Even with all of that, the Phillies are actually better as hitters after signing shortstop Trea Turner to an 11-year, $300 million contract.
They’re also better as pitchers with Taijuan Walker replacing the mostly ineffective Kyle Gibson in the rotation, and the promise of phenoms Painter and/or Matt Abel pitching for the Phillies at some point this season.
And remarkably, the Phillies have an even deeper bullpen with former closers Gregory Soto (30 saves last season for the Tigers) and Craig Kimbrel (22 saves last season with the Dodgers, 394 in his career) working in with Dominguez and Alvarado in the late innings.
The pitching matchup features Nola (11-13, 3.25 ERA in 2022) going against deGrom (5-4, 3.08 with the Mets in 2022).
The Phillies have been here before. They went two months without Harper last season when he suffered a broken hand. The Phillies went 32-20 without him.
They’ll have that same challenge as Harper is expected to miss at least the first two months this season. Turner can make up for a good portion of that production. Turner had 21 homers, 100 RBIs and 27 stolen bases last season for the Dodgers.