PHILADELPHIA — In his blazers and carefully combed silver hair, Dave Dombrowski isn’t prone to demonstrative displays when he fields questions from the media.
But in deviating briefly from that template on Thursday morning, the Phillies president of baseball operations showed the value of keeping it buttoned up.
For the second time in the first 20 minutes of his nearly hourlong postseason press conference, Dombrowski returned to the particulars of the National League Division Series in which his team lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games.
He literally measured the difference of where Trea Turner’s Game 2 throw to the plate landed to where it could’ve, making the difference in retiring Teoscar Hernandez for the opening run in the top of the seventh of Game 2.
He highlighted the apologized-for missed strike 3 call from Mark Wegner to Cristopher Sanchez against Alex Call in the seventh inning of Game 4 that led to a run.
He opened up the exploration as to what might’ve happened had Orion Kerkering thrown to first base instead of the backstop in the bottom of the 11th at Dodger Stadium.
The rare, emotional glimpse by Dombrowski served to illustrate the opposite in his offseason philosophy. Uttered as the Dodgers were up 2-0 after a pair of rampaging wins in Milwaukee to open the NLCS, Dombrowski insisted that the Phillies are close to their October breakthrough.
And the way to get there isn’t a frustration-driven roster detonation but using a 96-win season as a platform to build.
“I understand the fans’ perspective,” Dombrowski said. “It’s emotional, right? But I have to keep an even-keeled perspective.”
Dombrowski and his front office have practice at it, since it’s substantially the same challenge as last year, with one more data point reinforcing trends.
For the fourth straight season, the Phillies increased their win total, from 82 in 2021 to 87 to 90 to 95 to 96. For the third straight postseason, they regressed, a second consecutive NLDS exit on the heels of the NLCS ouster in 2023 and the 2022 pennant win.
Dombrowski at least felt like the team acquitted itself admirably this time around, more than the no-show of 2024 against the Mets. That only imparts a different kind of pain.
“In this series, I did not particularly think we played poorly,” said manager Rob Thomson, who declared himself “bullish” on the future of his team. “I thought we played well. We played well on defense. We faced a really good pitching staff. I liked our at-bats a lot better this postseason than I did last postseason, and arguably against better pitching.”
Last year, Dombrowski pledged to be “open-minded” in improving the roster. That perhaps included trading good players for different good players to better fit needs. Instead, his moves last winter included a trade for Jesus Luzardo and one-year flyers on veterans that ranged from merely OK (Max Kepler) to disastrous (Joe Ross, Jordan Romano).
But they did translate into the most wins in a season since 2011 and a second straight NL East title.
“We won 96 games,” Dombrowski said. “And again, you’re always looking to get better. So we will be open-minded to that. I think it’s a little bit different in that there’s some built-in situations for us that are going to have to be addressed.”
The offseason direction will be set by the Phillies’ pursuits of their own free agents.
J.T. Realmuto hits the market after his age-34 season, his offense in steady decline but his value to a pitching staff clear and still exceeding most of what is on the market.
Kyle Schwarber hit 56 home runs at age 32 and may be on the brink of his last major contract.
Ranger Suarez could see the end of more than a decade with the club that signed him out of Venezuela, with life-changing money offered to him beyond what is possible or advisable from the Phillies.
Young players like Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter and Aidan Miller are knocking on the door.
Some change will arise organically.
Dombrowski’s hall of fame credentials stem from his ability to maximize and hasten that. If Alec Bohm — whose name Dombrowski conspicuously didn’t mention in 54 minutes of questioning — can be flipped for value ahead of his final season of club control, now is the time.
The ability to get out from under $20 million owed to Nick Castellanos, increasingly a dissatisfied platoon piece, could quicken the process. So would adding balance in a left-heavy lineup, but also in terms of hitters’ profile to add selective slug to the middle of the order and on-base strength elsewhere.
Unlike last offseason, Dombrowski didn’t identify any clear gaping holes in the roster. The club has a definite closer.
It has three reliable starting pitchers, plus Taijuan Walker, plus Painter, plus the recovering Zack Wheeler. It has three of the top 50 or so prospects in baseball, all with anticipated debut times in 2026 or 2027.
He has pieces to build with, or to creatively swap with another team for the pieces they’ve struggled to assemble into a coherent whole.
It’s just a matter of doing it. Just like the only thing left for the October discourse around this team is to just go and win playoff games.
“It isn’t like we go into a season and don’t have the capabilities to win it,” Dombrowski said. “We will have the capabilities next year, going into the season, to win a world championship. Now we have to go do it.”
Contact Matthew De George at mdegeorge@delcotimes.com.
