Thursday brought the arrival of Brad Keller, a high-leverage right-hander to plug a hole that persisted last year.

Friday ushered in a flurry of moves, trading Matt Strahm to Kansas City for righty Jonathan Bowlan and acquiring lefty Kyle Backhus from Arizona in exchange for minor league outfielder Avery Owusu-Asiedu.

“We just like the overall mix,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said via a Zoom call Friday. “We love Keller, really. We think he’s one of the best in the business, the way he stepped up last year as a reliever with the Cubs. So we really like the way the bullpen now shapes up.”

The moves freed up salary, with Strahm owed $7.5 million in the final year of his contract. Bowlan and Backhus are both pre-arbitration. Bowlan is out of minor-league options.

It also shifts the left-right balance in high-leverage arms. The Phillies have a set closer in Jhoan Duran for the first time in ages. Orion Kerkering was the only high-leverage righty before the arrival of Keller, on a two-year deal worth $22 million, while the Phillies felt they had three high-leverage lefties in Strahm, Jose Alvarado and Tanner Banks.

Dealing Strahm evens it out at two lefties and two righties. Backhus could back-fill Banks’ third-lefty role. Bowlan, Rule 5 pick Zach McCambley, newly acquired Yoniel Curet and a handful of other candidates held over from last year (Max Lazar, Nolan Hoffman, Seth Johnson) will vie to fill out the bullpen.

Dombrowski penciled in Bowlan as the sixth guy. He and McCambley, given the risk of losing them if they’re not on the active roster, have the inside lines on the last spots in the eight-man bullpen.

It’s a lot of moving pieces, but Dombrowski hopes it’s the making of a competent bullpen.

Keller is the main piece. The 30-year-old has been in the big leagues since age 22. He had glimmers of success as a starter, going 38-53 with a 4.14 ERA over parts of six seasons with the Royals.

After bouncing to two teams in 2024, the Cubs turned him into a reliever, and he became a shutdown guy – 4-2, 2.07 ERA in 68 appearances, 0.962 WHIP, 75 strikeouts, .182 BA against. His stuff rocketed up – the fastball from an average of 93.8 mph in 2024 to 97.2 with a devastating sweeper that opponents hit .067 against.

“There’s always a chance that you take because it’s only one year,” Dombrowski said. “But he’s always been a good big league pitcher. He took another step forward last year. He was dominant with his stuff. He picked up three miles per hour or so with his velocity. His other pitches are good, too, that we really like.

“So all of our scouting work, our analytical work, our pitching people that have taken a look at him, everybody thinks, OK, this is him now.”

Strahm has been one of the best lefties in baseball over the last three years, going 17-10 with 11 saves and a 2.71 ERA in 188 appearances with the Phillies. His move from a spot starter to high-leverage lefty in 2024 worked beautifully, leading to an All-Star appearance from a first half in which he was unhittable (4-1, 1.49 ERA, 0.798 WHIP in 39 games).

But he was a disaster in the postseason, allowing four runs in two innings over three games. He was solid in 2025 with a 2-3 record and 2.74 ERA in 66 appearances, despite plummeting velocity.

Dombrowski didn’t say that the cost saving was a contributor. He also tamped down on tension between Strahm and the organization, highlighted by comments about not doing pitcher’s fielding practice before a postseason that ended on Kerkering’s error in Los Angeles that drew pushback at the time from Dombrowski and others.

“Matt’s done a good job for us,” said Dombrowski, who added that he would’ve been “very comfortable” with Strahm returning. “I thanked him when I talked to him today for everything he’s done. He’s done a nice, solid job for us. He’s been a good, good part of our ballclub.”

They’re exchanging him for Bowlan, who pitched three games for the Royals in 2023 and 2024 before an established role in 2025. In that niche, he went 1-2 with a 3.85 ERA in 44.1 innings over 34 games.

The 6-6 righty struck out 46 against 17 walks. He throws a sinker that averages 96.1 miles per hour and a four-seam fastball at 95.5. Righties slashed just .182/.255/.250 against him last year.

Backhus is even more of a specialist from the left side, a 27-year-old side-armer. The 6-4, 185-pounder got in 32 games for the Diamondbacks last year, going 0-3 with a 4.62 ERA in 25.1 innings with two saves. Lefties hit just .139 off him, but righties walloped him at a .988 OPS.

