Feb 16, 2025; Clearwater, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski (left) and manager Rob Thomson (59) (right) watch buppben sessions spring training workouts at BayCare Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Yes, WIP is the flagship radio station for Phillies broadcasts and it's probably written in legalese somewhere in the contract between the radio station and the team that certain Phillies guests will appear on the radio and conversely that certain radio personalities will broadcast live from certain events - including spring training - but WIP does deserve credit for not only flying their hosts down to Clearwater for a few days every March and not just mailing it in because a couple lawyers put it in writing that these interviews had to happen.
On Thursday, it was the Morning Show, with Joe DeCamara, Jon Ritchie, James Seltzer and Rhea Hughes broadcasting from Baycare Ballpark and welcomed the GM and Manager of the team for sit down interviews. And to their credit, they didn't hold back on their questions.
Both Dombrowski and Thomson gave careful answers, and there was nothing that was said that was particularly earth shattering, but there were a few interesting moments that happened as a result of good questions being fired their way by the hosts.
Dave Dombrowski clearly disrespected Phillies fans when on with the @WIPMorningShow.@SportsRadioWIP #RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/J3sHXnHlTK
John Foley dove into what was probably the most interesting, when Dombrowski told the crew that there were no promises made to Trea Turner that he would stay at shortstop for the long-term. The most interesting part of it was mentioning that it was important to weight the position both defensively and offensively - meaning that even if Turner is producing at the plate, how he plays in the field also matters. With prospect Aidan Miller getting closer to being ready for his Big League debut, Turner has to bear down defensively in 2025 if he wants to hold on to his position in the field. Otherwise, a shift to the outfield may be sooner than he thinks.
Here are two more moments from the interviews that were a little bit illuminating:
This was probably the most telling thing either guy said in the two interviews. DeCamara asked Dombrowski if he was surprised that he didn't make a bigger change to the lineup considering the way he felt when the Phillies were eliminated by the Mets in October, and surprisingly Dombrowski admitted he was.
"I guess I would say surprised to an extent, because I think that when you're talking about being open-minded - which is how we presented it, and that's how we really felt about it - and when you have good players and you're open minded to it, it normally makes something happen," Dombrowski said. "Usually something happens in our situation. We were open minded. We listened to what people had to say, but we were in a position where the moves just didn't make sense to make us a better ball club, because you're not just making moves to make moves you want to become a better club. Or else, if you trade somebody, you're in a position to put you in a spot to go pursue this free agent or this trade.
"So a little bit. If you'd have said October 15 and close after that. But then once we got to the winter meetings, or close to the winter meetings, it became pretty apparent that I didn't think we were going to make major deals at that point, because we just didn't find the same interest that we would have perceived in our players."
In other words, the Phillies had a different value on their own players (cough... Alec Bohm... cough) then other teams may have. Are they overvaluing their own talent? Maybe. Or maybe, as Dombrowski sort of put it, even if the return was on par with what was expected talent-wise, it didn't create enough flexibility to then fill the new hole that was being created and would have forced the Phillies to chase another player via free agency or trade to ensure an upgrade to the lineup was complete.
And while Dombrowski wasn't specific, his honesty about thinking of shaking things up after losing in the playoffs was refreshing.
This isn't anything earth shattering either because it's been the hot topic for fans this spring, and to be honest, Thomson didn't commit to it yet and said there are several things he is considering, but for all intents and purposes, it looks like the plan is to start the season with Trea Turner as the leadoff hitter, Bryce Harper batting second and Kyle Schwarber hitting cleanup.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson confirms that if Trea Turner does indeed lead off, Bryce Harper will bat second. pic.twitter.com/j2cIbymWwI
Traditionalist fans will rejoice at this idea, but unless it's successful off the bat, the Phillies may not let it breathe because they had such great success with Schwarber leading off.
This has been relitigated to death in this space, so we're not going to do it again now, just know that Turner is going to have to make some big changes to his approach at the plate to become as good, if not better, on base threat than Schwarber has been. Never mind the fact that he's a better baserunner and can steal bases which Schwarber can't do nearly as well, it's just a matter of getting there to begin with.
In his two seasons with the Phillies, Turner has a .328 on base percentage. That's not nearly good enough for a leadoff hitter on a championship contender. Schwarber, in his three years with the Phillies, is at .344 and more specifically, in the past two years with Turner batting behind him, it's been .354. That 26-point difference is huge. Turner has to make that up, or else this experiment that fans have been screaming about, won't work.
