Four offseason names the Phillies need to know and one philosophical moment.

In their quest for the final step, the worst thing the Phillies can do is lose sight of the conventional wisdom that led them to the brink. No play in baseball is more impressive than a long ball landing on the shady side of the fence. No skill is more valuable than being able to hit those balls. Dave Dombrowski and Rob Thomson can talk about the frequency of stalking and the percentage of contacts until they’re blue in the face. But their desire to improve in these departments should not come at the expense of problems.

Dingers win ball games. Dingers wins playoff series. Dingers win championships.

Regardless, Tony Gwynn never won a championship. Ted Williams never won a championship. Rod Carew never won a championship. Wade Boggs won his only championship at age 38. Nothing special, but I was interested. Williams would add some value to the Phillies lineup. If the next one comes out, they should probably consider it.

Any conversation about the Phillies’ offseason strategy needs to keep the hot-button issues front and center.

Dingers, dingers, dingers.

The Phillies didn’t score enough runs against the Mets. That’s why they lost. The Mets hit a lot of them. That’s why they won. Of the 23 runs the Mets scored against the Phillies in the NLDS, 12 were home runs. The Phillies scored 12 runs in total, four of which came on home runs.

This is not an accident. This is the way of the world.

Watch the World Series. The Dodgers and Yankees combined for 49 runs. Only 19 of those hits were anything other than a home run. Look at the postseason as a whole. Nearly half of the 357 runs scored this October came on home runs (170 runs scored on 98 home runs in 37 games).

I’m not trying to downplay the other issues Dombrowski and Thomson will try to address this offseason. You could certainly argue that the biggest weakness of the Phillies lineup is that it is too monocultured, too many players looking for the same pitch, the same part of the plate, too few players who can hit the pitcher, who throws the ball. different heights elsewhere. There’s a lot of truth to that and very little to the idea that a roster full of veterans can develop into different forwards.

I’m not trying to downplay any of this, nor am I suggesting that the Phillies don’t take these things into account as they look to expand their roster. I’m just saying that they shouldn’t overdo it.

Four names to remove.

1) Brendan Donovan, utility player, Cardinals

The Cardinals may look at 2025 as a reset year. Donovan ranks low on the list of players a rebuilding team would want to rebuild. At the same time, he’s the kind of guy that a team like this could part with for a reasonable price. At 27 years old, he is not exactly young. And he’s not positioned as a central superstar. But his approach numbers are best-in-class with a 12.4% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate, along with excellent base discipline numbers. He is also a right-handed hitter who can play second, third or corner in the outfield. If you had to pick a player to add to the Phillies’ roster, it would be Donovan.

2) Anthony Santander, right fielder, free agent

The prelude you just read is very inspiring. Santander’s earnings numbers suggest he’ll be more of the same: a high-energy, all-or-nothing striker whose best rival might be Nick Castellanos. Which could be true. Santander’s pursuit rate ranked him in the bottom 15% of 2024 outfielders with at least 200 appearances. Nevertheless, he makes contact. His outside zone contact percentage ranked sixth out of 148 outfielders (Castellanos: 120th) and his overall contact percentage ranked in the top 20. Not many players hit 44 home runs in a season like Santander did this year. Much depends on the market. If he ends up agreeing to a short-term deal, he’ll be exactly the guy the Phillies shouldn’t cut out.

3) Randal Grichuk, right fielder, free agent

I still don’t understand why the Phillies thought it wiser to give Whit Merrifield four times as much money as the Arizona Diamondbacks ended up giving Grichuk. He ended up having a phenomenal season as a rotation outfielder for the Diamondbacks with a .373 on-base average, ranking him eighth among outfielders with at least 200 plate appearances. He saw significant improvements in his plate discipline numbers and set a career high with a 7.2% walk rate.

4) Jonathan India, second baseman, Reds

Much depends on whether either Indian, Bryson Stott or Tree Turner, can take over third base. If that is the case, trading Alec Bohm to India would make some sense. India’s walk rate has skyrocketed in the last year, and he’s 27-for-31 in stolen base innings over the last couple of seasons. This could be one of those rare one-on-one trades that will interest both teams.