Dave Dombrowski recently said the Philadelphia Phillies are "well set" in the outfield for the 2026 MLB season.
The Philadelphia Phillies knew they needed to do something about their outfield depth heading into the offseason, and the front office did just that before the calendar flipped to the new year.
Last week, the Phillies signed former All-Star Adolis Garcia to a one-year deal to be the team’s everyday right fielder. There are still some interesting outfield options on the free agent market and as trade candidates, but it appears Philadelphia is set with the group it has.
“Basically, I think with the signing here, we look at [Garcia], as being our right fielder, and then we're in a position where we're basically pretty well set out there,” said Dave Dombrowski in a recent interview.
“With Justin Crawford being able to play center, left, Brandon Marsh, the other, mixed in with a little bit of Otto Kemp out there. [Johan] Rojas is a backup in center field, too, and then [Gabreil] Rincona's coming.”
Based on these comments from Dombrowski, the Phillies are clearly relying on their youth and prospects to fill the holes in the outfield. Considering that multiple of Philadelphia’s top minor leaguers are outfielders and ready to make the jump to the Majors, this isn’t a terrible plan.
Maybe the most interesting part of Dombrowski’s comments, though, is that he didn’t bring it up when talking about the team’s outfield options.
Earlier in the offseason, the Phillies' President of Baseball Operations mentioned that the team would love to bring back Harrison Bader after the outfielder had a strong finish with the team after the 2025 trade deadline. That said, Garcia’s role as the everyday right fielder, along with wanting to give opportunities to young players, may take that option off the table.
Dombrowski also didn’t mention Nick Castellanos as part of the outfield position group, which is even more eye-opening than the Bader piece. Castellanos is still on Philadelphia’s 40-man roster.
There were reports earlier this offseason that the Phillies and Castellanos could be headed for a breakup, even with one year left on his contract. Dombrowski not including him in the outfield outlook may have just confirmed that.