Owusu-Asiedu is a native of Canada drafted in the ninth round in 2023. He reached High-A last year, batting .247 with two homers and 21 RBIs in 49 games at Jersey Shore. He isn’t among the Phillies’ top 30 prospects, according to mlb.com, a list that includes four outfielders in the top 12.

Much of the composition of the bullpen revolves around Alvarado returning to form. He struggled last year around an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use, then felt forearm tightness upon returning in September. There are no lingering injury concerns for the hard-throwing lefty, though, Dombrowski said.

“We think he’s going to be the normal Alvarado,” he said. “We’ve been in contact with him this winter. He’s feeling good. So we feel like he’s going to bounce back and be the same guy. We’re not injury concerned.”

The Phillies have a framework of what they want to do with their bullpen. Last year, they cycled through Jordan Romano, Joe Ross, Carlos Hernandez, Tim Mayza, David Robertson and Lou Trivino, yet still with the season on the line in the National League Division Series rode Jesus Luzardo on two day’s rest.

The organizational cupboard isn’t exactly bare, but it’s in need of replenishment. Live arms early in their careers are a safer bet than the veteran set of ex-closers (Robertson, Craig Kimbrel, Corey Knebel, Archie Bradley) that the Phillies have tended to gravitate toward.

Keller is coming off a terrific season with the Chicago Cubs, going 4-2 with a career-low 2.07 ERA in 68 appearances. He struck out 75 in 69 2/3 innings.

The 30-year-old worked out of the bullpen last year also has 117 career starts. Ranger Suárez, a key member of Philadelphia’s rotation this season, is a free agent.

Keller’s guarantee matches the $22 million, two-year deal Luke Weaver struck Wednesday with the New York Mets.

The Phillies won the NL East this year for the second straight season. They were eliminated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a four-game Division Series.

The Phillies answered one major offseason question when they re-signed Kyle Schwarber to a $150 million, five-year contract. Adolis García is expected to play right field for the team after finalizing a $10 million, one-year contract on Tuesday.

Longtime Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto remains a free agent, along with Suárez and outfielder Harrison Bader.

Keller was an eighth-round pick by Arizona in the 2013 amateur draft. He made his major league debut with Kansas City in 2018, going 9-6 with a 3.08 ERA in 20 starts and 21 relief appearances.

Keller is 42-59 with a 4.14 ERA and five saves in 234 career games, also playing for the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox.

Garcia was officially signed on Tuesday to a one-year, $10 million deal. It’s a chance for the former Texas Ranger to prove that he’s closer to the 39-homer guy from 2023 than the player averaging 22 homers and a batting average in the .220s the last two seasons.

“We all spoke together, and I want to be able to focus on being a better version of myself, to add a piece to this winning team,” Garcia said via a translator on a Zoom call with media. “There’s a great team involved. I just want to go and play my defense, and hopefully my bat will be there. And I just want to be a piece that contributes to this good team.”

The Phillies add some right-handed thump to an order perpetually short on it. It’s a chance to replace the frequent offensive frustrations of Nick Castellanos with someone who, even if he mimics those shortcomings at least will pair it with plus-level defense. And if Garcia is again the player who was voted the ALCS MVP and received regular-season MVP votes in 2023, the Phillies will have hit on a middle-of-the-order righty to protect (and hopefully get the most out of) Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber.

But there’s a lot of conditionals in there. They hinge on a guy 3,000 big-league plate appearances into a pro career that included a year in Japan after defecting from his native Cuba changing traits that seem pretty fundamental to his approach at the plate.

All the talking points are aligned at least. When Garcia hits the ball, he hits it hard and on the barrel, at a borderline elite level. But he takes few walks – his walk rate plummeted from an unsustainable 74 percent in 2023 when pitchers tried to avoid him to 36 percent in 2024 to 12 percent in 2025. His whiff rate in 2024 was one of the worst in baseball at 34.3 percent. He reaches base at lower than a .300 clip for his career.

But if he can get back to being the .836 OPS hitter he was in 2023, and if his defense can return to 2023 and 2025 levels around a one-year dip … there goes those ifs again.

He’s at least aware of them, and he knows a change of scenery from the quick dissolution of the Rangers’ championship core in 2023 offers space to make changes.

“We are on the same page,” Garcia said. “I’m going to do whatever it takes to do the little adjustment that I need today, that I need to do the last couple years. I’m ready to go with the mentality of being one of the guys in the team that we can conquer all the things and all the goals that we have together.”

