The Phillies finally admitted defeat to Dave Dombrowski’s loudest whiff of last season.

On Friday, the Philadelphia Phillies officially conceded defeat on the Dave Dombrowski signing for the 2024 season.

Austin Hayes arrived in Philadelphia with high expectations, considered the right-handed platoon the Phillies were missing, opposite Brandon Marsh in left field. He’s now a free agent after the Phillies didn’t offer him an offer just a few months after his arrival.

Such a short tenure speaks to the failures of last season. Hayes was a great addition, but he shouldn’t have been Philadelphia’s starter. only offensive update at the trade deadline. The Phils came out swinging last season, but the offense began to decline about halfway through the campaign. Instead of aggressively addressing the Phillies’ shortcomings in the outfield or at second base, Dombrowski went with a cheap, unimpressive specialist.

Hayes was immediately offered the position of full-time left fielder, but a kidney infection limited him to only 22 regular-season appearances. His numbers in that limited period – .256/.275/.397 with two home runs in 78 at-bats – weren’t quite what the Phillies had projected. After all, he was from Marsh’s platoon, after all. Nothing more.

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There are better days ahead for the 29-year-old, but the Phillies need to feel a certain way about how the Hayes era has unfolded. Dombrowski, traditionally very aggressive, took an unusually restrained approach to the 2024 trade deadline. He talked about depth and stockpiling prospects rather than finding star talent. The end result was a showdown between the NLDS and the New York Mets.

Dombrowski was essentially trying to take a shortcut, hoping that Hayes would exceed expectations and provide star value for a fraction of the price. Unfortunately, the Phillies weren’t aggressive enough. There were more ambitious targets on the market, such as Louis Robert Jr. or Cody Bellinger. They still do. Instead of trying to do the most with the least, Dombrowski should simply accept the expensive nature of building an MLB contender and do the best he can.

The Phillies will face star-studded teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves. The Mets want to shell out more than $600 million for Juan Soto. The San Diego Padres are loaded with big bats. That’s the way the National League operates now, and the Phillies understand the trend as much as any other team. We’ve seen Dombrowski pay full price for stars time and time again, and he regularly reaps the rewards of that aggression.

This is exactly the mindset that should be in the 2025 election campaign. Hayes was on the outside of Baltimore’s lineup last season; The Phillies must look for permanent, long-term solutions to their on-field shortcomings. Not a platoon of Marsh or Johan Rojas – a replacement. Even if it means the Phillies have to move up to the next level of the luxury tax.

All signs point to Philadelphia pursuing All-Star talent, perhaps even Juan Soto. The Phillies are saying all the right things, no doubt spurred on by yet another early playoff exit. This window with Bryce Harper and Tree Turner won’t stay open forever. It’s past time for Phyllis to act recklessly and decisively on the financial front.