Sadly, the Rhys Hoskins era with the Phillies ends

It is a sad day.

For two years, Rhys Hoskins embodied baseball hope in Philadelphia. For four years, he partnered with Bryce Harper to make the Phillies a destination franchise. This year, the Phillies almost won a second consecutive pennant, and they did it without him, because he injured a knee in spring training.

They did it without him, and with Harper at first base, and he was really good there, and he’s 31, and his superb arm in right field got surgically repaired a year ago and so it might never again be superb again, and that made the Phillies’ decision easy. The Phillies have convinced Harper to play first base full time. Hoskins is a free agent. Whatever Hoskins commands on the open market — and, as a selective, right-handed hitter who averaged 36 homers per 162 games with an .846 OPS, he’ll command plenty — will be too much of a luxury for the Phillies, president Dave Dombrowski told reporters Wednesday.

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They will almost certainly exceed the luxury-tax threshold for a third consecutive season. Hoskins has been a butcher at first base for most of his career, and he probably isn’t going to be a lot better on a 31-year-old, reconstructed knee when next season starts. They can afford only one offense-only player on the roster, and that will be home run machine Kyle Schwarber. Teams will be falling all over themselves to sign a tailor-made designated hitter like Hoskins. I hope he gets $200 million and gets to move home to California.

Still, it’s adios to ol’ Hoss.

He’s meant so much to the Phillies.

In the spring of 2017, Hoskins was an afterthought among what appeared to be a bumper crop of prospects. One day on the back field at the Carpenter Complex, hitting guru Charlie Manuel and I watched shortstop J.P. Crawford, catcher Jorge Alfaro, outfielder Dylan Cozens, and Hoskins take batting practice together. Only Cozens was ranked lower than Hoskins among the quartet, but Hoskins turned out to be the only one among that Fab Four to contribute to the effort that made the Phillies among the best teams in baseball.

He became the lineup anchor that Maikel Franco was supposed to be.

He thrived under managers Pete Mackanin, Gabe Kapler, Joe Girardi, and Rob Thomson.

He let us get to know his girlfriend, then fiancée, then wife, Jayme, who became as much of the Phillies community as many of the players. He let us get to know his first dog, Rookie, and his successor, Mae.

His power and his presence and personality helped convince Harper to come to Philadelphia. Here, with Hoskins in place, Harper could defer all moments of crisis and importance to Hoskins. That’s why Harper called him the team’s captain.

With Harper and Hoskins in the house, Philly became a place to be. J.T. Realmuto stayed. Zack Wheeler came. So did Schwarber, and Nick Castellanos, and Trea Turner. Hoskins wasn’t as big a star as any of them, but it was his clubhouse, and his city, and his job to represent the ballclub.

He did this with unending class, and with unbelievable performances.

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When Odúbel Herrera was embroiled in his domestic abuse incident, Hoskins acted as team spokesman, letting the public and the brass know that Herrera was not welcome back in the clubhouse immediately, and, when he eventually did return, his peers needed to know that Herrera was a changed man.

As Kapler went through his growing pains as an analytics-first skipper, Hoskins let Kap know that he wasn’t managing numbers, he was managing human beings.

When Girardi was fired in June of 2022, Hoskins made it known that Thomson’s lighter hand was a badly needed remedy.

And man, did he rake, right off the bat, as it were.

Hoskins hit a record 11 home runs in his first 18 major league games, and 18 homers in his 50-game stint as a rookie in 2017, the most by any player who’d debuted after Aug. 1. It was a wonder to behold, and it foreshadowed the first act of what has so far been a splendid career.

Hoskins also hit the most dramatic home run of the past two seasons — the bat-slam dinger in Game 3 of the NLDS, the first home Phillies playoff game in a decade. That swing, against the favored Braves, always a nemesis, announced that these Phillies were for real.

Most folks will probably remember Hoskins for that moment. Not me.

My favorite Hoskins moment came four games into Harper’s first spring training with the Phillies, back in 2019. A triple-A pitcher named Trent Thornton with the Blue Jays hit Harper in the ankle with a pitch. As Harper lay on the ground, Hoskins, waiting on deck, prepared to jack up Thornton if Harper showed any inclination.

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Harper did not. Hoskins stood down.

That was the first indication of the fire that burned in Hoskins’ belly. For two years he’d been polite and deferential and gentlemanly, but now, with $330 million worth of possibilities writhing on the ground — a player he’d befriended, then recruited — Hoss was ready to charge.

“I had his back,” Hoskins told me. “We’re all men here.”

It’s nobody’s fault, and it’s probably for the best, but the Phillies are losing a hell of a man.