TBNL: Phillies outfield, Paul Skenes a Yankee?

Count the Philadelphia Phillies among several teams looking to overhaul their outfield this offseason. The Phillies are focused on adding a right-handed-hitting outfielder once again, according to comments made by president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski at this week’s GM Meetings in Las Vegas.

Harrison Bader was acquired from the Minnesota Twins at July’s trade deadline to fill that need. Bader hit .305/.361/.463 (122 OPS+) in 194 PA down the stretch for Philadelphia, but is now a free agent.

Max Kepler also reached free agency following the season and is unlikely to return. The team is expected to trade or release Nick Castellanos (who is owed $20 million in 2026). Johan Rojas also now appears to be on the trade block, according to The Athletic’s Matt Gelb.

Rojas has seemingly fallen out of favor in Philadelphia, largely due to his inability to develop as a hitter in the big leagues. He hit just .224/.280/.289 (57 OPS+) this past season before spending the final two months at Triple-A following the Bader acquisition. Rojas holds a .252/.294/.340 (75 OPS+) line over 699 PA over the last three seasons, but has shown glimpses of offensive talent along the way (he hit .295/.382/.389 in 111 PA in the Dominican Winter League last year and has a .375/.490/.550 line through 50 PA this year).

While the 25-year-old has struggled at the plate, he has plus speed and has shown he’s among the game’s best defensive center fielders by most metrics. Philadelphia could also hold onto him as depth (he still has a minor league option available).

With several moving pieces still undecided — Dombrowski confirmed to reporters, including Gelb, that the team’s offseason plans are largely on hold until they know if Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, or both will re-sign with the team — the lone certainty in Philadelphia’s Opening Day plans appears to be the inclusion of Justin Crawford in some capacity. Where Crawford lines up defensively remains the big question, as there is some division within the Phillies organization about whether he fits best in center or left field. If he can handle center field comfortably, that gives the club more options in addressing the rest of the outfield.

Crawford, who turns 22 in January, batted .334/.411/.452 in 506 PA last season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. MLB Pipeline has him ranked at No. 54 on their Top 100 prospect list and as the third-best prospect in the Phillies’ organization (behind Andrew Painter and Aidan Miller).

Many, many words will be written about Paul Skenes’ future with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the coming months (and years). The right-hander has emerged as one of the premier pitchers in the sport, but he plays for a franchise that historically does not spend to retain its key players. The day will come (likely sooner than later) when he no longer fits into the team’s budgetary plans.

Comments from anonymous sources always need to be taken with a grain of salt, of course, but it appears there is some sentiment within the Pittsburgh clubhouse that Skenes will indeed ask to be traded at some point, according to Randy Miller at NJ.com:

Yankees fans will, naturally, salivate at the very possibility of Skenes landing in pinstripes someday, but the comments need to be taken for what they are — speculation from an anonymous source, which may not necessarily be accurate.

Still, the idea may not be entirely without merit. Skenes has famously been dating social media influencer and former LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne for some time now. Dunne, notably, was in the news over the summer as she shopped for a Manhattan apartment (at one point she was close to purchasing one that Babe Ruth had allegedly lived in, but the other tenants in the building didn’t want the “public spectacle” that might follow and rejected her bid).

Austin Nola appears ready to hang up his cleats. The longtime catcher signed a minor league contract with the Braves last month, but seems to have had a change of heart about his playing career. Nola is set to join the Mariners as their bullpen coach and catching coordinator, according to a report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The almost-36-year-old was a .247/.323/.364 (93 OPS+) hitter over parts of six seasons in the majors.

Grady Sizemore is leaving the White Sox for the Twins, accepting a role as Minnesota’s first base coach and outfield coordinator. The 43-year-old hit .265/.349/.457 (115 OPS+) over his 10-year career, winning a pair of Gold Glove Awards in center field.

Travis Jankowski — who hit .244/.286/.289 in 50 PA with the White Sox, Rays, and Mets last season — is apparently retiring and has been named as the first base coach for the Rangers. Jankowski was a .236/.318/.305 (75 OPS+) hitter over parts of 11 seasons and won a World Series with the 2023 Rangers.

Tony Vitello has brought another former player onto his staff in San Francisco, with the Giants hiring Hunter Mense as a hitting coach. Mense played for Vitello at the University of Missouri and has been Toronto’s assistant hitting coach since 2022.

The Yankees have fired longtime international scouting director Donny Rowland. Rowland spent 23 years in the organization, the last 15 overseeing the club’s international scouting efforts. None of the organization’s big-money amateur free agent signings have worked out in recent years.

Devin Williams is drawing a lot of early interest on the free agent market despite a career-worst season in 2025, with at least 10 teams having already reached out.

Minor league rebrands are common this time of year. Boston’s Class-A Salem Red Sox are no more, with the team announcing on Sunday that they will rebrand as the Salem RidgeYaks.

Early signs suggest the Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins “are showing a greater interest in spending than in the past,” according to reporting from Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon at The Athletic. While neither team is going to suddenly be a factor for the upper-tier free agents, it could be an indication that the Marlins will be less inclined to trade one of their starting pitchers (namely, Sandy Alcantara or Edward Cabrera).

Former Red Sox minor league outfielder Ryan Westmoreland was inducted into the Portsmouth (RI) High School Hall of Fame in October. The 5th-round pick in 2008 hit .296/.401/.484 in 267 PA in his lone season in the minor leagues before multiple brain surgeries ended his playing career. Westmoreland, 35, is now an assistant coach at UMass Dartmouth.