The Philadelphia Phillies continue to disappoint. After a huge spending spree two offseasons ago and more investments last year, the results simply aren’t there. Joe Girardi is in charge of running the show but the leash is going to be short. A 28-32 result last year has a lot of people nervous. The talent is here to get to the playoffs and if they fall short, he might get a quick hook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Happened Last Year<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Phillies were a disappointment last year as they couldn’t even finish above .500. The team wasn\u2019t able to force their way into the postseason or even compete for a spot, and they finished in third place in the National League East Division with a record of 28-32 on the year. Fans were finally hoping that this would be the team that would break their playoff drought but instead, watched the Miami Marlins finish above them in the standings. Some of the blame can be put on COVID-19 last year but those excuses won’t work again in the 2021 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Offseason Changes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the majority of teams being strapped for cash due to the lower budgets, the Philadelphia Phillies decided that they want to go all in for a playoff appearance this year. They spent more money this offseason than any other team in the league, outside of the Toronto Blue Jays. Philadelphia poured out a whopping $152.5 million on contracts with catcher J.T. Realmuto, shortstop Didi Gregorius and pitchers Matt Moore and Archie Bradley. Bradley was one of the most needed signings of the offseason as he gives the Phillies a chance at closing games far more efficiently. Over the past few years their pitching has hurt them, especially in the clutch, choking away way too many solid leads to their opponents. Bradley could give them the boost that they need in the position and could be a terrific closer for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2021 Outlook<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After years of disappointment, this Phillies roster should be able to compete for a playoff spot this season. The combination of their offseason acquisitions along with an already talented roster that features Alec Bohm and Bryce Harper. Holding onto Realmuto was another large boost for this team, giving them a chance to find success that they haven\u2019t had in recent years. Their offense is fully expected to be great, they already ranked fourth in the NL last season with 306 and should even be able to improve that number moving forward. The Bradley signing should fix the pitching issues that have plagued them for some time and should make them an overall better team. It will be hard to surpass the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves, but they certainly have the talent to do so, barring any injuries or chemistry issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pick: 3rd<\/sup> In National League East<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Philadelphia Phillies continue to disappoint. After a huge spending spree two offseasons ago and more investments last year, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":16360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16361,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16352\/revisions\/16361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}