The Philadelphia Phillies were stuck in limbo prior to this offseason, neither rebuilding nor contending. However, with the Phillies changing majority owner from Dave Montgomery to John Middleton, they began a total rebuild. Middleton brought in Andy MacPhail as team president to replace Pat Gillick and fired Ruben Amaro Jr. and brought in 35-year-old analytics guy Matt Klentak.
Klentak immediately went to work acquiring four pitching prospects, Mark Appel, Thomas Eshelman, Harold Arauz and Vincent Velasquez, along with major league starter Brent Oberholtzer, by trading 25-year-old closer Ken Giles. Along with Oberholtzer, he also added to the roster by acquiring Jeremy Hellickson and Charlie Morton for low level prospects to give a young rotation quality inning eaters. In addition to Hellickson, Morton and Oberholtzer throwing 200 innings apiece, they could also be flipped for prospects if they pitch well in the first half or all season long.
The Rule 5 draft also brought in outfielder Tyler Goeddel from the Tampa Bay Rays and pitcher Daniel Stumpf from the Kansas City Royals. Goeddel hit .279 with 12 home runs in Double-A and was touted as the best pure hitter available for selection in the Rule 5 draft. Stumpf is a lefty reliever who had a 3.57 ERA in Double-A. Klentak has continuously added veteran bullpen arms and position players to minor league deals, including Andrew Bailey, Edward Mujica, Ernesto Frieri, JP Arencibia and Peter Bourjos. David Hernandez was the only veteran to sign a major league deal for $3.9 million.
Klentak’s strategy is simple: stockpile pitchers, both prospects and major leaguers, let the position players develop and save money until they are ready to contend and can pounce on big-time free agents, especially the ones possibly available in 2018-19. If the strategy works, then the Phillies could possibly be in the same scenario the Chicago Cubs were when they signed Jon Lester last offseason and Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist this offseason to a young core.
Klentak’s plan is still in the early stages, but this offseason has shown promise with acquiring top prospects and Middleton stating his willingness to spend big. For this reason, the Phillies deserve a decent offseason grade.
Grade: B
