The Philadelphia Phillies ended up being quite active this offseason as they have made various moves in a valiant effort to retool their roster for the upcoming 2025 MLB season. Whether it was signing players from the free agent market or adding players via the trade route, the Phillies hope that the new blood joining the organization will be the missing pieces to finally put them over the top.

However, as great as their offseason transactions have been, there are still some potential big-time game-changers that Philadelphia missed out on. Those players could have made a monumental difference for the ballclub in helping them to sustain winning and long-term success. Let’s take a look at six of those players that the Phillies and their fans will wish they had acquired this winter.

Corbin Burnes, SP

Without a doubt, Corbin Burnes has been one of the top pitchers in the league for quite some time now. Just taking a look at his glorified resume, the four-time All-Star has finished in the top 10 in Cy Young voting in each of the past five seasons, including taking home the honor in 2021 as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers.

In fact, all Burnes has done so far in his illustrious seven-year MLB career is post a stellar 60-36 record, 3.19 ERA and 1.06 WHIP with a whopping 1,051 strikeouts in 903 2/3 innings over 199 appearances with 138 starts. On top of that, he has even been a monster in the postseason, compiling a tidy 2.33 ERA and 0.852 WHIP, giving up just seven earned runs on 16 hits with seven walks and 25 strikeouts in 27 innings over nine career playoff games. It’s just surprising that Burnes hasn’t helped his respective teams to more success in the postseason with that stellar performance.

At 30 years old and in the midst of his prime, the star right-hander should have plenty of dominant years left anchoring any team’s rotation as the ace of the pitching staff. Even though the Phillies did well in acquiring promising lefty Jesús Luzardo from the Miami Marlins this offseason to upgrade their rotation, it sure pales compared to had they landed a stud like Burnes. It would have instantly converted their rotation into the best starting five in the league, hands down. Instead, he is now the property of their nemesis from the 2023 playoffs in the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Garrett Crochet, SP

Missing out on Burnes may have left the Phillies just mildly disappointed since, after all, they were never expected to be big players in his market. What perhaps hurt a lot more was their failure to acquire elite pitcher Garrett Crochet from the Chicago White Sox.

Crochet was already heavily on the Phillies’ radar, dating all the way back to last summer’s trade deadline. Philadelphia was looking to add the 25-year-old flamethrower to help them with a major push down the stretch last season in their quest for the World Series. Unfortunately, the trade never materialized, and the Phillies ended up bowing out of the playoffs early in the NLDS.

Nevertheless, their keen interest in Crochet carried over into the offseason, and it made total sense. After all, the promising left-hander’s arsenal already screams ace potential at just such a young age. Last season, he posted a 3.58 ERA and 1.07 WHIP in 32 games despite playing for the bottom-feeding White Sox in just his first full season as a starter. More significantly, Crochet displayed his massive strikeout ability with a whopping 209 strikeouts in just 146 innings.

However, the Phillies whiffed a second time this offseason in trading for the pitching phenom. This time though, Crochet did end up getting moved, but to the Boston Red Sox. Philadelphia can breathe a huge sigh of relief that he ended up joining an American League team, but it still stings quite a bit knowing that they weren’t able to get the job done despite having two cracks at it.

Devin Williams, RP

When the Phillies lost Carlos Estévez to free agency upon the conclusion of the 2024 season, it left them without a defined closer for the upcoming year. They could give José Alvarado a second crack at it in 2025, but given his struggles in the role last season, he wouldn’t be a sure thing going forward for the Phillies.

With elite reliever Devin Williams suddenly made available early in the offseason, the Phillies had the opportunity to get one of the best in the business to close games for them for the foreseeable future. In fact, Philadelphia actually hasn’t had hold of a closer with such caliber since the Brad Lidge and Jonathan Papelbon years.

Williams ascended to stardom with the Brewers after teammate Josh Hader was traded partway through the 2022 season. With an ERA constantly below 2.00, a WHIP close to 1.00 and a strikeout rate close to 40 percent in each of the past three seasons, he has certainly solidified his status as an elite closer in the league.

Having Jordan Romano right now may be a great option for the Phillies, but he sure isn’t anywhere close to the dominance and demeanor of Williams at this point in his career. As a result, Philadelphia may regret not being proactive enough at the time to bring in the 30-year-old star reliever when they had the chance before he was eventually traded to the New York Yankees.

