The Phillies are staring at a bench spot that suddenly looks a lot less secure, and Nolan Gorman has emerged as a name worth watching.
Edmundo Sosa, who has been one of the most valuable reserve pieces in Philadelphia for years, is headed for free agency. The club got far more out of him than it expected after acquiring him at the 2022 trade deadline.
In 392 games in red pinstripes, the Panamanian hit .260/.302/.444 with 106 extra-base hits and 192 RBI while providing dependable defense across the infield and even in left field this past season. For half a decade, he’s been the team’s most important bench player.
But now he’s 30 and entering the open market for the first time, which likely means he’ll be looking for either a multi-year deal or a chance to start somewhere else. Philadelphia has plenty of other holes to patch, and spending meaningful money on a bench player doesn’t sound like the kind of move the roster can easily support. That leaves the front office shopping outside the organization.
Gorman fits the kind of buy-low swing that could make sense. The former first-round pick from the 2018 draft has long been viewed as a player with real upside, but he’s never fully put it together after a strong .805 OPS in his sophomore season. Since then, the production has gone south fast: two straight sub-.700 seasons followed by a brutal .580 mark in 2026.
St. Louis even sent him to Triple-A in mid-June, and things didn’t improve much when he returned near the end of July.
That kind of slide could make him available at a discount. He’s arbitration-eligible this winter, and MLB Trade Rumors’ Matt Swartz projects him to make $3.4 million for the 2028 season.
He may also be a non-tender candidate.
For Philadelphia, the appeal is obvious enough. The infield needs more upside, especially with $300 million shortstop Trea Turner coming off the worst season of his career.
Sosa’s departure would open a bench infield job, and Gorman would give the Phillies a post-hype bat with major-league success on his résumé. He can play first, second, and third base, and if Aidan Miller arrives in 2027, the team wouldn’t need that reserve infielder to cover shortstop anyway.
Between Miller, Turner, and Stott, they’d already have three options there.
None of that guarantees Gorman would rediscover the form that once made him such a promising name. The Phillies haven’t exactly built a reputation for maximizing hitters in recent years, but they are trying to change course after firing hitting coach Kevin Long. A new voice and a different approach might be exactly what a dormant bat like Gorman’s needs.
He’s not a perfect fit, and he’s certainly not a sure thing. Still, at 26, Gorman has enough time left for a reset, and Philadelphia could be the kind of place where that gamble starts to make sense.
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