Recent history suggests they may not be long for the roster.
The 2024-2025 offseason is not one that will be remembered much when Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombroski goes into the Hall of Fame. Dombrowski deserves credit for the acquisition of Jesús Luzardo via trade, as that looks to be one of the better moves from the winter across all of baseball. But the two free agent signings from Dombrowski have been duds.
Jordan Romano signed a one year, $8.5M deal on December 9th with the expectation that he would fill the right-handed, late inning relief role vacated by Jeff Hoffman. A little over a week later, Max Kepler was signed to a one year, $10M deal on December 20th with the plan being that he would be the Phillies starting left fielder. Both moves were a little odd in their timing in that they were the type of bounce-back deals that usually occur later in the offseason, but the Phillies inked them both before Christmas. Both were also bets on a player who had his 2024 cut short from injury returning to form on a very cost-effective contract.
Fast forward to the beginning of July, and both deals have been varying degrees of disasters. Romano’s 7.28 ERA is the worst among all relief pitchers who have appeared in at least 30 games. Kepler hasn’t been quite as bad, but he sports a .676 OPS and is hitting .207 through 75 games played. He’s also painted a target on his back with his comments last week about his playing time as he’s essentially been platooned rather than starting every day.
Both are following in the footsteps of other Dombrowski one-year deals that didn’t prove fruitful. The likes of Whit Merrifield, Josh Harrison, and Jeurys Familia were all signed to one-year deals by Dombrowski to serve in various roles. Merrifield in 2024 was to be a platoon partner for Brandon Marsh in the outfield as well as being a super-utility player. Harrison was to play a similar role the year before. Familia was signed before 2022 to join other singings Brad Hand and Corey Knebel as the Phillies looked to bolster their bullpen.
Merrifield made it until July 12th before being released. Harrison and Familia both made it a little further, as they were both released as part of trade deadline cuts. As you can see, the Phillies gave these veterans a pretty long leash despite their struggles. Merrifield was hitting .199/.277/.295 at the time of his release. Harrison wasn’t much better, as he was slashing .204/.263/.291. Familia had a 6.09 ERA across 38 appearances.
To the Phillies and Dombrowski’s credit, they were not afraid to admit their mistakes with this trio and eat the money to release them. They were dead weight taking up a roster spot and were cast off when additions were made.
Kepler and Romano are dangerously close to entering the same zone. The Phillies are patient, possibly to a fault, but even they have their limit. That limit is namely, the trade deadline. That date will also serve as a symbolic marker for when this new pair has to prove they are worthy of staying on the roster.
Both have had small pockets of success, but neither have been able to sustain it long. Kepler hasn’t hit better than .238 in any full month of the season and is hitting .179 since the start of May. Romano had an eight-game scoreless streak in May, but he has a 7.94 ERA across 13 games since it ended on May 23rd. The lowest his season ERA sat was at 6.00 on April 3rd.
If the Phillies recent history holds true, Kepler and Romano have about a month to turn their season around before the Phillies decide to cut bait. Is that even possible at this point, or is their fate sealed?