Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, and manager Rob Thomson held a press conference on Tuesday to address the team’s 2024 season and outline their goals for avoiding another early postseason exit in 2025. For those anticipating major changes in the coaching staff, the event didn’t confirm such speculations, as there were no significant changes announced.
However, the press conference did provide insights into the team’s future. It was revealed that Thomson’s contract has been extended through the 2026 season, the entire coaching staff will remain for 2025, Johan Rojas will work on improving his offense in Clearwater this offseason, and top outfield prospect Justin Crawford could make his MLB debut next season.
Phillies officially clarify Taijuan Walker’s status in starting rotation for 2025
What about the starting rotation? With Taijuan Walker enduring the worst season by a Phillies pitcher in 30 years and the team’s depth options failing to provide sufficient production when filling in for him, questions about the fifth spot in the rotation were naturally a hot topic.
Dombrowski didn’t hold back when discussing the future of the rotation once this issue came into focus.
The struggles in the Phillies’ rotation this season largely stemmed from Walker’s spot. Efforts to fill that gap with pitchers like Spencer Turnbull, Tyler Phillips, Kyle Tyler, and Kolby Allard did little to resolve the problem.
Given that Walker has two years and $36 million left on his contract, moving him is nearly impossible. The team is left hoping that he can improve and regain his reliability. Dombrowski struck an optimistic but candid tone when addressing Walker’s future.
“I would think he’ll come to spring training with us next year, but he’s not guaranteed a starting spot,” Dombrowski said. “I don’t think I can just say, ‘Hey, you’re our fifth starter.’ I think he would come to camp and be in a battle to try to win a spot in the rotation.”
Top prospect Andrew Painter is in the mix for a rotation spot in 2025
While Taijuan Walker will spend the offseason refining his pitch mix, the Phillies front office made it clear that the open rotation spot will be contested in spring training. One intriguing name mentioned as a possibility is top pitching prospect Andrew Painter, who recently showed promising results after pitching two innings in the Arizona Fall League. Dombrowski didn’t rule out Painter potentially contributing in 2025.
“We’ll need to determine how we manage [Painter’s] innings next year, as he’s not someone we can expect to throw 180 innings at the major league level,” Dombrowski stated.
Although there’s time before the Phillies return to the field in February, the press conference signaled that Walker won’t simply be handed the ball next season—he’ll have to earn his spot. While this realization came too late to save the current season, it’s a clear sign the Phillies are determined not to repeat the same mistakes in 2025.
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