Tanner Scott, RP

Another stud reliever that the Phillies probably wished they had right now is Tanner Scott. It wasn’t too long ago when Scott was one of the hottest commodities at the trade deadline last year. After all, Scott had been among the top lefty relievers in the league for the past couple of seasons.

In 2024, Scott posted one of the best campaigns of his eight-year MLB career when he compiled a stellar 9-6 record and 22 saves with a 1.75 ERA and 1.13 WHIP, yielding just three home runs with 84 strikeouts in 72 innings split between the Marlins and San Diego Padres. That impressive performance was exactly why the Padres paid a prospect ransom at the deadline to acquire Scott, who ended up being an expensive rental in the end.

With Scott entering free agency following the 2024 season, it gave the Phillies an opportunity to reel in the promising 30-year-old without having to sacrifice any assets other than money. However, having appeared to have settled with their acquisitions in Romano and Joe Ross for their retooled bullpen, Philadelphia passed on Scott, and he ultimately landed with who else but the juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers.

So not only did the Phillies miss out on a potential difference maker, he ended up going to their biggest rival in their quest for the World Series championship, which is the absolute last thing they needed.

Kyle Tucker, OF

With the Phillies looking for an outfield upgrade throughout the current offseason, they finally settled with Max Kepler when all was said and done. Philadelphia is counting on Kepler to bounce back to his previous dominant form seen in 2019 when he put up 36 home runs and 90 RBI with the Minnesota Twins.

However, if the Phillies really wanted an upgrade that could actually move the needle a lot more, they had that chance when the Houston Astros made star outfielder Kyle Tucker available for trade. Philadelphia had always wanted to add an outfielder who could provide significant contributions on both sides of the ball, since each of their current outfield core members have been either strong offensively or defensively, but not both.

Tucker would have fit the bill, as the former three-time All-Star has both a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove Award under his belt while finishing in the top five in AL MVP voting just two years ago. With the ability to produce 30+ home runs, 100+ RBI and 20+ stolen bases over a 162-game schedule on a yearly basis, together with his career 40 DRS and a solid .990 fielding percentage in 594 games in the outfield, Tucker would be the perfect five-tool player the Phillies have always coveted.

However, a lackluster trade attempt led to the 28-year-old being traded to the Chicago Cubs in the end. Phillies fans were outraged upon learning what the Astros received in return, as Philadelphia could have easily matched it. Instead, the Phillies have been forced to continue to dream on.

Juan Soto, OF

Finally, there’s no question who everyone in Phillies’ nation wished the club had acquired this offseason. That player is none other than superstar Juan Soto. If Philadelphia was looking for an earth-shattering addition to significantly boost their chances at winning it all, Soto would have been that unanimous ideal candidate to get it done.

After all, at just the young age of 26, he has already been an All-Star selection four times, while capturing the Silver Slugger Award on another five separate occasions. On top of that, Soto ended up as the runner-up in the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 2018, along with finishing in the top 10 in MVP voting five times, including in the top three twice.

More importantly, he has proven to be a winner, as he also managed to capture his first World Series with the Washington Nationals in 2019 while helping the Yankees reach the finals just this past season.

In Soto’s seven-year MLB career, he has batted .285 with a superior .953 OPS, along with 655 runs scored, 179 doubles, 201 home runs, 592 RBI, 57 stolen bases, 769 walks and just 696 strikeouts in 936 games played. The scary part is that he appears to be just on the verge of getting even better as he heads into his prime years. As a potential generational talent, his addition to the Phillies’ lineup could have been massive, perhaps even more significant than what Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto have brought to the franchise in recent years.

With Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski always emphasizing that star players help win championships, he sure missed out on the biggest one of all this decade not named Shohei Ohtani. Had the Phillies signed Soto, it would have pulled them much closer to evening the playing field to be able to compete with the mammoth Dodgers. But without Soto, that improbable task of dethroning the juggernauts has become that much more daunting as a result.

If that wasn’t already bad enough, Soto ultimately landed with their division rivals, the New York Mets, on a massive 15-year contract. That essentially means that he will constantly torment and provide long-lasting misery for the Phillies and their faithful for the next decade and a half. With that development, it has sure evolved into the worst possible outcome for Philadelphia in their hopes of winning anything.