The Philadelphia Phillies finished their 2024 season in heartbreaking fashion, losing to The New York Mets in The NLDS in four games. It was supposed to be a team that would compete for a World Series, potentially even win it. But in a year where the expectations around this franchise were higher than they ever were in 13 years, they failed to even advance to The NLCS, a place they had been the last two seasons. Fans and experts alike have been pointing their fingers at more than a few different reasons as to why The Phillies came up short.
This is going to be the most interesting off-season The Phillies have had in a long time. Here are the three biggest questions surrounding the franchise this winter:
Will they bring back Rob Thomson?
Thomson took over as interim manager back in June of 2022, and since then has helped turn the franchise around. They made a World Series appearance that year, were a win away from making another one in ‘23 and helped bring The Phils their first NL East title since 2011. But, they’ve also gone backwards in the postseason each year. The aforementioned World Series appearance in 2022, losing in The NLCS in ‘23 and getting stomped out in the divisional series just days ago. He is well-liked by the players, but after losing to an 84-win D-Backs team in last year’s championship series and a series The Phillies were heavily favored in this year against The Mets, it will be interesting to see if Topper retains his job heading into 2025. He has one year remaining on his contract.
Could Alec Bohm be traded?
Bohm had one of his best years as a Major Leaguer. He was second in The NL in doubles (44), had a career-high 3.0 bWAR and made his first All-Star team. But the last month or so has not been great for The 28-year old. A hand injury in early September kept him out for a few weeks, he hit .170 in the 12 regular season games after he came back, and was benched in Game 2 of The NLDS because of his attitude. The Athletic’s Matt Gelb says that it’s unlikely The Phillies will trade him, but he has been a big topic of conversation after being a part of an offense that only scored more than two runs twice across four games versus The Mets in the playoffs. Bohm himself went 1-13 (.077) in the series. He is still in the Phillies plans for the near future, but if there is a shakeup, he could be moved.
What moves will The Phillies make to fix their offensive struggles?
The Fightins did not necessarily struggle to put up offensive numbers in 2024. They were fifth in MLB in runs scored, batting average, OPS, stolen bases and on-base percentage. Hitting the long-ball wasn’t a problem either, as they were seventh in The Majors in home runs. But, at times the talented offense can go extremely cold. It happened last year in The NLCS in Games 6 and 7, when they scored a total of three runs in the final two games, and in this year’s NLDS when the offense only put up more than two runs once, which was Game 2, when The Phillies lineup exploded late for 7 runs and a one-run walk-off victory. The offense struggling at the wrong times is no longer just a concern, but a real problem. President of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, is not in a very enviable position. Should hitting coach Kevin Long go? Should they trade Bryson Stott? Bohm? Make a big move and trade a name like Nick Castellanos? After what happened this season, who knows what could be on the table.