Phillies storylines to watch in 2025: Transforming Trea Turner, welcoming back Alec Bohm, and more

At the risk of making Dave Dombrowski out to be a baseball equivalent of Michael Corleone, the Phillies settled most of their offseason family business in less than a week.

If you missed it, because we know the holidays are busy, let’s recap:

» READ MORE: The Phillies are stockpiling starters, which makes sense in a hitting-challenged era

See you in spring training, everyone.

OK, so the Phillies didn’t achieve their initial objective of changing the mix of a lineup that tends to swing at too many pitches out of the strike zone. But there were few appealing free-agent options that fit within the sport’s second-largest luxury-tax payroll (projected at $306.25 million).

And in the midst of a win-now/get-John-Middleton’s-dang-trophy-back cycle, they weren’t going to swap a major leaguer — Alec Bohm, for one — for less than what they perceive as equal value. As Dombrowski put it last month in what felt like a hint about how trade talks were going, “You don’t want to get worse because you’re making a deal.”

Unable to find an equitable match for a bat, they added another starting pitcher, not an unreasonable strategy with hitting as challenging as ever. Run prevention is a perfectly effective formula.

Never rule out another move, especially with six weeks until pitchers and catchers begin working out in Clearwater, Fla. Maybe the Phillies get a trade offer they can’t refuse. (There we go with The Godfather again.)

» READ MORE: Dave Dombrowski’s ambitious goal for the Phillies: Balance winning it all with sustained success for years

But with a 110% tariff on every dollar spent above the fourth luxury-tax threshold of $301 million, it’s difficult to imagine another addition, at least not without off-loading some of, say, the $18 million owed to Taijuan Walker in each of the next two seasons.

The roster you see, then, more or less is the roster you’ll get on opening day — March 27 in Washington, if you’re inclined to set a reminder on your calendar. As ever, the onus will fall on the existing, star-laden, and high-priced nucleus — Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, J.T. Realmuto, Kyle Schwarber, and Nick Castellanos — to power another Red October or regret falling short again.

A few storylines to follow in 2025:

After the Phillies batted .186 with 38 strikeouts in a four-game divisional-round upset by the Mets, Turner said the quiet part out loud.

“I personally think,” he said, “we get ourselves out.”

Few more than Turner.

The Phillies swung at 30.3% of pitches out of the strike zone last season, according to Statcast, the sixth-highest rate in baseball. Turner came in at 33.9%, including 38% after the All-Star break, when his average and OPS slid to .247 and .687.

» READ MORE: The Phillies must get creative to improve. That includes their hitters’ approach. Is that realistic?

“I’m up there to hit,” he said in September. “I’m trying to hit. I think the hitting aspect is starting to come down a little bit, and [it’s] more of controlling the strike zone. You see how many teams pay people to walk and to see pitches. Organizations build their systems and their teams around that.”

But if Turner unapologetically concedes his overaggressive tendencies, the Phillies will try to change his approach by tweaking his mechanics to get him to hit more line drives and use the entire field, said manager Rob Thomson, who will visit Turner in Florida this month with hitting coach Kevin Long.

First, though, Turner might have to adjust his mindset.

» READ MORE: Does batting .300 matter anymore? Trea Turner thinks it does. Why is it becoming increasingly rare?

Because since signing with the Phillies two years ago, his line-drive rate has decreased (25% to 22.6%), while his rates of chasing pitches out of the zone (27.5% to 34.7%) and pulling balls to left field (27.6% to 28.8%) have risen.

“He’s chasing a little more than he used to, but he doesn’t need to be that type of hitter,” said Dombrowski, the team’s president of baseball operations. “He’s a guy that can use [right] field, and we’ll encourage him to keep doing that. We’re not looking for Trea to have to hit the ball out of the ballpark on a consistent basis. We’re much more comfortable if he’s more of a line-drive doubles hitter.”

Maybe the postseason will enable Turner to realize that, too.

Last month, with Bohm’s name swirling in trade rumors, Thomson called the 28-year-old third baseman to “ease his mind.”

“Because he’s a good player, there’s a whole lot of interest in him from other teams,” Thomson said at the winter meetings in Dallas. “Obviously you have to do your homework and talk to people and listen.”

To be clear: The Phillies were open to trading Bohm, who stands to make about $9 million this year in salary arbitration and is under team control for two more seasons. But it seems likely that he will be in the lineup — perhaps even in the cleanup spot behind Harper — on opening day.

» READ MORE: Alec Bohm is available, but are the Phillies overestimating his trade value?

