Dave Dombrowski Says He Wants to 'Retool' and Not 'Rebuild' Phillies

New Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski doesn't expect to tear down the foundation of the current roster. Despite a postseason drought dating back to 2012, he feels the club has the right pieces to contend in the near future.

"I consider a retool, not a rebuild for sure," Dombrowski told reporters Friday. "There's too many good players on the club."

The longtime MLB executive named Bryce Harper, Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler and Zach Eflin among the reasons he's optimistic. Earlier this offseason, Wheeler had been floated as a potential trade candidate only one year after signing a five-year, $118 million contract.    

Dombrowski called the Phillies organization a "sleeping giant" because of its East Coast market location, its proven manager in Joe Girardi and the commitment of managing partner John Middleton to winning.

"I know John wants to win. We have flexibility of finances," Dombrowski said. "But when I say that, I don't think it's unlimited amount of funds. You always realize there's some type of budget attached to that. We will work within that. But we're also more, we want to win this year." 

That may be a bit difficult given the state of the National League East. 

The Atlanta Braves have won three consecutive division titles, the New York Mets are a legitimate free-agent destination under new majority owner Steve Cohen and the Miami Marlins have developed a young core that stunned the league by making the postseason last year. 

While Dombrowski said he'd like to re-sign catcher J.T. Realmuto, it's unclear if a deal is on the horizon. Change is needed in Philadelphia, and it's looking like the process won't be complete overnight.

"I don't look at this as a situation where we're one player away from winning," Dombrowski said. "I think we need to do a few things with this team. And I really don't want to be sacrificing people that might be part of our future success for short-term gains if it's not the difference-maker."   

Even if the executive wanted to move prospects for a piece to push the club into contention now, there aren't too many options to work with. The Phillies have just three players ranked in MLB Pipeline's Top 100 prospects (No. 28 RHP Spencer Howard, No. 82 SS Bryson Stott, No. 84 RHP Mick Abel).

Dombrowski may not be starting from scratch, but that doesn't make his task any easier—especially if he wants to avoid a full-scale rebuild.