Phillies' Offseason Blunder Now Haunting Them in the Worst Way
The Philadelphia Phillies made a huge blunder during the offseason, and it's costing them.
Video Transcript
So Phillies fans were rather frustrated during the off-season for the team's lack of spending in one particular position group, the outfield.
Philadelphia went out and signed Adolis Garcia to a one-year, $10 million contract in free agency in a move that a team like the Miami Marlins or the Kansas City Royals would make, a type of reclamation project type of decision.
It's not what you expect from a team like the Phillies that is consistently among the highest payrolls in all of baseball.
And Garcia had a really poor year with the Rangers last year, had a sub-700 O-OPS in each of the last two seasons, and the Rangers non-tendered him after 2025.
So that should've been a clue right there.
But the Phillies took a chance on him, signed him to that one-year deal, and he had a 599 OPS through 67 games before now being out for the season due to a shoulder injury.
In terms of center field, the Phillies top prospect, Justin Crawford, who, yes, was really good in the minor leagues, has definite potential, definite talent, but he's got a 621 OPS thus far in 2026.
So the Phillies outfield has been a major problem outside of Brandon Marsh this season, and they're now desperately looking for another bat to add to that position group.
The problem now is the Phillies will have to trade prospect capital to get that player when they could have just gone the easier route in the off-season and signed someone over the winter.
That way, they don't have to give up those prospects.
They felt they could help Garcia rebound, but wasn't the case.
He's actually even worse this year than he was the last two years in Texas.
So this decision by the Phillies during the off-season to not properly address their outfield has definitely come back to bite them here.
They got off to a nine and nine from the start of the season, have gone 31 and 16 since, so they, they rebounded nicely, but it's clear there's still problems on this team, and their really thin lineup is one of them.
And you would've thought that considering they re-signed Kyle Schwarber and J.T.
Realmuto to moves that signal a win now organization, they would've spent more time addressing the outfield rather than relying on a rookie and a guy who was really just washed up in Garcia.
But now here they are, and now between now and August 3rd, they must add at least one outfielder to that group to make that playoff push.
