5 free agents the Philadelphia Phillies can sign to win 2024 World Series

For the second straight season, the Philadelphia Phillies put themselves in position to win the World Series. Unlike a year ago, however, Rob Thomson & Co. failed to reach the Fall Classic.

Despite holding series leads of 2-0 and 3-2 over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Phillies surprisingly dropped the final two games of the NLCS at home. To put into perspective just how impressive Arizona was, the Phillies had gone 12-2 at Citizens Bank Park during these last two MLB postseasons and 11-0 in NL playoff games.

But what's done is done, and it's time for the Phillies and their fans to look ahead to next season. On paper, the 2024 campaign looks promising as the vast majority of the key players who helped the Phillies reach a second straight NLCS are set to return.

With that said, however, Dave Dombrowski will have plenty of decisions to make when MLB free agency begins. As mentioned, most of his big names will be back in 2024. But there are a few high-profile players set to hit the market, most notably Aaron Nola, Rhys Hoskins, Craig Kimbrel, and Michael Lorenzen.

While Dombrowski will likely engage in talks with each of those players, he'll obviously also be looking to bring in some new blood. And just to keep things a touch more interesting, that's where we'll put our focus today.

And let's just get this out of the way at the start. You're not going to see Shohei Ohtani on this list. Would the Phillies love to have him? Of course. Who wouldn't? But as they'll already be paying six players $20 million or more next year, I don't see them spending the half a billion dollars it might take to bring "Shotime" to the City of Brotherly Love.

So, outside of baseball's best player, who could Philadelphia reasonably target this winter?

5. Eduardo Rodriguez, LHP

This first one is a bit tricky as Eduardo Rodriguez would have to opt out of the five-year/$77 million deal he signed with the Detroit Tigers ahead of the 2022 season.

With that said, most expect him to do just that as he'll likely get more in free agency than what he'd make in the Motor City the next three years, especially since he just had the best overall season of his career.

In 26 starts for the Tigers, the lefty went 13-9 with a career-best 3.30 ERA (more than an entire run lower than Aaron Nola, by the way) and recorded 143 strikeouts in 152.2 innings.

The 30-year-old reportedly wants to play on the East Coast to be closer to family, so Philly could have a leg up on what's sure to be several suitors throughout the league. Rodriguez may be a touch too costly for the Phillies, but he'd undoubtedly be a great addition to the starting rotation.