In his recent year-ending, state-of-the team press conference, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski sounded rather decisive and blunt.

On the surface, Dombrowski appears ready to reload the arsenal with the same gunnery crew. It’s more of a matter of hope than change.

While he did sugarcoat some situations, Dombrowski didn’t mince words when it came to shortstop Trea Turner. As we have heard the phrase many times over, Dombrowski made it “perfectly clear.”

“He knows he has to be better at shortstop,” said Dombrowski. “I told him it’s really mandatory that he’s like that. If he plays shortstop like he did in ’25, he can play shortstop. But if he plays like he did in ’26, he can’t. He totally understands that.”

The 33-year-old Turner is inevitably in the crosshairs come spring training. He had a career-low .242 batting average and a .675 OPS. His 19-homer, 58-RBI, 29-double campaign was above average, but his 147 strikeouts were second worst to his 150 in his first year with the Phillies in 2023.

But Turner may be ready to walk the plank mainly due to his fielding. Among shortstops who played over 100 games, Turner had the second-worst fielding percentage (.963), and was tied for the most errors (21).

In Turner’s defense, he did lead the league in hitting the previous season (.302), and has hit .300 or better in five of his 12 seasons. Turner can also utilize his no-trade clause, and his contract is hard to move.

Yet, Dombrowski can now play the Aiden Miller card, one he couldn’t dangle in front of Turner last year. Miller will be somewhere in the infield next year.

Miller is truly a wildcard, and whether he lands at short or third will depend on how the Phils deal with Alec Bohm and Luis Arraez. Dombrowski didn’t sound too confident that either were in the plans for next year.

Turner apparently has indicated that he is willing to play second or third, but, again, it will all depend on the overall movement. A source told me that the Phillies asked Turner to move to the outfield last season, but he turned it down.

Ins And Outs ... Dombrowski declared his starting pitching is the team’s strength, and reliever Tim Mayza will be back in the bullpen on a one-year deal.

He noted that Brandon Marsh and Justin Crawford have to be “better,” and Bryson Stott had to be the player he was in “June and July.” Strangely, though, Dombrowski hinted about bringing back Adolis Garcia, his $10 million bargain chip who drastically flopped.

Dombrowski defended Garcia, who had a season-ending injury June 10, stating “I think he had seven home runs already at that time, so maybe he hits 25 to 30 home runs and plays outstanding defense.” He intimated Garcia could platoon with Marsh.

Hmmm … Garcia hit .199 with seven homers, 21 RBIs, a .599 OPS, and a 34 percent strikeout rate.

Hopefully, Dombrowski can do better than that.

No White Smoke ... At the time of this writing, there wasn’t any movement from the Yankees for 10 days from the Bronx Vatican after they were swept by Tampa.

With the Yankees’ departure, manager Aaron Boone is expected to be under the gun. There also was some speculation that GM Brian Cashman could be in trouble.

However, both Boone and Cashman have been spared in the past, and there’s a good chance they will be back again. Boone has been in the dugout since 2018, and Cashman has been in the front office since 1998.

Mattingly was viewed as a possible replacement, and ex-manager Buck Showalter has resurfaced as a candidate if Boone is ousted. Who else has surprisingly been mentioned? Try Alex Cora.

Not By George ... In all likelihood, we will see the Boone-Cashman combo again. The darker cloud hanging over the Yankees has been their apparent appeasement to win their usual 90-plus games every year, and not have a major reaction to an unexpected playoff exit.

Hal Steinbrenner doesn’t have the same kind of knee-jerk reaction of his late father George, who would have booted Boone and Cashman a while ago. In the elder Steinbrenner’s days, it was win the World Series or bust, meaning heads would roll. Instead, the younger Steinbrenner is content to print money with sellout crowds.

A report recently surfaced where Aaron Judge stated that he “wanted the organization to address its roster weaknesses and go all in on pursuing a championship.”

That supposedly irked the Yankees brass, but the club’s superstar is trying to revive a message and a method from their championship past.

Tracking Far ... The Phillies are among a handful of team reportedly interested in Japanese Central League triple-crown winner and third baseman Teruaki Soto, who hit .306 with 39 homers and 106 RBIs.

The Mets, Yankees, and of course, the Dodgers are apparently interested. He will be posted in November.

Six, Six, Six ... The Dodgers have had their share of bad luck with this year’s season ending with the number six.

This year’s four-game sweep was just another in a series of years that has been frustrating to the LA crowd.

Dating back to 1966, the Dodgers were swept by the Orioles in four games in the World Series. In 1976, LA won 92 games but finished second to Cincinnati, who won 102 games.

In 1986, the Dodgers finished fifth, and 10 years later, they were swept by the Braves in three games in the NLDS.

The Mets swept the Dodgers, 3-0, in the 2006 NLDS, and the Cubs beat them in six games in the 2016 NLCS.

Dodgers’ Demise? ... Could the Dodgers dynasty be over? Since 2013, the Dodgers have a record of 1,318-843, three World Series titles, and have an average of 90 wins during the span. Only the Yankees have averaged more wins (92) from 1946-58. During the same time period, Cleveland has averaged 90 wins over a seven-year span.

There’s already speculation that the Dodgers dynasty may be over, especially if there is a salary cap in place with the new collective bargaining agreement. In addition, there also could be a domino effect that could occur if owner Mark Walter sells the team.

Tarik Skubal is their biggest offseason free agent, and he is seeking a deal in the range of $40 million annually. Skubal publicly has expressed a desire to return to Detroit, but the Dodgers certainly will be in the hunt.

Other relative names in the free-agent market are relief pitcher Blake Tiernan and outfielder Enrique Hernandez.

Shohei Ohtani does not have an opt-out clause, but he does have a “key man” escape clause, meaning if Walter sells or loses control of the club or general manager Andrew Friedman leaves the club.

It could be an intriguing offseason in LA.

Familiar Faces, Familiar Places ... According to reports, the Phillies reached out to former players Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez in reference to their manager’s position. Ironically, both are employed by the Dodgers.

Utley has been a special assistant to Friedman for the past four years. Ibanez has been the team’s vice president for the past three years. He reportedly has been a candidate for several jobs, and was a finalist for the Tampa Bay job in 2014.

Utley still remains in the hunt and has been gaining momentum as a Hall-of-Fame candidate.

Former Phillies general manager Matt Klentak is the executive administrator to the Brewers general manager, and reliever JoJo Romero was a Phillies draft pick in 2016 and spent three seasons with the team.

Fan favorite Rhys Hoskins has battled injuries all season with Cleveland.

Scrapbook ... In each column, I will look at the career of a former stellar player from the area.

Michael Pascoe had an outstanding career at Panther Valley. In his junior year, Pascoe led the Panthers to the District 11 Class 3A championship, hitting .429 with 30 hits and 23 RBIs, and also passed the 100-career hit mark. The following season, Pascoe had another banner season with a .632 average with eight homers, 30 RBIs, 43 hits and 40 runs.

Pascoe has continued his career at Chestnut Hill College, where he will begin his senior season in the spring. Currently, Pascoe has 154 hits, 20 homers, and 133 RBIs.

During his freshman year, Pascoe hit .338 with four homers and 38 RBIs. He followed that with a .303, seven-homer, 39 RBI campaign. This past season, Pascoe hit .350 with nine homers and 56 RBIs.

He also appeared in 22 games on the mound with 100.2 innings.

Your thoughts are always welcome and will be published; email them to tnsports@tnonline.com.

Check out the Times News Lehigh Valley Press YouTube channel.