Aug 1, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Matt Strahm walks in from the bullpen at Citizens Bank Park. (Grace Del Pizzo/On Pattison)
Matt Strahm is "likely" to be traded by the Phillies this offseason, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.
“The best available [left-hander] is Matt Strahm, who is likely to be traded by Philadelphia.”
-@JeffPassan pic.twitter.com/2FFOcKWQ7z
— Phillies Tailgate (@PhilsTailgate) December 18, 2025
Passan said this in the final sentence of a larger look at where the free agent and trade markets stand currently, opining the the "best available" left-handed reliever via trade or free agency currently is Strahm.
Strahm's name has been mentioned as a trade candidate for much of the offseason, with Matt Gelb of The Athletic reporting during November's GM meetings that the Phillies had fielded interest in all three of their left-handed relievers — Strahm, Tanner Banks and José Alvarado. Considering the Phillies had just picked up a $9 million club option on Alvarado and that Banks can't become a free agent until after the 2028 season, it wasn't hard to deduce that of that trio, Strahm was the most likely trade candidate.
Now 34, Strahm is due $7.5 million in 2026, the final year of his current deal. He was still effective in 2025, posting a 2.74 ERA across 66 appearances. However, it wasn't the same level of dominance he flashed during his All-Star campaign in 2024, when he finished with a minuscule 1.87 ERA over 66 games. And while he's never been reliant on overpowering hitters, his average fastball velocity fell to 92.2 mph, which leaves him very little room for error with location, as evidenced by the go-ahead home run he gave up to Teoscar Hernández on a poorly-located 91 mph fastball in an NLDS Game 1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Strahm is a strong personality, and over his three seasons with the Phillies, he's become a leader not only in the bullpen, but in the clubhouse. However, when you consistently get close but not over the top — the Phillies have been a playoff team in all three of Strahm's seasons with the club — sometimes shaking up some of the voices in the room is worth trying.
That may be particularly true in this case, as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski had a strong response in his year-end press conference to Strahm suggesting that he wished in the aftermath of Orion Kerkering's disastrous season-ending play he pushed for the Phillies do do more pitcher fielding practice in the lead-up to the postseason.
First, here's Strahm's quote, via MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.
“As soon as it left his hand, my initial thought was, ‘Why didn’t I, as a veteran guy, bring up the fact that we need to do PFPs?’” Strahm said. “It’s something that you can’t expect to do right every time if you don’t practice it enough. Or at all. It sucks that play was in the [11th] inning and not the seventh. If that’s in the seventh, we have a chance to score after it.”
To be clear, the Phillies did do PFPs during a workout day in the lead up to the NLDS, a period in which media was present. Dombrowski — as noted by Ty Daubert of Phillies Nation — took exception to Strahm's point.
“We did plenty,” Dombrowski said, “and actually, as it turns out, we did do PFPs in the postseason.
“He didn’t do them, but we did them.”
Is that the type of disagreement two sides can't come back from? Probably not. But it was impossible after a public disagreement like that not to have the wheels begin to turn in your head on whether a breakup was incoming between the two sides.
Exactly when a resolution will be reached and who it will be with is unclear. Earlier this month, Adam Jude of The Seattle Times reported that Strahm was among a group of left-handed relievers that the Mariners were "considering." Surely, there will be other teams interested in a guy that's been one of the better left-handed relievers in baseball the last few seasons.
The Phillies probably won't get a significant prospect or player return for Strahm, though they shouldn't have to eat any of his money for 2026 to facilitate a trade. Will they reinvest that $7.5 million in another player, or was it already spent in signing Brad Keller to a two-year/$22 million deal Wednesday knowing that a trade of Strahm is likely? Time will tell.
