It is no secret that the Philadelphia Phillies have been desperate to fix the issues with their outfield over the last few seasons. The 2024 season saw the additions of Whit Merrifield and Austin Hays, which, of course, did not work out. In the 2025 season, it was Max Kepler's turn to fill this gap, and again, this failed miserably.
The latest rumors from The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal suggest veteran Randal Grichuk could be the Phillies' attempted band-aid addition to the 2026 roster to work in a platoon role with Brandon Marsh in left field. Does this make sense? Well, kind of.
The 34-year-old right-handed hitting corner outfielder has certainly had some success at the Major League level, particularly against southpaw pitching. For his career, Grichuk has slashed .268/.319/.500 (.819 OPS) against left-handers, and overall, he has been a productive player, posting a 14.0 WAR rating in his 12 big league seasons.
Signing Randall Grichuk Would Be a Gamble for Phillies
Although he has had success throughout his career, Grichuk is coming off what is arguably his worst season in the big leagues, where he posted minus-0.8 WAR along with a rather putrid slash line of .228/.273/.401 (.674 OPS) in stints with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Kansas City Royals.
His success against left-handed pitching disappeared in 2025 as well, as he only posted an OPS of .703. Now that is not necessarily terrible, but when you consider he would be signed with the idea of targeting left-handed pitching, those kinds of numbers do not inspire much confidence that it could work for yet another aging/declining player
For what it is worth, I do think the upside Grichuk brings is legit. Four of his last five seasons have been positive against lefties, and there is always the argument that a change of scenery, partnered with the chance to compete for a World Series, is the perfect combination to rejuvenate his career.
The issue, however, lies with the fact that the Phillies have not really had any success when attempting to fill out their roster with moves like this. It would be a significant gamble, and there would be a legit possibility that they find themselves in a position where they are forced to once again play Marsh against left-handed pitching as the season progresses. We all know how that story goes.
It will be interesting to see how the Phillies decide to proceed from here, but the addition of Randal Grichuk seems like it could become a reality over the next couple of weeks.