5 Phillies Leaving Philadelphia in the New Year

With 2024 officially in the rearview mirror, the Philadelphia Phillies will hope for a better 2025. The Phillies fell short in the playoffs, surprisingly losing in four games to the New York Mets in the NLDS. 

This past year had so much promise for the NL East champs as they finished with the second-best record in baseball (95-67) behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, but failed to complete the mission.

The 2025 season will be interesting for the Phils as they haven’t made many splash moves in free agency. Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski wants to run it back with this core before shaking it up in the next half of the decade.

That being the case, several Phillies players may not be with the club for the entirety of 2025. The Phillies could move on from some guys at the trade deadline in the summer, or not re-sign certain players who have an expiring contract with the big league club.

With all that being said, we’ll discuss five Phillies who could be leaving the team sometime in the New Year.

1. Ranger Suarez

After acquiring Jesus Luzardo in a trade from the Miami Marlins last month, the Phillies could move on from Suarez before the start of the 2025 season or at the trade deadline.

The 29-year-old left-handed pitcher is currently up for arbitration, which hasn’t been settled for the 2025 season. However, Suarez is also set to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the ‘25 season.

Over the summer, MLB insider Jim Bowden reported Philadelphia was working on a contract extension with Suarez. But that was in June and nothing has been mentioned on the extension front since then.

Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported last month that the Phillies were willing to consider trading the southpaw this offseason. However, in October, Dombrowski mentioned that the organization is interested in keeping Suarez for the long haul.

The veteran starting pitcher is coming off an up-and-down 2024 campaign that saw him finish with a 12-8 record and a 3.46 ERA in 27 starts, which doesn’t sound bad on paper. But when you look at his splits between the first and second halves, it tells a different story.

In the first half, Suarez had a 10-4 record, a 2.76 ERA, and held opponents to a .219 average at the plate (19 starts). But Suarez couldn’t carry that momentum over in the second half. He had a 5.65 ERA with a .311 OBA in eight starts.

To his credit, Suarez showed up in Game 4 of the NLDS, when the Phillies needed him. He had eight strikeouts while giving up four walks and five hits through 4.1 innings pitched.

The Phillies have a good problem as they have a surplus of pitching in the starting rotation, but that could leave Suarez as the odd man out. It also doesn’t help that he’s being represented by super agent Scott Boras, which signifies that he could want a huge payday.