The Philadelphia Phillies need to re-sign Didi Gregorius at all costs

Keeping Didi Gregorius on the Philadelphia Phillies is beyond crucial.

I’m not all the way at the “give him a blank check” level like I am with JT Realmuto, but Didi Gregorius is undoubtedly pushing me towards that direction. Through 57 games this season, the former Yankees shortstop has been an absolute joy to watch, and his numbers represent someone who is immensely crucial to the Philadelphia Phillies success. If the team wants to not limp towards a .500 finish next season (like they are this year), keeping him around appears to be a no-brainer.

Gregorius leads all Phillies hitters in RBIs with 40, he’s tied with Alec Bohm for the most doubles on the team with 10, he leads the entire ball club in hits with 59, and his 10 home runs only trail Bryce Harper and Realmuto.

Gregorius is slashing .289/.344/.505, and his current .849 OPS would rank as the best number he’s put up during his MLB career. Needless to say, Gregorius is playing extremely well.

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The Philadelphia Phillies took a bit of a chance on Gregorius during the offseason, as he had been battling injuries recently and didn’t have the most productive of 2019 seasons. Considering the Yankees didn’t even offer their starting shortstop a contract to return to the team, there was reason to believe that Gregorius might just not have any juice left in the tank.

However, Joe Girardi vouched for him and the Phillies handed over a one-year deal worth $14 million. The team had to shuffle around their infield a bit to make it all work, moving Jean Segura over to third base, but it gave them a legitimate lefty power bat behind Harper and Realmuto.

As much as the Phillies were happy to land Gregorius during the offseason, I don’t think even they could have predicted just how good of a signing he would turn out to be. Not only has his offensive production been at an All-Star level caliber, but his defense has been far improved from what they got out of the shortstop position in 2019. Gregorius has been an RBI machine for the majority of the season, even spending some time at the cleanup position when Realmuto and Hoskins suffered injuries.

The Phillies are slowly staggering to the end of their season this week, and there’s a very slim chance that they sneak their way into the postseason. Regardless of how the year finishes out, a hypothetical lack of team success should absolutely not be pinned on someone like Gregorius. He’s established him as one of the better shortstops in all of baseball this season, and he should be a crucial piece to this team’s plan moving forward.

The Phillies were legitimately an average bullpen away from being contenders this season, and they should be more than willing to open up their check books for someone like Gregorius this upcoming winter. Whether it’s a two-year or three-year extension, locking him while prospect Bryson Stott continues to develop in the farm system seems like a super easy decision.

As long as the Phillies enter 2021 with both Realmuto and Gregorius on their roster again, they should be in prime position to contend for a division title. While Realmuto is deservedly getting the most amount of attention regarding his looming free agency, Gregorius is a very close second when it comes to offseason importance.