On December 11th the Phillies hired Dave Dombrowski to be their first-ever president of baseball operations. Dave Dombrowski is a team builder but, not necessarily through a farm system. Dombrowski likes to spend money.
Dombrowski was formerly the general manager/president of the Marlins and Tigers as well as the former president of baseball operations in Boston. He was also with Marlins during their 1997 World Series run and Boston’s 2018 World Series run. He was responsible for some massive contracts like Miguel Cabrera and Chris Sale. These contracts are crazy but, he has two World Series titles to his name and four total World Series appearances. After he leaves the teams he worked for, there is usually a big rebuild. I have seen a lot of Phillies fans say this is not a very good hire because our farm system will be destroyed. I say this is not as bad as Phillies fans think.
One of the big grievances people have with the Dombrowski hiring is that he will tear down their farm system. The main reason the Phillies have not progressed as far as they should have is because their farm system has underperformed. The Phillies have just exited the dark days of their rebuild in 2018. From 2012 to 2018 they had six years to put together a respectable farm system to hopefully contend at the end of the 2010s decade and the beginning of the 2020 decade. Not to mention they signed Byrce Harper in 2019 and Zack Wheeler in 2020. Surely you would think they would have a farm system similar to the Cubs, Astros, or Braves right?
Any Phillies fan will tell you that the rebuild process has been a long and grueling process. They have the second longest active playoff drought in the MLB next to Seattle. Take a look at this article that was posted almost five years ago about the top prospects in the Phillies farm system. Out of those top 10 prospects, only four of the top ten are in the Phillies organization. Their former number 1 prospect in 2016, now has a .231 career batting average and a career .325 OBP. A 3.8 career WAR is solid but, not what you expect from a number 1 overall prospect in a farm system. Also important to mention he is not on the team anymore. The best remaining current Phillie on that list is Zach Eflin and he wasn’t even ranked in the top 10. The only key contributor who plays at an all-star level each year is Aaron Nola. Everyone else is either on another team, average, inconsistent, or has not been called up yet. It is important to note that the jury is still out for other prospects drafted recently such as Alec Bohm and Spencer Howard. Alec Bohm has shown promise over his first 44 games but he has played just over a quarter of a season. There is still a lot of time to prove his worth.
With Dave Dombrowski taking control, expect to see more trades that involve big names and big contracts as long as ownership allows him to spend big money. Dombrowski is not afraid to put together a winning team and that is what Phillies fans should be excited about. Prospects are nice and of course, they can turn out well but, would rather trade for your ace now or wait and hope a prospect pans out?
I would not expect many drastic moves this season due to the after-effects of the pandemic. However, for the 2022 season, I expect moves to start being made and the Phillies to be true contenders again.
Philosophy is an important element of how a team plans for the future. In the recent past teams like the Marlins and Astros suffered through horrible seasons while building a solid team and both teams and both made it pay off in the form of a World Series championship. The big money teams like the Red Sox, Yankees and Los Angeles tend to try and buy a championship team, although the Yankee farm system has paid big dividends the past few years.I believe Dombrowski tends to buy or trade to develop a winning team. Will be interesting to see his moves with the Phillies.