Grading Each of the Philadelphia Phillies’ Last 25 Free Agent Classes

It has been an offseason of going against the grain for Ruben Amaro Jr. and company, leaving fans of the Philadelphia Phillies thinking, “That’s a solid move, but there’s more, right?” Amaro has made this team look different, but have they improved? 

Moreover, has this team improved through free agency the way that we thought it would? After all, when the 2012 regular season came to an end, that was where it seemed as though this club would do its heavy hitting. 

They needed a center fielder and there were plenty of free agents available. Instead, they made a trade for Ben Revere. There were a few third basemen available, but they swung a trade with the Texas Rangers for Michael Young. 

In fact, this offseason’s haul of free agents, though possibly incomplete, is a little underwhelming. It doesn’t tell the entire story of their winter by any stretch, but for a team that looked like it was going to fill nearly all of its needs on the free agent market, to walk away with pitchers Mike Adams and John Lannan is intriguing, to say the least. 

Then again, the free agent market is a fickle mistress, especially in the history books as told by the Phillies. This is a team that has landed huge free agent hauls (Cliff Lee) and one that has been ridiculed for some of the worst moves of all-time (Adam Eaton). 

So how does this free agent haul stack up against the rest? With the Phillies on the verge of making just a couple of free agent signings in a year where they were expected to make a bit of a splash, I thought that now would be a good time to take a look at their last 25 free agent classes. 

Each class will be graded as a whole, but players will be analyzed on an individual basis. Players will only be eligible for this list if they were signed as a free agent during the offseason. On a similar note, we will only be analyzing “notable” free agent signings. That is to say that only players who made noticeable contributions at the MLB level will be analyzed, unless otherwise noted.

*Wins Above Replacement statistic is courtesy of FanGraphs, and divided into “batting” and “pitching” accordingly. 

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