Immediately after the Phillies announced the signing of outfielder Max Kepler to a one-year deal on Friday, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski made it clear that the team expects Kepler to play a significant role next season.
Dombrowski didn’t stop there, sharing his thoughts on everything from the club’s pursuit of star Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki to what other moves the organization may (or may not) have in store this offseason and what’s going on with Alec Bohm, among other topics.
Here are the main takeaways from Dombrowski’s session:
What’s the plan for Kepler and the outfield?
The Phillies believe that Kepler can — and will — be the team’s everyday left fielder. After a 2024 season that consisted largely of using platoons in both left and center field, Dombrowski made it clear that the Phils hope to avoid deploying platoons at too many positions in 2025.
That means that the intention is to start Kepler in left field, which would shift Brandon Marsh to center field, where he will compete with Johan Rojas for reps. Nick Castellanos will stay in right field.
Are there any big moves coming?
Kepler’s one-year deal was for $10 million, according to multiple sources. That comes after Philadelphia signed reliever Jordan Romano to a one-year, $8.5 million deal on Dec. 9.
Those were strong indicators that the Phillies are being very mindful of their 2025 payroll — and Dombrowski confirmed as much on Friday. Kepler’s deal pushes them close to the fourth luxury tax threshold, at $301 million. Every dollar spent over $301 million is taxed at a 110 percent rate.
“I’d be surprised if we got into impactful-type of free-agent signings from an offensive perspective,” Dombrowski said. “I don’t want to say it’s a tight payroll. From an ownership perspective, I don’t think I’ve ever gone to John [Middleton] on anything and him say, ‘No, don’t do something.’
“But you still try to keep things in perspective. We’re over $300 million in the threshold. Everybody we sign is a major penalty at this point. So you’re cognizant of that.”
Does that mean the Phillies aren’t pursuing Sasaki?
The Sasaki sweepstakes have been heating up after the 23-year-old right-hander was posted at the start of the Winter Meetings.
Like many teams, the Phillies made their pitch to Sasaki — but it doesn’t sound like he’ll be coming to Philadelphia at this point.
“We have not been invited to talk to him at this point,” Dombrowski said. “I’m not making any proclamations because we haven’t been told, but probably running a little bit late if we’re going to be invited to the table. We sent in our original information to him that was requested [and] they know we would very much like to have a presentation, but so far, we haven’t been invited to the table.”
