Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski joined the 94 WIP Morning show with Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie on Wednesday, touching on a broad-reaching number of Phillies topics ( to the entire 20-minute interview). Its a good listen for fans of any club Phils fans in particular, of course wherein Philadelphias top decision-maker discu ses his teams relatively quiet offseason, the state of the rotation and the outfield, s future with the club, top prospect s health and quite a bit more. Among the more notable takeaways was Dombrowskis reply when asked a potential late move for one of the remaining big-name starters on the board. Dombrowski didnt comment on either or by name but expre sed that hes content with the clubs rotation. As far back as early November, Dombrowski touted fifth starter as someone the team believes can be a big regular in the rotation, and his comments today mesh with that line of thinking. Dombrowski didnt expre sly rule out the addition of another starter but implied that the team wasnt about to pay market rate for one of the remaining names out there. I cant tell you that somebody doesnt fall into your lap at some point where you say, Gee, thats an opportunity we cant turn down,' Dombrowski said. That suggests a willingne s to remain open-minded to some late, unexpected drops in price but doesnt sound like a portent for an aggre sive pursuit of a top-tier free agent. That said, there was at least one name the Phillies considered worthy of an exception: . Its already been reported that the Phillies were a legitimate suitor for the 25-year-old NPB ace before he signed a record deal with the Dodgers, and Dombrowski now confirms that his team was very involved in Yamamotos market. The veteran baseball ops leader went so far as to say that others might be shocked to learn how much money the Phillies ultimately offered naturally, he declined to specify before indicating that Yamamoto simply had a preference to be a Dodger. The reported last week that the Phils also made a 12-year offer, although its unclear if they were willing to match the $325MM guarantee which Yamamoto received from Los Angeles. Obviously, any multi-year addition to the rotation could provide the Phillies with some insurance in the event that Wheeler departs as a free agent at seasons end. But Dombrowski called Wheeler one of the best pitchers in baseball and stre sed that its important and a priority for the Phillies find a way to re-sign the right-hander. Wheeler, 34 in May, has outperformed the Brent Headrick Jersey five-year, $118MM contract he signed with the Phillies in the 2019-20 offseason. Hes garnered Cy Young consideration in three of his four Phillies seasons, highlighted by a second-place finish in 2021 and a sixth-place finish in 2023. Over the past four seasons, hes tied with for the fourth-most innings in Major League Baseball and leads MLB in FanGraphs wins above replacement. Hes notched a tidy 3.06 ERA despite typically playing in front of one of the games weakest defenses, thanks in large part to a sharp 26.7% strikeout rate and excellent 5.3% walk rate. A new contract for Wheeler would begin with his age-35 season, which caps his earning potential to an extent, but recent history has shown teams are willing to pay elite arms even at the late stages of their careers. A look at some recent examples of age-35 (or older) pitchers cashing in. signed a five-year deal with a $37MM annual value, while and both inked multi-year deals at a $43.333MM AAV. The AAV on s extension, beginning in his age-37 season, is just $18MM but that was a function of the Padres drawing out the term in order to drive down the annual salary for luxury-tax purposes. Darvish still secured a $90MM guarantee on that frontloaded deal and was two years older than Wheeler will be in year one of a theoretical free agent pact or extension. Suffice it to say, Wheeler will be the relatively rare big leaguer who has a chance at multiple nine-figure contracts in his career. On the point of the teams defense, Dombrowski cited that as a primary reason the team has not pursued additional outfield help with much aggre sion this spring. Young dazzled with his defensive ratings (+15 Defensive Runs Saved, +6 Outs Above Average) in just 392 innings of center field work. Asked if Rojas will be the teams primary center fielder this season, Dombrowski all but anointed the 23-year-old. Likely? Yes, Dombrowski replied. Definitively? No. We saw enough the last couple months in August and September that we liked what we saw. Ive talked to our hitting people at length about his progre s over the winter time. Hes worked extremely hard. Hes made adjustments that he needs to make. Im not saying hes going to come up and hit .300 with 20 home runs off the bat, but I think he can do enough offensively and contribute from an offensive perspective. And when you add his speed and his defense, all of a sudden he becomes a real plus for us. So yes, I do think hell be up, but he has to earn that, too. Were not just going to give it to him. Even as he made those caveats, Dombrowski also spoke of the teams desire to get more time at designated hitter and to keep at first base as a means of improving the defense (as opposed to the alternative scenario where Schwarber plays left field and were re-signed to split time between DH and first base). Rojas bat looked impre sive during his brief regular-season look, as he hit .302/.342/.430 in 164 plate appearances, but that was buoyed by an unsustainable .410 average on balls in play. His bat went ice cold in the playoffs, too, as Rojas fell into a woeful 4-for-43 swoon and struck out in a third of his plate appearances. Despite the postseason struggles, it appears Rojas will have first crack at the regular center field job. The Phillies are generally thin in terms of outfield depth, and of could add to that if hes traded or claimed by another club. Theres perhaps the chance that the Phils could add a bench bat to the mix, and outfield would be a natural spot, given the lackluster offensive contributions of and limited track record of . Dombrowski acknowledged the po sibility of adding a bench bat, simply noting that might end up happening, but he didnt characterize it as a major item thats yet to be checked off the to-do list. Speaking in general terms, the Phillies president again implied that between wanting to give Rojas a real chance and the veteran nature of much of his roster, free agents have seen greater opportunity for playing time with other clubs thus far. Theres still quite a few names yet unsigned, so it stands to reason that the Phils could eventually find a bargain addition to deepen the mix. Pache, Cave and utility infielder are all out of options, however, so adding a player to the bench mix would likely mean jettisoning someone like Cave, whos already agreed to a $1MM salary for the 2024 season. That isnt likely to be a major roadblock to any further additions, but itll factor into the calculus all the same. The Phillies will effectively return the same bullpen in 2024, though again, Dombrowski indicated its not nece sarily for lack of trying. He noted that the team has been in on at least a couple of notable names but that one, in particular, took an opportunity to be a starting pitcher elsewhere. Another simply preferred to be closer to his home on the west coast. Again, Dombrowski didnt mention names, though and stand out as two bullpen arms who surprisingly landed rotation opportunities in free agency (Hicks in San Francisco, Lopez in Atlanta). Hicks, in particular, was as a free agent. Starting pitching depth, too, has been a recent area the Phillies have been searching. They signed former Braves first-rounder to a split big league deal last month due in no small part to the fact that he has a minor league option remaining. That same line of thinking surely influenced todays claim of righty from the Red Sox. The Phillies have top prospects and working through the minor league system, and while both could make their debuts in 2024, neither has yet pitched even five innings above the Double-A level. Painter was a rotation candidate early last season but wound up going down with an elbow injury that ultimately required Tommy John surgery. Dombrowski said in this mornings interview that Painter has begun to sing a ball recently and is on schedule but that the organization is looking toward 2025 with regard to the prized righty and isnt planning on him pitching in games this season. Theres always the po sibility his recovery progre ses more quickly than expected, but the 20-year-old right-hander doesnt appear to be someone the Phillies are banking on for even a late-season cameo. Jose Miranda Jersey