Blinksportsnews247So far, Philadelphia’s summer has been as quiet as it gets for a franchise that just signed a $172 million contract.
The Phillies haven’t spoken much since they struck early and decisively to retain veteran rotation pillar Aaron Nola on a new seven-year contract worth that amount.
Before Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed with the Dodgers, Philadelphia extended an offer to him, and the franchise is reportedly considering extending Zack Wheeler before he becomes a free agent in the winter of 2020.
Apart than that, there has been almost little communication from Philadelphia. Hard-throwing righty Jose Ruiz has been added by the Phillies even in terms of minor-league free agency.
That’s all there is to it. It’s a bit unexpected for a team coming off of straight NLCS berths and with evident World Series hopes, but there is still a fair deal of offseason left to play out.
Other than Nola and Ruiz, their main additions have been cheap contracts with backup first baseman/outfielder Jake Cave ($1M), swingman Dylan Covey ($850K), and backup catcher Garrett Stubbs ($850K) in order to avoid arbitration.
Nevertheless, it’s evident that the Phillies have more offseason business to conduct. In an interview with Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer last week, President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski stated as much, saying that his team is “not just satisfied” and continues to strive for improvement. In an uncharacteristically quiet offseason by their norms, where may the Phillies look for improvements?
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