Just in: Three key players’ serious injury status is a major update for the Phillies.
When outfielders worth $13 million are injured in a single game, the Phillies receive bad news.
The Philadelphia Phillies had their greatest win total since 2012, when they recorded 102 victories, with 95 victories in 2024. However, the outcome was the same. Philadelphia lost the National League Division Series and was out of the playoffs. The St. Louis Cardinals defeated them in 2012, and the New York Mets defeated them last year. In 2025, the Phillies want to return to the postseason for the fourth consecutive year and attempt to win the World Series for the first time since defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, which was only the second World Series title in the team’s 122-year existence.
With the exception of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Mets, the Phillies will be spending more on player wages this season, so they want to get the most out of their investment. However, they were injured in a Spring Training game on Sunday, costing them $13 million.
Following mishaps on the outfield, Marsh and Kepler depart the game.
That amount is the combined salary of two outfielders who are anticipated to make up two-thirds of Philadelphia’s Opening Day outfield. Both players sustained contact-related injuries during Sunday’s 12-1 victory over Baltimore at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida, the Orioles’ spring training facility. Max Kepler, a 10-year veteran of the Minnesota Twins, was signed by the Phillies in the summer to a $10 million one-year contract.
The remaining $3 million is given to 27-year-old Brandon Marsh, who signed a one-year contract for the $3 million to avoid arbitration before his sixth major league season. Marsh made his major league debut in 2021 after being selected in the second round of the 2016 Los Angeles Angels draft. However, in a one-to-one trade for catcher Logan O’Hoppe, the Angels shipped Marsh to Philadelphia the following season.
Scott Lauber, a beat reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, said that Marsh and Kepler were both forced to leave the game early due to separate events on Sunday. However, for the time being, the news did not appear to be as dire as it could have been. According to Lauber, manager Rob Thomson took both outfield players out of the game for “precautionary reasons.”
For Monday’s home game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Thomsen also intends to bench Kepler and Marsh. However, both athletes said that the injuries were not severe and that they would have continued if they had been participating in a non-exhibition match.
The Phillies
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