October 21, 2024
Kate Frese/for PhillyVoice
PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 13: A photo from the Philadelphia Phillies game against the Atlanta Braves on September 13, 2023 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. (Photo by Kate Frese/PhillyVoice)
It came too soon — a pivotal offseason for the Phillies as they scratch their heads after an embarrassing loss to the Mets in the NLDS.
The first thing the team will need to decide is what they should do with the 26 men who got them the 2-seed in the National League with 95 wins this past season. Who should stay, and who should go?
It would be lunacy to return the entire roster. They need some changes. The bullpen was obviously an issue in the playoffs, the team did not have enough contact hitters, nor did it have the best defense in place to handle the young and feisty Mets. But just how and should the team approach these necessary changes?
Our next visit to this topic will touch on a player who might be among the most popular athletes in the city, in outfielder Brandon Marsh.
The Phillies have already made a sizable investment in Marsh, who came to Philly in August of 2022 in a player-for-player trade. Logan O'Hoppe went to the Angels in the deal, and has made a big impact as the team's everyday catcher. Marsh has become a part-time player in Philly (which we'll get into shortly).
But he's also a spark-plug player with speed, some pop in his bat and is one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball. After spending 97 of his 133 games in left field, Marsh was named a finalist for an NL Gold Glove at that spot even though he was brought to Philly originally to play centerfield.
At just 26 (going on 27), Marsh earned $710,000 last season and has three years of team control via arbitration — estimated to be around $3.4 million next season via spotrac.com. That makes him extremely valuable on a roster that is one of the highest paid in baseball.
Marsh's offense is also above average in a number of areas — and he posted career highs in home runs and stolen bases last year. He is also very good against right-handed pitching, which he has faced more than four times more often that lefties as he has served as a platoon bat for most of the last two years. We'll use his career righty-lefty hitting splits to transition to the section below:
| vs. RHP | vs. LHP | |
| AB | 1,135 | 347 |
| Slash | .269/.345/.441 | .216/.276/.306 |
| HR | 35 (3.1%) | 6 (1.7%) |
| RBI | 157 | 34 |
| Walks | 130 (10.1%) | 27 (6.9%) |
In Marsh's defense, as can be seen above, the 2016 second rounder has not had a ton of chances against lefties. But the ones he has have not gone well. He is a total liability against southpaws — manager Rob Thomson only let him face them 90 times to the tune of a .192 average in 2024.
As a result, the Phillies have tried a lot of different things to try and make up for Marsh's weaknesses. They signed Whit Merrifield last offseason to be a right-handed answer when the season began, and that did not pan out. Neither did Cristian Pache. David Dahl got a run as a righty outfielder, and Austin Hays was a low stakes trade deadline acquisition that didn't really move the needle.
With Johan Rojas the other centerfielder on the roster with defensive prowess but offensive deficiency, does it make sense for the team to keep both players? Would the Phillies be better off packaging the youthful Marsh with a prospect in exchange for someone who can hit all pitching well?
Juan Soto is the game changing free agent available this summer — but he would likely cost the Phillies upwards of $40 million a season. There are some other attractive free agent outfielders, like Teoscar Hernández and Cody Bellinger, but with Nick Castellanos back next season, adding a free agent everyday outfielder would spell the end for either Rojas or Marsh with the Phillies.
Marsh remaining here would likely mean the team would need to find someone reliable to platoon him with. Is that enough for the Phillies to send him packing?
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