“There’s the emotional part of it where you’re trying to do too much, trying to put the team on your shoulders, that comes into play,” manager Rob Thomson said. “And then there’s the physical part of it too. It’s body- and mind-related. But for Adolis, being a right-handed hitter, thinking about staying on the ball, thinking a little bit more about right-center field and just cutting down the swing and making better decisions. And that comes with reps and different drills, and our hitting coaches will be all over that.”

Garcia is the latest outfield help to arrive on a one-year deal. The $7 million paid to Whit Merrifield in 2024 didn’t reach the end of July. Max Kepler, on whom the Phillies spent $10 million, barely survived July before a late-summer surge.

With Garcia, the Phillies have an outfield rotation built. Justin Crawford will get every opportunity to be the everyday center fielder. Brandon Marsh and Otto Kemp will platoon in left, with Marsh as Crawford’s backup. Johan Rojas and Weston Wilson are on the periphery. At 24 and off a strong first season in Triple A, Gabriel Rincones is knocking on the door. Nick Castellanos will begin the season in someone else’s employ, though much of his $20 million contract will probably still come from John Middleton’s pocket.

Garcia will, if his play allows it, own the everyday job in right. Another if.

“He has to be in a position that he performs, and he’s aware of that,” President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski said. “We think he can do it. Very good defensively, and also from an offensive perspective, of course, has a lot of tools. We think he’ll be able to do that.”

The arrival of Garcia should end the Phillies’ outfield shopping, which closes the door on a Harrison Bader return.

That includes a firm opening for Crawford to fight for a job. The first-round pick in 2022 hit .334 in Triple A last year. It’s telling that Thomson called Crawford ahead of the Garcia announcement so that the soon-to-be 22-year-old heard it from him first, reiterating that it in no way affects his pathway.

“If you’re going to give Crawford an opportunity, you’ve got to give it to him,” Dombrowski said. “And that’s where we are. We’re going to give them the opportunity to go out there and have a chance to play a lot. So basically, our, I think our outfield is pretty well set.”

The Phillies have to find a catcher; retaining J.T. Realmuto is the priority, but Dombrowski said negotiations with the free agent are “not a lot different than where we’ve been in the past.” Alterations to the bullpen around the margins are always on the table.

Otherwise, the group of players who will compete for jobs at the outset of spring training seems to be largely in place.

And if Garcia is the version of himself that he’s been in the past, it could be a tidy bit of business.

That is, again, if.

“The focus is not to be a hero, to have good at bats, the concentration, the focus level, the approach of things,” Garcia said. “Just be within myself.”

García, who turns 33 in March, gives the Phils a right-handed hitter with a track record of thunderous power — and also a history of swing-and-miss — as they reshape an outfield that lagged behind their pitching and star-studded infield core.

García is expected to take over in right field for Nick Castellanos, whom the Phillies plan to either trade or release this offseason to save money.

It wasn’t long ago that García looked like one of the sport’s most impactful two-way corner outfielders. He was the ALCS MVP and a centerpiece of the Texas Rangers’ 2023 World Series championship, punctuating that October run with eight postseason homers, a 1.108 OPS and a single-postseason record 22 RBIs. He also hit a walk-off homer in Game 1 of the World Series.

In the regular season that year, García posted career highs with 39 home runs, 107 RBIs and an .836 OPS while earning his second All-Star nod and a Gold Glove.

Since then, his production has declined.

García’s OPS dropped below .700 in both 2024 and 2025. The Rangers elected not to tender him last November rather than carry him into what would have been his final year of arbitration. (Not tendering a player means letting him walk when he is still under team control.)

Last season, García hit .227 with 19 homers, 75 RBIs and a .665 OPS — numbers that reflect both the volatility and the power that still lurk in his profile. In his six full seasons in the majors (after playing in Japan), he has struck out 175 times or more in five of them.

The Phils are banking on the power indicators. García still hits the ball hard when he connects — including a 92.1 mph average exit velocity — but his approach can veer toward boom-or-bust. His chase rate spiked last season, and his contact metrics trended in the wrong direction, a familiar trade-off for some hitters who live on major damage.

The Phillies already have a bunch of feast-or-famine hitters who chase.

Even if García’s bat doesn’t fully return to its 2023 form, he brings a defensive floor the Phillies need in right field, despite Castellanos’ improvement. After a rough defensive season in 2024, García rebounded with plus marks in 2025, including 16 defensive runs saved in the outfield.