Bohm wouldn’t be the first player to arrive for spring training after not getting traded. It might even be awkward when he initially gets asked about it by the media. He’s prone to showing emotion on the field, which has sparked questions about his maturity.

If Bohm channels his feelings properly, though, it could serve as fuel to build on an All-Star season that soured with a bruised hand that led to a slump in September, a one-game benching in the playoffs, and a 1-for-13 series against the Mets.

“This is probably the first time he’s gone through something like this,” Thomson said of the trade talk. “I thought it was important to reach out.”

Two years ago, the Phillies put Andrew Painter’s spring-training locker away from the other minor leaguers and alongside Wheeler and Nola. And when the top prospect threw his first bullpen session, Middleton watched from behind the mound.

It was Painterpalooza.

The Phillies will moderate the fanfare this time around, if only because of Painter’s gradual buildup for the season after missing two years with a torn elbow ligament and Tommy John surgery. Dombrowski outlined a plan in which the 21-year-old righty will throw in spring training but not pitch in games.

» READ MORE: Andrew Painter is healthy and pitching again. Here’s how the Phillies are planning for his return in 2025.

“We’re going to save a lot of his innings until we get to July-ish for the big league level,” Dombrowski said last week. “It might be June, might be August, somewhere around there. But you can’t use too many [innings] at the minor league level.”

Hold the hype, then, until the summertime, when Painter would be the youngest pitcher to start a game for the Phillies since Zach Eflin in 2016.

“It’s pretty tough because he’s got great stuff,” Thomson said. “I saw him in the Arizona Fall League. I only saw three innings, but it was really high-level stuff. You’re always a little bit worried about a setback, but so far, so good. I’m really excited. I really am.”

Meanwhile, watch another prospect: Justin Crawford. He’s a long shot for the opening-day roster, but given the Phillies’ lack of production in center field, an impressive spring would be intriguing. Dombrowski did, after all, call up Andrew Benintendi from double A in 2016 and Rafael Devers after only six triple-A games in 2017 with the Red Sox.

A year ago, Thomson said he hadn’t decided whether Schwarber would lead off in 2024. Schwarber wound up atop the order for all of his 149 starts and set a major-league record with 15 leadoff homers.

So, take it for what it’s worth that Thomson is undeclared on a 2025 leadoff hitter.

“I’ve thought of a couple different things,” he said last month.

But if not Schwarber, who?

Turner? Not unless he’s more disciplined. Bryson Stott? He sees pitches, works counts, and makes relatively consistent contact, but he must get on base more than his .315 clip last season (.312 was league average). Stott also would enable Thomson to alternate left-handed hitters and righties throughout the lineup while putting Schwarber in a more traditional run-producing spot.

» READ MORE: Where have all the great center fielders gone? ‘Obvious’ position to fill Phillies’ needs lacks obvious solutions.

Harper? He has led off before, including eight games for Gabe Kapler in 2019, but feels most comfortable in the No. 3 spot. Thomson said it would be a “long conversation,” although he sounded prepared to have it.

“The more at-bats you get for the best hitters, the better chances you have,” Thomson said last month. “That’s the idea behind it. [Harper] gets more at-bats to get into the Hall of Fame.”

Schwarber batted 4.64 times per start last season; Harper 4.35 times. Over a full season, the difference between leading off and hitting third could be nearly 50 plate appearances, which, at Harper’s rate, could be two or three homers.

In the end, though, it might come back to this: When Schwarber sets the table, the Phillies are 219-161, a 93-win pace over a full season.

Before the first full-squad workout in spring training, Middleton speaks to the team. His theme last year: “I want my [expletive] trophy back.”

He’s still waiting.

It speaks to the standard that the Phillies established over the last few seasons that making the playoffs is no longer enough. The payroll is larger than ever in franchise history. Attendance at Citizens Bank Park, 3.3 million last season, is back to 2011-12 levels. Never mind that the Phillies are among only four teams to qualify for the postseason in each of the last three years. Winning it all is the only acceptable outcome.

» READ MORE: J.T. Realmuto or … who? The Phillies will face a complex decision with their star catcher.

Ask the owner.

And although Dombrowski pushes back on the notion of a “window” to win the World Series, you can hear the clock ticking on this particular Phillies core.

Schwarber, Realmuto, and Ranger Suárez are eligible for free agency after the 2025 season; Castellanos and Bohm after 2026. Management has left the group mostly intact for the last two winters. There will be bigger changes after this season. It’s inevitable now, and the urgency must be greater, too.

Maybe that will be Middleton’s message next month.