3 dream lineups the Phillies could realistically build this offseason

Can't a man dream?

The Philadelphia Phillies are quite possibly the best team in baseball this season. Dave Dombrowski has never shown much of an allergy for expensive contracts, nor has John Middleton and Phillies ownership. This is a team that will pay top dollar to field a contender.

Already blessed with the best starting rotation in the National League and a talented lineup that includes the likes of Bryce Harper and Trea Turner, Philadelphia could stand pat this offseason and still compete for a World Series in 2025.

That said, fans will hold the front office to a higher standard. The Phils have the prospects to mount an aggressive trade and there's always more money to spend in free agency. Just ask the Dodgers.

Dombrowski was the subject of criticism after a quiet trade deadline that saw the Phillies acquire Austin Hays from Baltimore and Carlos Estevez from the Angels. You know the standards are high when a full-time outfielder and an elite closer don't constitute a successful trade deadline for the No. 1 seed.

Philadelphia was in the conversation for some of the splashiest names at the trade deadline — Luis Robert Jr., Garrett Crochet, hell, Cody Bellinger — but nothing too substantial materialized. This offseason will provide Dombrowski with a chance to right past wrongs and really go for it with an aging group whose World Series window is limited.

These are dream lineups. I have full license to strain credulity a bit, but hey, there isn't a single more unpredictable offseason in sports than the MLB offseason. Nothing I am about to manifest — er, hypothesize — is impossible.

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3. Phillies belatedly deliver on past trade deadline promises

1. Kyle Schwarber
2. Trea Turner
3. Bryce Harper
4. Alec Bohm
5. Luis Robert Jr.
6. Nick Castellanos
7. J.T. Realmuto
8. Brandon Marsh // Austin Hays
9. Bryson Stott

Clean, simple, effective.

The Phillies put together a suitable trade package for Chicago White Sox slugger Luis Robert Jr., who appears destined to change teams this winter after miraculously surviving the trade deadline.

It's clear that Robert's rocky 2024 campaign led to muted trade interest pre-deadline, but the offseason gives teams a chance to circle back. Still 27 years old with a few years of team control left over his contract, Robert is an immediate slugging boost for any lineup. He also happens to address Philadelphia's primary position of need in centerfield.

It has been a challenging campaign for Robert after dealing with a hip injury in the spring and early summer months. He's batting .220 with a .661 OPS through 336 ABs, smashing 14 homes runs and netting 35 RBI. On the surface, that is not what the Phillies need — another strikeout-prone, boom-or-bust slugger. Between Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos, the Phillies are all too familiar with bonafide power threats who spend weeks, even months at a time struggling to come by contact before blooming a few times per season.

That said, the 2024 campaign feels like an aberration for Robert. He's not going to be this unreliable after a full offseason to train, recuperate, and rebuild his swing. Joining the Phillies lineup, where he is surrounded by talent, as opposed to the dire state of affairs in Chicago, probably wouldn't hurt either.

Strikeouts are a problem for Robert, but he finished 12th in AL MVP voting a season ago, batting .264 with a .857 OPS and 38 home runs. Robert is a major athlete, also dynamic on the base paths (he has a career-high 21 stolen bases so far this season). He fields center well, giving Philadelphia a proper MLB-level bat in the middle of their outfield. Johan Rojas continues to dazzle with his glove, but the offense isn't where it needs to be when projecting toward the playoffs.

Robert's arrival also allows Philadelphia to platoon Brandon Marsh and Austin Hays in left, which should have been the plan from day one.

2. Phillies swing for the fences with a risky trade full of good vibes

1. Kyle Schwarber
2. Trea Turner
3. Bryce Harper
4. Mike Trout
5. Alec Bohm
6. Nick Castellanos
7. J.T. Realmuto
8. Brandon Marsh // Austin Hays
9. Bryson Stott

We've talked about the Phillies trading for Mike Trout since the beginning of time. That contract is becoming harder and harder to stomach. Once upon a time, the Los Angeles Angels would never even deign to consider a Trout trade. Now, I'm not sure they could get rid of him if they tried.

Trout remains utterly incredible to watch when he's on the field, but injuries have taken away so much. He has eclipsed 100 games played once in the last five years. Trout only managed 29 games and 109 ABs in 2024 before a second meniscus tear sidelined him for the remainder of the season.

The Phillies absolutely cannot rely on Trout to remain healthy and his contract — $37.1 million AAV through 2030 — feels like a bridge too far, even for Philadelphia's aggressive front office. There is already concern about how the contracts for Trea Turner and Bryce Harper will age over the next decade. Trout is almost guaranteed to underperform down the stretch of his career, if only because he won't be on the field enough.

We are talking about dream lineups, though, and we all want to see Mike Trout in his hometown uniform. If there's a single team that can coax Trout away from the Angels, it's the Phillies. He would get a chance to contend, insulated by two top-shelf hitters in Harper and Turner, not to mention a deep lineup and a great bullpen. He also happens to plug the centerfield gap in Philadelphia's depth chart. Going from Rohas to Trout in that spot is a monumental upgrade.

Philadelphia would need to appeal to the baseball gods so that Trout can get to the postseason in one piece, but this lineup instantly possesses the highest ceiling in the National League. The Dodgers have their own trio of MVP candidates, but Turner-Harper-Trout in the heart of the lineup — sandwiched between potential batting champ Alec Bohm and slugging extraordinaire Kyle Schwarber — is one hell of a concept.

I would like to see it.

1. Phillies swipe biggest free agent and put National League on notice

1. Trea Turner
2. Juan Soto
3. Bryce Harper
4. Alec Bohm
5. Kyle Schwarber
6. Nick Castellanos
7. J.T. Realmuto
8. Brandon Marsh // Johan Rojas
9. Bryson Stott

The Juan Soto sweepstakes this winter are expected to boil down to the incumbent New York Yankees or the scrappy, very wealthy New York Mets. That's all good and well, but the power of imagination allows us to think outside the box. More than two teams are sure to submit bids for Soto and Philadelphia ought to be one of them.

The Phillies outbid every other team for Yoshinobu Yamamoto last offseason without an in-person meeting. He didn't pick Philly in the end, but money is no object when the Phils really, truly want someone.

Soto's contract could balloon past $600 million in total value, which is a whole new level of commitment, but his fit both offensively and defensively is seamless. Philadelphia can plug Soto into a needy outfield while happily incorporating one of the best bats in the MLB into their already-potent lineup.

It's hard to start games better than Trea Turner, Juan Soto, and Bryce Harper in short order. The Kyle Schwarber leadoff gambit has fared well for Philadelphia, but this signing probably forces Philadelphia to move him into a more traditional slugging spot. Soto and Castellanos presumably split the corner outfield positions, while Brandon Marsh, Johan Rojas, and potentially Austin Hays duke it out for reps in centerfield.

Soto is going to finish third in AL MVP voting because of the historic seasons Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt Jr. are having, but Soto is having a dominant, awards-worthy campaign in his own right. Batting .292 with a 1.005 OPS, 38 home runs, and 98 RBIs through 140 starts, Soto has elevated the Yankees from the postseason bubble to a potential No. 1 seed in the American League.

Philadelphia may seem like a long-shot destination on paper, but Soto once shared the field with Harper, Turner, and Schwarber during their respective Washington Nationals stints. There is built-in familiarity with the Phillies' core pieces and, frankly, Philadelphia probably gives Soto the clearest path to World Series contention, if he cares about that sort of thing.

It's not as improbable as you might imagine.