Has any pro sports team considered crowd-sourcing its front office decisions?
The Phillies have a lot of tough choices to make this offseason, as they look to continue to contend for a World Series and find a way to improve enough to make a deep postseason run after back-to-back early exits.
Over the last few weeks, following the team's brutally torturous NLDS loss to the Dodgers, we've asked for your opinion on who you think should be back for the 2026 season and who should not.
Skipping over the obvious players whose fate is not in question — like Cris Sánchez, Jhoan Duran, and yes, Bryce Harper (who will not be traded under any circumstances this fall) — we're going to reveal the results of the thousands of voters who pitched in to help us paint a picture of what the fan perspective truly is here in Philadelphia.
Here's how you voted, and who you think should stay and go:
54% of respondents thought the team made the wrong decision in committing to bring Thomson back after some pretty big blunders against the Dodgers.
An overwhelming 76.4% of you like the team building led by Dombrowski.
Somewhat surprisingly, only 57.5% of voters want Schwarber to return. He hit 56 home runs and will probably finish second for NL MVP. He'll also cost around $30 million per year.
This one isn't surprising, with nearly 71% of our readers wanting the Phillies to re-sign free agent Suárez.
- 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 | The bullpen | The bench
Realmuto's 73% "approval" rating slots him with the second highest support rating of any player in our polls.
Man, you guys really don't like Casty. An overwhelming 93% of your votes were for the Phillies to cut ties with him, despite the fact that he's under contract for $20 million next season and will be very difficult to move.
The highest vote share went to Bader, over 79%, who was a huge shot in the arm for the struggling outfield at the trade deadline. We'll have to see if the Phillies can find a way to retain him via his mutual option or free agency.
It was a tight one, but by a 56% to 44% margin, Phillies fans want the team to move on from Bohm and find a new third baseman.
A hair more than 91% of fans want Kepler gone, which means he actually received more support than Castellanos did.
A nice 75% of responses were in support of the Phillies finding a way to bring back Buehler after his short stint with the team in the fall.
In contrast, 78% of fans want the Phillies to find a way to get rid of Walker, despite the $18 million due to him in 2026.
Beyond obvious support for the top pitchers in the bullpen, José Alvarado — who has a $9 million option — got about 68% of votes in support. David Robertson, Joe Ross and Jordan Romano each got very small vote counts.
Edmundo Sosa, Otto Kemp and Rafael Marchán received overwhelming approval, while fans have soured on Garrett Stubbs, Weston Wilson and Johan Rojas. Rojas in particular got less than 10%.
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