‘I’ll call a spade a spade’ – Phillies Nation

Former Phillies reliever Matt Strahm addressed some of the reports that came out about his time in Philadelphia after being traded to the Kansas City Royals. 

After three years with the Phillies, Strahm is heading back to the team that originally drafted him in 2012. On a recent appearance on the show Foul Territory, he joked about “butting heads,” with every team he has been with after leaving the Royals in 2017. 

“I kind of gave (Royals general manager) J.J. (Picollo) a hard time,” Strahm said. “I said, ‘You guys ran such a great organization that I seemed to butt heads everywhere I went.’” 

Strahm is an opinionated guy who isn’t afraid to share his thoughts on anything from rule changes to pitcher fielding practice. When asked why he butted heads with his three other organizations (Padres, Red Sox and Phillies), Strahm mentioned his love of structure and discipline. 

“The Kansas City Royals do an unbelievable job of not only producing major league athletes, but they produce men,” Strahm said. “Like that is something that I was brought up with Kansas City and (former Royals GM) Dayton Moore, his whole thing was, ‘We’re going to have good ball players, but we’re going to first make sure that you guys are good men.’ Kansas City, in my opinion, they do it the right way. 10:30 ground balls mean Rusty Kuntz was hitting that fungo at 10:30. It wasn’t 10:35 because we were waiting on (Eric) Hosmer. Hosmer was there five minutes early. I’m a very routine (oriented) human being. I love structure and structure doesn’t work unless there is discipline or someone enforcing the structure.” 

The Phillies, citing a need to balance out the mix in the back of the bullpen, traded Strahm on Dec. 19 for right-handed pitcher Jonathan Bowlan. But there was definitely more to it. Prior to the trade, the Phillies signed right-handed reliever Brad Keller to a two-year, $22 million contract. Trading Strahm cleared his 2026 salary of $7.5 million off the books. 

Strahm, according to The Athletic’s Matt Gelb, was also “deemed expendable because of a growing friction between the pitcher and team.” Per PHLY’s Jim Salisbury, “his relationship with some club personnel became difficult.” Strahm, however, was always a popular teammate in the Phillies clubhouse. 

“I’m unaware of any player I’ve ever butted a head with there,” Strahm said. “I’m a middle reliever. I’m not going to be a Hall of Famer, but the one thing I can control is being a good teammate. I don’t think there’s one guy in there that would say a bad thing about me. Everything’s business. I’ll call a spade a spade. In this business, those guys usually aren’t liked. But at least I know I have my job because I am the guy for the job.” 

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said in a Zoom press conference shortly after the trade that the Phillies would have been “very comfortable” having Strahm back for the final year of his contract.

“If Matt would have come back with us, we would have felt very comfortable,” Dombrowski said. “We wouldn’t have made a move unless we felt good about the return that we received. I always had a good relationship with him myself, love talking to his wife and his daughter. I’d have to say other people, they could speak on that, but that’s my perspective.”

An All-Star in 2024, Strahm has been a big part of the Phillies bullpen over the last three years. Strahm called his time in Philadelphia “the best three years of his career.” 

“Again, I love this game. Yeah, money is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but winning is better,” Strahm said. “I love winning and that’s the most winning I’ve done in my career is in Philly and it was fun to do it in front of a packed house every night, whether it be a Tuesday in June or the playoffs in October. It was an exciting place to show up and work every day. Obviously, we fell short of the goal. Again, it’s business. You can’t control it. Now I’m going to go try and win one in Kansas City.”