With Phillies fans hoping for another big move from the team (don’t hold your breath!), I decided to take a look at the most recent offseason to see how many big moves they’ve made as they get closer to the start of training camp. Then, as people do, I decided to turn this exercise into a March Madness-style interactive tournament.
From 2010 to 2025, I identified the team’s final free agent signing before the season started. To qualify for this list, players:
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Must be externally contracted. Re-signings like JT Realmuto in 2021 don’t count, but a former Phillies player who played for another team in the interim (Cliff Lee) does qualify.
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The player must appear in at least one game during the season in which he is signed.
Here are the fields WAR seeded in his first season with the team:
Some of these names you’ll recognize (even if you wish you didn’t), and others you might want to brush up on.
Twice a week, I will showcase a matchup and readers will vote on which player should advance. You can choose to vote for the player who had the best initial season, the best Phillies career player, a player you have a favorable opinion of (where is my Qualls head?), or simply vote for Chaos and let Nick Castellanos win it all as a farewell(?) gift.
We’ll start with game 8-9. Here’s a quick summary:
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8. Joe Ross, 2025
Phillies stats: 37 games, 51 IP, 2-1, 5.12 ERA, 39K, 18BB, 0.0 WAR
In 2024, after a solid season as the Brewers’ swingman, the Phillies signed Joe Ross in the hope that he could provide rotation depth as well as solid defense down the middle. As it turned out, Tajuan Walker filled the rotation depth role, so Ross remained in the bullpen all year. However, he didn’t perform well there, with an ERA over 5, and was eventually released in August.
9. Nick Castellanos 2022
Phillies Stats: 602 games, .260/.306/.426, 82 HR, 326 RBI, 1.3 WAR
Kyle Schwarber appears to be the Phillies’ marquee free agent signing this year once the lockout ends in 2022. But with Nick Castellanos lingering on the free agent market, the Phillies decided to go big and add him to their outfield.
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Castellanos was having the best year of his career, but struggled mightily in his first season with the Phillies. Things have improved since then, but not enough to justify his contract. While there were some highlights during his tenure, these four years were largely disappointing and it was only a matter of time before he was fired by the team.