The Phils would love to re-sign center fielder Harrison Bader, who was a sparkplug late last season after his acquisition at the trade deadline, but he may command too high a price on the open market.

Meanwhile, Philly has been eager to turn the page from Castellanos in right.

Castellanos, owed $20 million in the final year of his contract, is widely expected to be traded or released before spring training. Though he has had stretches of productivity here, the Phillies have made clear, through both their shopping of Castellanos and this signing, that they want more athleticism, more run prevention, and a right-field fit that better complements the rest of a roster built to win in October.

In García, they’re getting a player who has thrived on the postseason stage — and who now arrives with something to prove.

—

Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc for the latest updates.

Curet, who turned 23 last month, had been designated for assignment. The Phillies shipped minor leaguer Tommy McCollum in the other direction.

Curet is a 6-2, 250-pound righty. He signed with Tampa at age 18, rising as high as Triple A, mostly as a starter.

He posted a 6.03 ERA in eight games, including seven starts, covering 31.1 innings last year. He walked 26 and struck out 35 for a WHIP just under 2.

He was better in Double A, with a 1.45 ERA in five starts. He made 14 starts and 16 appearances across all levels in 2025.

He can be a power pitcher — he struck out 144 in 104 innings in 2023 and 159 in 119 innings in 2024 — especially if he transitions to the bullpen.

He had been ranked the 22nd best prospect in the Rays system, per MLB.com. He joins the Phillies’ 40-man roster, which stands at 35 players.

McCollum was an undrafted free agent in 2021.

The 26-year-old righty out of Wingate reached Triple A for three games in 2025. He posted a 3.88 ERA in 47 appearances and 55.2 innings across three levels in 2025, including 37 games with a 4.20 ERA and nine saves with Double-A Reading.

A veteran slugger who’s been around the free-agent block before, he did his diligence and took his meetings. He fielded offers and interest, in varying shades, with Cincinnati and Pittsburgh two of the clubs reportedly hottest for the services of the reigning National League home run and RBI champ.

But when all the information was before him, Schwarber and his wife Paige, with a new family addition expected imminently, didn’t forget where the offseason started.

It began in a meeting with Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, about his goals for a roster core of which Schwarber has been a key component since 2022 and the club’s soft pitch to retain him. It included an afternoon with owner John Middleton, talking baseball, family and much more.

“Those were conversations that I just never forgot,” Schwarber said via Zoom from his home in Ohio Wednesday, a day after signing a five-year contract to stay with the Phillies. “You go through the offseason, you start having different conversations with different teams, and just because those conversations were more fresh doesn’t mean that anything was forgotten. I know that was an important time and important conversations with Dave and Mr. Middleton.”

Whatever else the Phillies have or haven’t accomplished in a four-year stretch of playoff appearances that has yielded one pennant and two National League East titles, they’ve engendered a level of loyalty to the project. It was part of the lure for Trea Turner in free agency three years ago. It induced Aaron Nola to eschew free agency for a long-term deal last winter.

And now it’s brought back Schwarber. In the face of comparable offers, familiarity and family played a role in retaining the 32-year-old, perhaps for the bulk of a career trending toward 500 career home runs.

“You can look at everything, and knowing that John is committed to winning, and that Dave wants our organization to continue to keep pushing for a world championship, and we want to continue to win the East, what else for a player can you ask for (than) to win?,” Schwarber said. “… Those are things that are driving factors on a daily basis that, it’s not a given. Everything’s earned in our game.”

It’s not exactly a hometown discount, Schwarber going from a four-year, $79 million deal at age 28 in the winter before the 2022 season to five years and $150 million. It’ll take him through his age 37 season in red pinstripes, for a player who averaged 46 homers and 108 RBIs in his first four seasons in town. Five seasons at an average of 32 homers per would get Schwarber, who collected his 1,000th career hit and 300th career home run this season, over the hallowed 500-homer mark.

With Schwarber, the Phillies have averaged 92 wins per season since 2022. They reached the World Series that first year. While consecutive National League East titles have ended in Division Series eliminations, Schwarber is part of a nucleus that Dombrowski and company have looked long and hard at in divining what they’re willing to risk losing in order to improve.

