The Phillies are for outfield help this winter, though moving from first base back into the outfield to be a consideration. wonders if the Phils could po sibly re-evaluate this stance, as Lauber feels the first base market (for both free agents and trade po sibilities) is much deeper than this winters outfield market. Of the top outfielders in free agency, seems likely to be going to one of the other big-market clubs, while and each have the strikeout or chase rate i sues that the Phillies are already looking to correct within their current lineup. Philadelphia in Hernandez back at the 2023 trade deadline when the slugger was still a member of the Mariners, but Lauber notes that the Phils pa sed on Hernandez under the similar logic that Hernandezs power wouldnt offset his tendency to swing and mi s. Harpers first full season as a first baseman was a succe s, as he posted strong defensive numbers and kept up his usual high standards at the plate. These results have understandably left all parties satisfied with just keeping Harper at the cold corner, though Harper has expre sed an openne s to playing the outfield again and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski didnt entirely close the door on the po sibility ( I cant say that wed never do it, but its not something that we are thinking of or wanting to do ) when discu sing the subject at the GM Meetings last month. If Harper did return to his old spot in right field, and would likely become the Phillies new center field platoon, and would presumably be shifted over to left field. This arrangement Jaxson Hayes Jersey wouldnt exactly make for the strongest defensive outfield, even if the Phillies tried to balance out the situation by adding a stronger defender at first base. Castellanos to clear space in the outfield might be the ideal outcome, though that is obviously easier said than done considering the two years and $40MM remaining on the veterans contract. More from the NL East Before the Nationals parted ways with , the two parties at least had some talks about a new contract prior to the non-tender deadline, but hears from a source that the sides were not close to making a deal to avoid arbitration. Finnegan was by MLBTRs Matt Swartz to earn $8.6MM in his final year of arb eligibility, as traditional counting stats like saves (Finnegan had 28 saves in 2023 and 38 saves in 2024) tend to boost a relievers arbitration salaries by a significant degree, regardle s of Finnegans otherwise rather shaky secondary metrics. It seems as though the Nationals wouldve been open to retaining the closer at a lower number, but ultimately werent comfortable retaining Finnegan and po sibly facing a higher salary via arbitration hearing if the Nats couldnt have potentially traded Finnegan at some later date this offseason. underwent Tommy John surgery in October 2023, and after over a year of recovery and rehab, the Marlins ace appears to be making good progre s towards a return. In a recent appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM ( ), manager Clayton McCullough said he met with Alcantara within the last week and he looked great, he sounded great, felt like he was really right on track at this point.All signs point to things looking very positive for the start of the season . The winner of the 2022 NL Cy Young Award, Alcantara threw more innings than any other pitcher in baseball over the 2019-2022 seasons as the anchor of the Marlins pitching staff, before that workload seemingly caught up to him late in the 2023 campaign. Since Alcantara is owed at least $36MM over the last two years of his contract, some trade buzz will be inevitable if he looks like his old self at the start of 2025, though the rebuilding Marlins Alcantara last summer that they likely werent trading him this offseason. Lonzo Ball Jersey