God Help Us: Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies head to Winter Meetings with a broken bullpen, a tight payroll and a lockout looming

The baseball world is off to Vegas this week, and the Phillies better not come home empty-handed.

The GM meetings kick off in Las Vegas, and this year they actually matter. The CBA expires at midnight on December 1, and the owners are going to lock the players out the next day.

When that happens, the sport shuts down. That means literally nothing. There will be no signings or trades happening while the league is locked out and all signs indicate that’s where we’re heading.

The owners want a salary cap, the players would rather burn the sport down than accept one, and nobody knows when baseball comes back. So basically, if anything is going to happen ahead of the lockout, it’s going to happen starting this week in Las Vegas.

Three weeks. Some front offices will get aggressive. Others will sit on their hands and wait for the dust to settle. If Dave Dombrowski is in that second group, God help us.

The Phillies Window Is Shut, At Least For Now

Five straight playoff appearances. Zero postseason series wins since 2023.

That’s where this team is. This core isn’t getting younger. Harper is 34. Schwarber, Turner and the rest of the old guard aren’t far behind. The window isn’t closing. It’s halfway shut, and somebody’s leaning on it.

The rotation is still good but literally everything else needs work. I’m not sure how anyone could be confident about a baseball team that needs bullpen, lineup, defense, and bench help, all while allowing Dave Dombrowski to lead the charge in fix it.

It hasn’t worked, so why would it work now?

Fix the damn bullpen

You can debate whether this team needs bats or arms more. I’ll save you the trouble.

A 6.28 bullpen ERA and six blown saves over the last three postseasons. Every October, this bullpen finds a new way to rip your heart out. That’s the priority, and it isn’t close.

Word is the Phillies agree, and Adrian Morejon is at the top of their list. He’s a lefty setup man who will be 28 next year, he’s coming off three straight dominant seasons, and he’s the best reliever on the market.

It’s going to take four or five years at close to $20 million a season to get him. The Padres made him a $23.15 million qualifying offer, so signing him costs the Phillies their second- and fifth-round picks and $1 million in international bonus money.

That’s not something anyone should care about anyways, because the farm system isn’t why this team keeps losing in October. Pay whatever you need to and let’s get some upgrades on the books sooner than later.

If it’s not Morejon, it has to be somebody, whether that’s Steven Okert or JoJo Romero. Going into 2027 without a legit lefty setup man would be malpractice.

The Phillies Offense Needs Help. Bad.

This lineup finished 19th in runs. It needs a right-handed outfield bat, and the two best fits are Randy Arozarena and Seiya Suzuki. Both are expensive, both got qualifying offers, and the Phillies are reportedly keeping tabs on both.

Then there’s Teruaki Sato who has to sign before the lockout hits. Bohm is gone. If the Phillies want the best bat on the market, the time to strike is now, not in March. Throw in rotation depth, infield insurance and a backup catcher who can actually hit, and Dombrowski has a lot on his plate.

“But the payroll…”

Yes, we know. With arbitration estimates, the payroll already projects to be around $290 million after landing at roughly $322 million in 2026. Dombrowski spent his end-of-season presser talking about how tight things are, and how the books are full of huge contracts with no-trade clauses that nobody can move.

That’s his problem, not ours. He signed those deals.

John Middleton wants a ring. The fans want a ring. This core has maybe two real shots left to get one. Running it back with a bullpen that implodes every October and a lineup that can’t score is not an option.

Dombrowski has done this before. Before the 2021 lockout, he chased Kyle Schwarber hard for a month, laid the groundwork, and closed the deal the second the league reopened. He needs to do it again, only faster.

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