The term and cost for a player Schwarber’s age who is essentially just a designated hitter by his early 30s is unusual. But Schwarber breaks the paradigm, beyond his history as a phenom who debuted in the bigs a little over a year after being drafted, then helped the Cubs end their legendary World Series drought after just 71 regular-season games thanks to his 2016 injury. His non-tender from the Cubs after the pandemic-shortened 2020 and his show-me year with Washington and Boston in 2021 rarely lead to one big contract much less two.

But Schwarber has shown improvement at every stage, from a batting average bouncing 51 points from 2023 to 2024, to a home run total rising by 18 from 2024 to 2025. His hard-won ability to hit lefties at a historic pace – his 23 homers off lefties in 2025 was the MLB record for a left-handed batter and more than he’d hit in his first seven seasons combined – is evidence of sustained change that eases the risk.

The caveats about the quick decay of power hitters in their 30s may not track for a player like Schwarber, given his nonpareil pitch selection and the compact venom of his swing. That’s in addition to his desire for constant refinement and improvement: Much as he still smarts from the Cubs non-tender, he referenced multiple times Wednesday that he wasn’t a “minor-league grinder” in his big league trajectory, emphasizing how he’s come to internalize those traits later in his career.

“There’s still things to improve on,” he said. “The nature of having experience and to realizing that you can come out on the other side of things, I think it’s given me a whole new kind of perspective on baseball, and it’s way more enjoyable, to be in that slump or whatever it is, and know that you’ll come out on the other side and you know what you have to do to get out of it.”

He’ll continue to navigate the good and the bad in Philadelphia, where he and his family are well-established. He cited moments with fans – he owns a faux constitution petitioning Middleton to re-sign him that a fan created – as poignant for him. As he vetted potential suitors, he asked not just about money and championship aspirations but about the non-baseball aspects, like organizations’ disposition toward the various charitable causes to which Schwarber devotes so much time.

If all other monetary terms were equal, Schwarber had the chance to pursue titles in Philadelphia, with people whose goals were aligned to his on and off the field. He could do it while being a beloved icon in a city he’s developed so much affection for.

“I think resonating with an organization and resonating with a fanbase is a huge part of you why you do it,” he said. “You want people, you want young kids, you want anyone to be at a game and at the end of the day look up and you want them to be wearing your jersey, or look at their mom and dad and say, hey, I want to be like Kyle or whatever it is. Those are things that you don’t take lightly.”

In the end, that was more than enough.

While they added a pitcher in McCambley, the Phillies also lost one when the Washington Nationals selected Griff McCarry.

McCambley, 26, spent the 2025 season with triple-A Jacksonville and double-A Pensacola in Miami’s organization, going 2-3 with a 2.90 ERA (20 ER, 62.0 IP), 83 strikeouts and 22 walks in 47 combined appearances.

Thirty-five of his appearances were scoreless, and he pitched more than 1.0 inning in 20 games this season. The 6-foot-2 righthander recorded multiple strikeouts in 23 of his outings, including a season-high five batters in 2.2 innings on April 23 vs Knoxville.

After graduating from Pocono Mountain East in 2017, he went to Coastal Carolina and then was taken by the Marlins in the third round of the 2020 MLB Draft.

In 134 career minor league games (40 starts), he has gone 17-22 with a 4.27 ERA (152 ER, 320.1 IP), 383 strikeouts, 142 walks, a 1.30 WHIP and a .231 opponent’s average while striking out 28.0 percent of batters faced (383-1370).

McGarry was the highest profile name left unprotected by the Phillies. It  ends a torturous few seasons for the fifth-round pick in the 2021 draft.

The righty was touted as a top prospect, rocketing to Triple A by the end of his second pro season in 2022. But he endured a disastrous 2023, with a 6.00 ERA in 17 starts, including 20 earned runs allowed in 4.2 innings in Triple A.

His wildness abated in 2024, but injuries limited him to 30 relief appearances, including a 4.70 ERA in 30.2 innings in Triple A. He returned to the rotation in Double A in 2025, going 1-4 with a 3.25 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 72 innings over 17 starts.

At 26, the California native has potential as a reclamation project. A change of scenery might hasten it.

In the minor league phase, the Phillies selected outfielder Austin Murr from Detroit and right-handed pitcher Evan Gates from San Francisco. They lost first baseman Carson Taylor to Seattle.

Murr may be a casualty of the depth in the Tigers’ organization. The sixth-round pick in 2021 out of NC State hit .239 in 71 games in Double A in 2024, then spent much of 2025 in High-A, where he hit .280 with an .837 OPS in 72 games. He got 11 games in Triple A, batting .208 with a home run. The 26-year-old played mostly corner outfield.

