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Not only is the National League East arguably the best division in baseball (emphasis on arguably), but it is also among the more active divisions in the league when it comes to offseason action.
Even if one forgets about last offseason that saw Bryce Harper, Josh Donaldson, Edwin Diaz, and Patrick Corbin (among others) join the division, this offseason has had a strong NL East flavor. The Braves have gone big on revamping their beleaguered bullpen with the free agent signing of Will Smith and others, the Phillies are mentioned as suitors for basically every big free agent because that is just what they do and they recently signed Zack Wheeler, and the Nationals just re-signed Stephen Strasburg to a huge deal just in the last day or so.
That trend seems to be continuing as the Phillies were the latest NL East team to make a move.
Shortstop Didi Gregorius is in agreement with the Philadelphia Phillies on a deal, as @joelsherman1 reported. There was plenty of interest in Gregorius, but the Phillies landed him instead of pursuing an infielder in the trade market.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 10, 2019
Confirming @Joelsherman1 Phillies have signed Didi Gregorius for 1 year, $14 million
— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyNBCS) December 10, 2019
The terms of Gregorius’ deal are just now getting out there, but it is worth mentioning here that there were rumors that he potentially interested in a very short term deal in order to hit the market again after proving that he can stay healthy which explains why he accepted a one year deal. When he is on the field, Gregorius is a dynamic player who posted back to back 4+ fWAR seasons for the Yankees in 2017 and 2018. Given that the Phillies’ infield has been....suspect at times, it is pretty clear why the Phillies thought that Didi was worth a bit of a gamble.
The question comes down to what Gregorius looks like with his injuries from the 2019 season in the rearview mirror. He was a below average hitter in 2019, but this could be due to the injury bug thanks to his recovery from Tommy John surgery that kept him out until June. The numbers were not great once he returned, but the Phillies seem pretty confident that they will be able to get more out of him in 2020 as he gets a normal offseason and with a strong motivation to hit the free agent market again.