Let's preview the Philadelphia Phillies for 2026.

Up next on Fantasy Baseball today.

Welcome to On the Beat, our mini team preview series here at Fantasy Baseball today.

I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Matt Watson, who covers the Phillies for Metro Philadelphia.

Make sure to give him a follow on X at Matt Watson Media.

And let's just start here with the offseason.

They did what they needed to do.

They brought back Kyle Schwerber and J.T. Real Muto.

They also signed Adolias Garcia and Brad Keller.

They traded away Matt Strom to the Royals in exchange for Jonathan Bolin.

Very talented team on paper.

We know that.

Although, obviously, the Dodgers are amazing, so we'll see

if anyone could take them down. But this team could be even better if Zach Wheeler gets healthy.

So I'll let you start there. What do you think about the offseason, everything they've done so

far, and any updates on Zach Wheeler and his availability for opening day?

Sure. Yeah. Well, to start with the off season, I think the Phillies did what they have to do, right?

A lot of people are using the term running it back. And I know that's not very popular among Philadelphia fans at this point, but they did what they needed to do. They brought back a D.H. and Kyle Schwerper, who was an MVP candidate last year. I don't expect him to be that same caliber player moving forward.

But I think he's still going to be that same caliber player moving forward,

but I think he's still going to be a really great hitter for them. They needed a catcher. They brought back JT over a Mutone as a reader deal. So they filled the holes that they had. And now it's a matter of, okay, can some of these minor additions, signing Brad Keller to the bullpen, mixing things up by moving off a match strong, can these things help put them over the top?

Because this is a team that's won, 95 games and 96 games the last two seasons. They obviously went toe to toe with the Dodgers in the NLDS. They didn't get the outcome that they were hoping for, but there's still a very good baseball team. There's no reason why they can't make the playoffs this year. I believe there're still the betting favorites to win the division. I would pick them to win the division outright. I think they're a great club. And I just think they have a lot of proven talent, a lot of experience talent. There are teams that are mixing things up that they don't necessarily know how all the pieces work together. You know with the Phillies, how everything comes together and works together. So from that standpoint, I think they're going to have a very strong 2026. And I think Zach Wheeler is a big wildcard with that, right? He has recently, as of this week, it was reported that he is now throwing on flat ground roughly 90 feet. He's playing long toss. So from that standpoint, Zach Wheeler is building back up his arm. The expectation is that he will join the team in spring training starts in a few weeks. But he will be a little bit behind the other pitchers. He won't be ready to go. He's likely not going to pitch. I would think in great for league action to start. He might maybe towards later part of camp. But if I had to guess, I think Zach Wheeler will be a full go at some time in May. I think they might start with the innings restriction when he does, you know, return. Maybe he even starts the season with the team and has even, you know, maybe he's pitching two, three innings and they kind of use him as an opener in that regard. But I know that Zach Wheeler is feeling good and he's ready to go and just a matter of building back up that arm.

Yeah, I think Wild Card is a great way to put it both for the Phillies and for fantasy baseball purposes.

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