Gates is a 6-foot, 27-year-old righty who went undrafted out of North Carolina A&T. He reached Triple A with the Giants in 2024, posting a 7.20 ERA and a .327 batting average against in 20 innings. In Double A in 2025, he had a 3-2 record, 3.23 ERA and five saves in 69.2 innings over 41 appearances. He struck out 80 batters, walked 31 and held batters to a .238 average.

Taylor was taken by the Phillies from the Dodgers in the minor league rule 5 draft in 2024. He played 109 games in Double A in 2024, batting .277 with 16 homers and 75 RBIs, but was limited to just three games in 2025 at Lehigh Valley due to a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

A lefty who stands 5-11, 205 pounds, the 26-year-old was drafted in the fourth round out of Virginia Tech as a catcher but played primarily as a first baseman and DH in 2024.

Multiple outlets reported on Tuesday that Schwarber had agreed to a $150 million, five-year contract with the Phillies. ESPN was the first to report on the deal, citing unidentified sources.

Schwarber had been one of the biggest names in free agency. His new contract with Philadelphia could lead to more activity at baseball’s winter meetings as his other suitors execute their alternative plans.

Schwarber is coming off a terrific season with the Phillies, setting career highs with an NL-best 56 homers and a major league-high 132 RBIs. He also scored a career-high 111 runs while leading the club to its second straight NL East title.

Schwarber’s 23 homers against left-handed pitching set a major league record for a lefty batter, passing Stan Musial (1949) and Matt Olson (2021) at 22.

He won this year’s All-Star Game for the NL by swatting three homers in a tiebreaking swing-off, and he finished second in the NL MVP race behind Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani.

“Good for him, man. He earned it,” said Boston manager Alex Cora, who had Schwarber on the Red Sox in 2021.

The 32-year-old Schwarber rejected a $22,025,000 qualifying offer from Philadelphia in November.

Schwarber grew up in southwest Ohio before playing his college ball at Indiana. He was selected by the Chicago Cubs with the No. 4 pick in the 2014 amateur draft.

He was at the beginning of his second year with Chicago in 2016 when he tore two ligaments in his left knee in an outfield collision during an April game in Arizona. It was believed to be a season-ending injury, but he returned for Game 1 of the World Series and helped the Cubs to the franchise’s first championship since 1908.

Schwarber is a .234 hitter with 23 homers and 37 RBIs in 73 career playoff games. He went deep twice in the NL Division Series this year against the Dodgers.

Schwarber hit 38 homers for Chicago in 2019, but he was non-tendered by the team after he batted just .188 in 59 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

He signed a $10 million, one-year contract with Washington in January 2021. After clubbing 25 homers in 72 games for the Nationals, he was traded to Boston at the deadline. He helped the Red Sox reach the AL Championship Series before they were eliminated by Houston.

Following his rebound season, Schwarber signed a $79 million, four-year deal with Philadelphia in March 2022. He flourished with the Phillies, belting 187 homers and driving in 434 runs in 627 games.

He hit his 300th career homer on May 19 at Colorado. He recorded his 1,000th hit on his 319th homer on July 25 at the New York Yankees.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

But he impressed enough in those six scoreless innings that the Phillies decided to give him a chance in the rotation two weeks later. After a tough 2024 season, Abel was a bit of a revelation for the Phillies early on as their fifth starter.

And while he was ultimately sent back to triple A in July to reset after some struggles with command, his turnaround continued to impact the major league club when he was traded to the Minnesota Twins as part of the package for Jhoan Duran.

Of the players yet to make their major league debuts, who could be the Abel of 2026? Let’s take a look at the Phillies’ pitching prospects who are the most likely to make a major league impact next season.

Andrew Painter

Plenty of ink has been devoted to the subject of Painter’s major league debut since at least 2023, when he was under consideration for the Phillies’ rotation at age 19.

A ligament sprain and subsequent Tommy John elbow surgery delayed that timeline. But once he returned to the mound in 2025, it was expected he would figure into the Phillies’ plans by the summer.

That didn’t happen, either.

The Phillies were pleased with the quality of Painter’s stuff and his velocity. But command is typically the last thing that returns to a pitcher after Tommy John surgery, and that’s what Painter struggled with the most in 2025. He had a 5.40 ERA and issued 3.9 walks per nine innings at triple-A Lehigh Valley, and the call-up never arrived.

