The collective bargaining agreement expires at 11:59pm on December 1st. Either the MLB and the MLBPA will agree to a new CBA by then or we are looking at our first lockout in Major League Baseball since the 1994-1995 season.

The new CBA is one of the reasons why the free agent market has been so hot this year in November. We have seen a ton of big name free agents already fall off the board, with more sure to be coming. Throughout everything, the Phillies have remained silent.

We did get news today that Seranthony Dominguez was signed to a one-year $725,000 contract with the Phillies and has now avoided arbitration. Last month, the Phillies had nine players that were eligible for arbitration. Like I said in that article, only three or four players actually mattered and it looks like the Phillies agreed with me.

According to Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Rhys Hoskins, Zach Eflin, and Jose Alvarado are all expected to be tendered contracts for 2022 if they don’t reach agreements before 8pm. Credit to me for pretty much nailing that back in October.

Here was list of arbitration eligible players for the Phillies this offseason: 

• 1B Rhys Hoskins (returning)
• RHP Zach Eflin (returning)
• LHP Jose Alvarado (returning)
• INF Ronald Torreyes (free agent)
• C Andrew Knapp (free agent)
• OF Travis Jankowski (free agent)
• RHP Seranthony Dominguez (returning)
• OF Roman Quinn (DFA’d)
• OF Odubel Herrera (free agent)

Rhys Hoskins returning is huge for the Phillies. We all saw how bad their lineup looked after Hoskins went down with an injury. It was never more clear how important Hoskins is to the Phillies until we were without him while trying to make a run for the postseason.

Hoskins was on an absolute tear before his injury. Over his last 30 games, he was slashing .316/.431/.768 with 10 home runs and 27 RBI. On the season he finished with a .247 batting average and an .864 OPS, adding 27 home runs and 71 RBI. 

It’s estimated that Eflin will make roughly $6 million in arbitration. A starting Phillies rotation with Wheeler, Nola, Eflin, Gibson, and Suarez sounds amazing and to get Eflin back on $6 million deal would be a steal. Of course there’s a catch.

Eflin had knee surgery again and his season was cut short. It was his second knee surgery that he underwent in on the same knee over the last five years and his estimated recovery time is roughly 6-8 months, meaning that he might not even begin to pitch until early March 2022. 

Jose Alvarado, at times, can be a rollercoaster on the mound. He has major control issues and isn’t the most reliable reliever on the planet, but when you have a bullpen like the Phillies, unfortunately Alvarado has to return. Similar to what I just said about Eflin, the Phillies focus this offseason is filling holes in the lineup and adding more bullpen arms. Alvarado was reliable enough to bring back on arbitration.

The Phillies have a ton of work to do and have been completely silent in the early-goings of free agency. With a new CBA and a potential lockout looming, it will be interesting to see what Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies organization do today ahead of December 1st.