Phillies and Bryce Harper have legitimate reasons to be optimistic about next year | Bob Brookover

WASHINGTON – As Phillies manager Gabe Kapler continued to talk about a one-game-at-a-time approach that seemed perfectly ridiculous the day after his team’s playoff hopes disappeared, a message on the visiting clubhouse swipe board Wednesday at Nationals Park provided a far more uplifting proposition in these final days of their 2019 season: 140 days until spring training.

To take that a step further, the season opener is exactly six months from Thursday, when the Phillies play the Marlins in an afternoon game down in Miami. Get your tickets now, and enjoy your own version of an extended spring training.

Wait ‘til next year is a baseball-born expression that has had its fair share of use since the Philadelphia Phillies joined the National League in 1883, and, if we’re being honest, there were a lot of years when it was silly to even say that, because the following season was sure to be just as futile as the one that had just finished.

Fortunately for the Phillies and their rightfully disappointed and disturbed fans, that should not be the case for the 2020 season.

“I think this whole organization, we value winning,” right fielder Bryce Harper said after the Phillies were officially eliminated by his former team, the Washington Nationals, on Tuesday. “I think [managing partner] John Middleton has shown that in the past. And [Matt] Klentak, going and getting guys in the offseason. Getting [Andrew McCutchen] back next year is going to be huge for us. Getting the bullpen back – we didn’t really have our stud guys in our bullpen this year.”

There are a lot of reasons to believe that things will be better in 2020, but it would be foolish to make a guarantee. The fact that Middleton is an owner who badly wants to win and is more than willing to spend is great, but sports history is filled with deep-pocketed owners who could never find the right formula for success.

The most notorious of that baseball bunch right now is Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno. His team has had a top 10 payroll every year except one in this decade, but the Angels, even with Mike Trout, have been to the postseason only once.

Harper is not the same level of talent as Trout, but he is the Phillies’ foundation, and the team must do a lot better job than the Angels of building a team around its superstar. In addition to forking over $330 million over 13 seasons, Middleton had to convince Harper that winning meant more than anything. Harper believed it and still does, but he also discovered the Phillies have a lot of work to do to catch the elite of the National League East.

He also knows that the Nationals and Atlanta Braves, the two teams that will represent the National League East in this year’s postseason, have enough pitching and young talent to remain formidable rivals for the foreseeable future.

Harper believes the Phillies have a lot of pieces in place and now they have to complete the puzzle. “I think this offseason can be huge for us.”

All of Middleton’s men – Andy MacPhail, Matt Klentak, and every other member of the front office – came to Washington for the final road series of the season, and they have a good idea of what holes need to be filled through trades and free agency in the offseason.

The bullpen that needed to be reconstructed in the middle of the season will need to be reconstructed again. At least two new starters should be on the team’s wish list, and it would not hurt if they could add another big bat, especially after Rhys Hoskins’ second-half slide.

The to-do list is a pretty lengthy one to complete the puzzle Harper spoke of, but it’s doable.

J.T. Realmuto, whose season officially came to an end Wednesday because of torn meniscus in his right knee, really is the best catcher in baseball, and Harper’s first season should be remembered as an outstanding one. McCutchen’s return, provided he is the same player who appeared in 59 games this season, should help a lot.

The Phillies could really use some young stars on the rise, too, and maybe they will get that from third baseman Alec Bohm and pitcher Spencer Howard. Bohm went 6-for-12 with four RBIs in his first three Arizona Fall League games, and Howard pitched three scoreless innings.

Kapler’s status remains the first order of business, and it was pretty obvious Middleton and his men did not come to Washington to fire the manager.

For his part, Kapler looked as relaxed as could be Wednesday. When asked about his job status, he repeated roughly the same thing he said the day before, about how much he loved working for the organization and all the people in it.

He even offered some of his thoughts about how the Phillies could be better in 2020. Warning: You might not like what he said.

“Independent of personnel, I think the coaching staff has to take responsibilities for some of the things that we can do better,” Kapler said. “I think we can make process adjustments on the offensive side. One thing that stands out that I think we can do a good job of going forward is in-game adjustments. Just kind of watching the first time through the lineup and then deciding what we can do better.

“Another is, we can adjust our delivery to our pitchers. We can get more information and share it a little bit differently. Spend some time this offseason debriefing to find out how all of our players prefer to receive information and then delivering it in that fashion.”

All of that could work, especially if the Phillies can add potential free-agent pitchers Gerrit Cole and Madison Bumgarner and third baseman Anthony Rendon this offseason.

Just wait 'til next year.