“I think everybody was excited about getting him back,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said in September. “I think at the end of the day you look back on it, you say, ‘First time going through this, it usually takes two years for a guy to come back [from Tommy John].’ I think we can all look back and think, ‘Man, [we] probably should have expected this.’”

Given that he remains healthy, next season should be different. Painter will have a normal offseason and spring for the first time since 2023. He will again enter camp in contention for a rotation spot, and this time he isn’t a teenager; he’ll turn 23 in April.

There figures to be a place for him, too. Ranger Suárez is likely to command a big contract as one of the top left-handers on the free-agent market, and unless the Phillies outbid pitching-starved teams or make a splash elsewhere, that would leave an opportunity for Painter to break camp with the team.

“We’re optimistic that with a regular offseason training program and getting ready to come in the season, that he’ll be able to regain that [command],” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said.

Jean Cabrera

At the general managers’ meetings last month, Dombrowski pointed to the 24-year-old Cabrera as the Phillies’ current minor league starting pitching depth beyond Painter.

“You never have enough starting pitching,” he said. “And really, for us, after you get past Painter, now you’re talking about Cabrera, [who] would be one of those guys. But we don’t have a lot of starting pitching, so that’s something we’re going to be cognizant of.”

Cabrera spent the 2025 season with double-A Reading, where he posted a 3.81 ERA and 1.23 WHIP over a career-high 137 innings. The right-hander allowed just 0.72 home runs per nine innings. Cabrera has been on the Phillies’ 40-man roster since 2024, when he was added as protection from the Rule 5 draft.

Cabrera was consistent in terms of workload last season. He made 26 starts and none was shorter than 4⅓ innings. In the event of an injury or if a spot start is needed, Cabrera provides the Phillies with crucial starting depth.

Alex McFarlane

McFarlane was added to the Phillies’ 40-man roster last month ahead of the Rule 5 draft, signaling the team’s faith in the 24-year-old righty.

Like Painter, McFarlane is coming off his first full season back after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2023. He had a stronger second half, with a 2.54 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in his last 39 innings compared to a 7.02 ERA and 1.71 WHIP in his first 41 innings.

That improvement also came with a move to the bullpen in August. McFarlane was promoted from high-A Jersey Shore to double-A Reading in September to finish out the year.

With a fastball that can touch 100 mph, McFarlane could be possible bullpen depth for the Phillies in 2026.

Griff McGarry

It’s possible that McGarry could find himself in a new organization come Dec. 11, as he was left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft for the second year in a row.

Another team can pay the Phillies $100,000 to select McGarry, but he must remain on that team’s 26-man roster for the entire season or be offered back for $50,000. Last December, the Twins selected right-hander Eiberson Castellano from the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft, but he was returned in March. (Castellano elected free agency at the end of the season.)

McGarry built a solid foundation for 2026 with a bounceback 2025 season. The 26-year-old righty won the Phillies’ Paul Owens Award, an internal honor for their top minor league pitcher, after posting a 3.44 ERA in 83⅔ innings.

McGarry has struggled with command throughout his minor league career and was moved to the bullpen in 2024. Last year, though, the Phillies moved him back to a starting role. He cut his walks from 10.2 per nine innings in 2024 to 5.3 per nine in 2025.

“Heading into this year, early in the spring, they kind of made it known to me that I’d be back in a starting role,” McGarry said in September. “I think I definitely am capable of doing both. And I love starting; I love relieving. So it’s kind of wherever the Phillies want me, I’m willing to perform.”

McGarry spent most of the season at double-A Reading, but he finished the year on a high note with a final start back up in triple A.

“I think in years past in triple A, I’ve had my ups and downs there,” he said. “It’s good to really finish there and kind of finish the season how I wanted to, with a successful start.”

Names to know, but unlikely for this year

Moises Chace was a deadline acquisition from the Baltimore Orioles in 2024 and had an intriguing fastball that missed a lot of bats. But the 22-year-old right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in 2025 and is still rehabbing.

Since the Phillies drafted right-hander Gage Wood out of Arkansas — going the college pitcher route in the first round for the first time since Aaron Nola in 2014 — questions have swirled about how soon he could arrive in the majors.

But don’t bank on Wood following the breakneck trajectory of Pottstown’s Trey Yesavage, who went from starting games in single A to the World Series with the Blue Jays in four months. The Phillies plan to build him up as a starter, but Wood is likely to be on an innings limit in 2026, according to Dombrowski.

