The Phillies' payroll over the past three seasons has "nearly doubled, with each offseason seeing an expansion of 10-plus%," but the team's win total has "flatlined, from 80 in 2018 to 82" in '21, according to David Murphy of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. Now, with "a projected $145 million in salary committed to just eight players" in '22, the Phillies will "be hard-pressed to continue riding the Middleton Money Train just to stand still." Free agency is "not going to save the Phillies." Not if they "continue to approach the market the way they have the past four offseasons." Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski last week was "pointing out the obvious when he noted that the organization’s only hope for sustained success was to fix its horrific track record in the minor leagues." But the Phillies’ problems go "well beyond the farm system," as for close to a decade now, they have "been flunking baseball economics to a startling degree." Dombrowski was "on the right track" when he told reporters that the Phillies "would not spend money just for spending’s sake." But the Phillies "need big-ticket items -- they just need them at small-ticket prices." That is a "quest they’ve failed to fulfill almost as thoroughly as the development game" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 10/12).
