercising his options to stay in Colorado.