Phillies stay or go: Phillies president Dave Dombrowski

The Phillies had another early postseason exit, and they have to change something.

It was leaked to media members earlier this week that manager Rob Thomson would remain in his position in the dugout. And it seems fairly clear that general manager Dave Dombrowski, whose legendary MLB resume has earned him whatever tenure he wants in Philadelphia, will oversee whatever sort of splash this team intends to make to compete again in 2026.

But is Dombrowski the right guy for the job?

Here's a look at the major transactions he's been responsible for as Phillies President of Baseball Operations and you can decide if he's been doing what is in the team's best interest over the last five years:

Phillies stay or go series
Rob Thomson | Dave Dombrowski | Kyle Schwarber | Ranger Suárez | J.T. Realmuto | Nick Castellanos | Harrison Bader | Alec Bohm | Max Kepler | Walker Buehler | Taijuan Walker | Jordan Romano, David Robertson, José Alvarado | Rafael Marchán, Weston Wilson, Edmundo Sosa, Otto Kemp

• Dec 29, 2020: Traded for RP José Alvarado 👍
• Jan 29, 2021: Signed C J.T. Realmuto to 5 year, $115.5m contract 👍
• Feb 10, 2021: Signed SS Didi Gregorious to 2 year, $28m contract 🤷‍♂️
• Mar 20, 2022: Signed OF/DH Kyle Schwarber to 4 year, $79.5m contract 👍
• Mar 22, 2022: Signed OF Nick Castellanos to 5 year, $100m contract 🤷‍♂️
• June 3, 2022: Fired manager Joe Girardi, made Rob Thomson interim (and later de facto) manager 👍
• Aug 2, 2022: Traded C Logan O'Hoppe for OF Brandon Marsh 🤷‍♂️
• Aug 2, 2022: Traded for SP Noah Syndergaard 👎
• Nov 7, 2022: Chose not to re-sign SP Zach Eflin 👎
• Dec 8, 2022: Signed SS Trea Turner to 13 year, $330m contract 🤷‍♂️
• Dec 9, 2022: Signed RP Matt Strahm to 2 year, $25m contract (later extended) 👍
• Dec 16, 2022: Signed SP Taijuan Walker to 4 year, $72m contract 👎
• Mar 31, 2023: Signed RP Jeff Hoffman 1 year, $1.3m contract (later extended) 👍
• Aug 31, 2023: Traded for SP Michael Lorenzen 👎
• Nov 2, 2023: Chose not to re-sign 1B Rhys Hoskins 🤷‍♂️
• Nov 23, 2023: Signed SP Aaron Nola to 7 year, $172m contract 👎
• Feb 19, 2024: Signed Util Whit Merrifield to 1 year, $8m contract 👎
• Mar 4, 2024: Extended SP Zack Wheeler 3 year, $126m contract 👍
• Jun 22, 2024: Extended SP Cris Sánchez to 4 year, $22.5m contract 👍
• Jul 26, 2024: Traded RP Seranthony Domínguez and OF Cristian Pache for OF Austin Hays 👎
• Jul 27, 2024: Traded for RP Carlos Estévez 👍
• Jul 30, 2024: Traded for RP Tanner Banks 👍
• Oct 15, 2024: Extended manager Rob Thomson until 2026 🤷‍♂️
• Oct 31, 2024: Chose not to re-sign RPs Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez 👎
• Dec 9, 2024: Signed RP Jordan Romano to 1 year, $8.5m contract 👎
• Dec 20, 2024: Signed OF Max Kepler to 1 year, $10m contract 👎
• Dec 22, 2024: Traded for SP Jesús Luzardo 👍
• Dec 23, 2024: Signed RP Joe Ross to 1 year, $4m contract 👎
• Jul 21, 2025: Signed RP David Robertson to 1 year, $15.9m contract 👎
• Jul 30, 2025: Traded for RP Jhoan Duran 👍
• Jul 31, 2025: Traded for OF Harrison Bader 👍

Dombrowski as head of the Phillies' front office has been responsible for hundreds of transaction, many of which did make an impact on the ball club despite not making our list above, but those are arguably the 31 most important moves he's made as GM. Add to that his choice to not to fire Thomson this October (which, we should mention, was most definitely a collaborative decision with ownership and John Middleton), and you get to 32. Here's how we would tally his successes and failures:

Trades: Of the 10 major trades on our list, five worked out, four didn't, and one (the Marsh trade) was probably a wash.

Signings: Dombrowski has spearheaded 14 major free-agent decisions, and four of them worked out extraordinarily well while three could be argued as going either way (like Trea Turner or Did Gregorius). That means seven of his signings were bad decisions.

Extensions and re-signings: The Phillies extended some very good players over the last few years, including Wheeler and Sánchez. They chose to let several good players walk, like Estévez and Hoskins. Letting Nola reach free agency in 2023 probably cost the Phillies a lot of money. Letting Kyle Schwarber and Ranger Suárez do the same this offseason could be costly as well. But the Phils got it right with the Sánchez extension and generally do keep their own players pretty happy.

The draft: The jury is most definitely still out, as none of Dombrowski's first-round picks — Andrew Painter, Justin Crawford, Aidan Miller, Dante Nori and Gage Wood — have made the jump to the majors yet. The first three are knocking on the door and have the talent to be major pieces going forward.

Does Dombrowski deserve to stay?

It's impossible to bat 1.000 as a GM in professional sports, it's pretty darn near impossible to even bat .500. But Dombrowski can hang his hat on some major successes and is currently at the helm of the team with the second longest active postseason streak in the sport. The Phillies have won more games in every single regular season he's been handling the front office.

This offseason will be the true test, and it's possible that Dombrowski actually will be on the hot seat if he doesn't thread the needle with so many tough decisions to make. He needs to shake things up and continue to win. And he probably needs to give the Phillies the tools to make another World Series run.

What do you think?

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