The Philadelphia Phillies’ quiet offseason has, in completely predictable fashion, backfired. We knew, in our heart of hearts, that Juan Soto was never going to Philadelphia. But what about Alex Bregman? There were opportunities aplenty for the Phillies to operate aggressively and improve on a good (but not good enough) roster.

Instead, GM Dave Dombrowski went into cost-saving mode. He dished out $10 million to a replacement-level outfielder in Max Kepler, which didn’t solve much, and hung his hat on a bargain-bin trade for Jesús Luzardo. Credit where credit is due, Luzardo has been one of the few overwhelming positives of this season to date.

Where Dombrowski most egregiously miscalculated, however, was the bullpen. Philadelphia’s late-relief crew ranked among the very best in baseball last season, but it was exposed all the same in the playoffs. The Phillies needed to improve it, build upon it. Not tear it down.

Instead, Dombrowski let two of his top arms, Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez, walk. In their place, he inked Jordan Romano to a one-year, $9 million contract. There was plenty of blind optimism around the Romano signing in the moment — he was an All-Star in 2022 and 2023 — but after an injury-plagued 2024 campaign, which saw his ERA balloon to 6.59, maybe we all should’ve leaned a bit more skeptical.

Romano has been an abject disaster, and it only looks worse given Hoffman’s immense success with the Toronto Blue Jays, Romano’s former team.

Jeff Hoffman’s Blue Jays success puts Phillies bullpen blame squarely on Dave Dombrowski

Philadelphia was given ample opportunity to re-sign Hoffman was a free agent this past winter, as The Athletic’s Matt Gelb lays out. Atlanta (three years, $48 million) and Baltimore (three years, $40 million) both nixed contract agreements over concerns regarding Hoffman’s physical. He wound up in Toronto on a discount, but the Phillies wanted relievers on one-year contracts and thus landed on Romano — never even circling back to Hoffman.

“The Phillies remained in contact with Hoffman’s camp, but it is unclear whether they ever made a formal offer to Hoffman, even at the start of the offseason,” Gelb writes. “There were more opportunities, especially after Hoffman’s market tumbled following the two failed agreements. But league sources said once the Phillies signed Romano on Dec. 9, they moved on completely. There was no communication between the two sides.”

This is a non-story if Romano comes in and performs, but the 32-year-old looks completely lost on the mound. He’s not missing bats, he’s not keeping it on the ground, and he’s definitely not maintaining leads.

Philadelphia’s bullpen has the second-worst ERA in MLB (5.70) and leads the league in blown saves (seven). Romano has been a huge catalyst behind their struggles, logging a 13.50 ERA and two blown saves across 11 appearances (9.1 innings). He gave up the walk-off hit to Sterling Marte in the Phillies’ 10th-inning loss to the Mets on Wednesday, which capped New York’s series sweep.

Not only has Romano underperformed relative to his contract and expectations. He has been one of the absolute worst relievers in baseball, and yet Rob Thomson continues to go to him. We can criticize Thomson all we want for reverting back to Romano in high-leverage situations, but that is what he was signed to do. To pitch late in games and under high pressure. When Philly is smack out of options because Dombrowski neglected the bullpen, what can Thomson do besides hope Romano snaps back into form?

The Phillies need to get busy on the trade front and find ways to improve this pitching staff. Andrew Painter is a candidate to eat bullpen reps in a couple of months, but Philly should prefer him as a starter. That is where his future lies. Taijuan Walker will eventually rejoin the bullpen if the Phillies get healthy, but that’s hardly a solution.

It’s time for Dombrowski to right his wrongs.