Wood didn’t experience a full starter’s workload in his college career. He pitched 37⅔ innings for Arkansas in 2025, missing almost two months due to a shoulder impingement. In his two college seasons before that, Wood was primarily a reliever for the Razorbacks.

Fact is, Castellanos is due to make $20 million this season, which is at least $18 million more than he could reasonably expect to make if he were a free agent. Even if the Phillies eat most of that money, why would a team trade anything of value for Castellanos rather than signing this year’s version of Mark Canha for a couple of million bucks?

The only realistic option for the Phillies is to find a team that is looking to shed a similarly overpriced contract. Even then, Dombrowski may have to further incentivize an interested party. That quickly leads to a point where the Phillies are better off simply releasing Castellanos. Or walking a lot of things back before he reports for spring training.

Here are three examples of deals that maybe, kinda, sorta, if you squint could potentially make a fraction of a smidgen of sense for both parties.

Get excited!

1) Andrew Benintendi plus cash to the Phillies, Castellanos to the White Sox

This is the baseball equivalent of one of those NBA trades in which a couple of overpriced veterans and 16 second-round draft picks change hands but nobody ends up with more than they started with. You only live once, baby.

Benintendi has been a sunk cost the moment he signed a five-year, $75 million contract in Chicago in 2023. Was it only three years ago that the White Sox were trying? Apparently, it was.

Benintendi hit free agency as the rare hitter still in his prime, having broken into the big leagues at 21 years old on the watch of none other than Dombrowski. He hasn’t come close to the .782 OPS he posted in his first seven seasons in the majors, hitting just .245/.309/.391 in his first three years with the White Sox. He showed a little life in the second half of last season and finished with a .738 OPS that was slightly above league average. But he didn’t show nearly enough life to warrant salaries of $17.1 million this season and $15.1 million in 2027.

Swapping Castellanos for Benintendi would make some sense from an accounting perspective. The Phillies would be taking on an additional $12.2 million in “dead” money over two years. More importantly from a competitive standpoint, they’d be tacking on $15 million in average annual value to next year’s payroll rather than paying Castellanos $20 million up front and then being free and clear. But what if the White Sox included $10 million in cash to pay Benintendi’s 2027 salary? That would essentially enable the Phillies to split up Castellanos’ money over two years, saving them $10 million this year while adding $10 million next year. And, hey, maybe Benintendi gives them a little something in the outfield rotation as a Max Kepler replacement. At 31 years old, the chances of that aren’t zero.

What’s in it for the White Sox? Well, they’d save $5 million in cash in 2027 at the expense of an extra $3 million this year. I’m not sure whether this trade makes sense for both sides or makes sense for neither side. But that’s where we’re at.

2) Tyler O’Neill to the Phillies, Castellanos to the Orioles

Truthfully, I’m not sure how much sense this makes for either side. O’Neill signed a three-year, $49.5 million contract last offseason after a big year with the Red Sox (.847 OPS, 31 home runs). He was a major disappointment, posting a .684 OPS and nine home runs in 209 plate appearances in a season marred by injuries.

The argument from the Phillies’ perspective goes like this. They’d essentially be signing O’Neill to a two-year, $13 million deal, given the $20 million they are saving on Castellanos. That’s pretty close to fair market value for O’Neill, who has mostly been a league-average hitter outside of his two spike years (2021 with the Cardinals and 2024 in Boston). The Phillies get a right-handed hitter who still might have another big season in him. Even if he doesn’t, maybe he is an adequate enough rotational corner outfielder for two years (O’Neill is heading into his 31-year-old season). They also save $3.5 million on this year’s official payroll.

Is all of that worth $16.5 million less in spending power next offseason? Probably not.

Likewise, what are the Orioles really gaining? Saving $13 million over two years isn’t nothing. But it’s probably not worth sacrificing the chance that O’Neill bounces back.

3) Kyle Freeland to the Phillies, Castellanos plus cash to the Rockies.

Freeland, who has spent his entire career with the Rockies, has one year and $16 million left on his deal. That’s a lot to pay a guy who has a 5.07 ERA over the last three seasons. Castellanos has hit well at Coors Field with a .914 career OPS in 88 plate appearances. The Phillies get another piece of rotation depth in the form of a guy who has had some decent years on the road in his career. The Rockies get a guy who at least has chance of regaining some value between now and next year’s trade deadline.