Grading Dombrowski, Fuld and the Philadelphia Phillies front office at the season’s midway point

Mar 23, 2018; Bradenton, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies Sam Fuld (5) against the Pittsburgh Pirates at LECOM Park. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 23, 2018; Bradenton, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies Sam Fuld (5) against the Pittsburgh Pirates at LECOM Park. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
5 of 5
Dave Dombrowski.  Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Dave Dombrowski.  Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Overall

Dombrowski and Fuld have taken a balanced approach to bolstering the Phillies’ personnel. They’ve been cautious in their use of unproven talent, made few mistakes and hit on their gambles more often than  not.

Here’s the first half report card on the Dombrowski-Fuld front office. Note that grades for players departing the organization are based on the reverse of those players’ WAAs with their new teams.

Mode                    WAA               Grade

Acquired              -0.6                       C

Traded                  -2.3                       B

Signed                  +1.7                      B

FA Lost                 -1.4                       B

Rookies                -0.1                       C

Overall                  +4.7                      A

Since the end of the 2022 season, Dombrowski and Fuld have made 29 personnel decisions affecting the major league performance in 2023. They’ve been successful, with an impressive 16 improvements against just 12 negatives; one score was neutral.

What really moves the needle in favor of Dombrowski and Fuld is their success at free agent judgment.  They signed seven, and all but one have delivered. They walked away from seven others, and on balance time has proven those calls to be correct.

The performance of the rookie class hasn’t been much. But Philadelphia is a big market franchise built to take farm system failures in stride.