DALLAS ¨C The Phillies watched the Juan Soto sweepstakes unfold like everybody else on Sunday night.

They would¡¯ve loved to sign him, but they never pursued him in free agency. They never made an offer. They never even met.

¡°I think we had the pulse of what was taking place,¡± Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said on Monday afternoon from the Phillies¡¯ suite at the Winter Meetings.

Soto on Sunday night agreed to a record-shattering 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets. The Phillies were never coming close to that. They were never outbidding the Mets and Yankees. Not that they felt they needed to commit $51 million a year to one player to push them over the top. Dombrowski has said several times that the Phils don¡¯t need more superstars. They just need to get better.

The Phillies took a stab at that on Monday, when they signed All-Star closer Jordan Romano to a one-year, $8.5 million deal. Romano, 31, was one of baseball¡¯s best closers from 2021-23 before suffering a right elbow injury last season. He had arthroscopic surgery in July and the Blue Jays non-tendered him after the season, concerned enough about his health and the $7.75 million he had been projected by Cot's Contracts to make in salary arbitration.

But Romano passed his physical on Monday in Philadelphia. Dombrowski said he is already throwing in the mid-90s.

¡°He¡¯s one of the best back-end, high-leverage guys in baseball,¡± he said.

Romano posted a 2.37 ERA, saved 95 games and made two AL All-Star teams from 2021-23. He posted an MLB-best 7.4 WAR among relievers, according to Baseball Reference. Asked if he will be the team¡¯s closer in 2025, Phillies manager Rob Thomson said, ¡°There were no promises to him, other than [high] leverage. So I think we utilize our bullpen as of right now just the way we have been.¡±

Romano¡¯s one-year deal -- he wanted a one-year deal to reestablish himself as one of the game¡¯s top closers -- could provide the Phils payroll flexibility in other pursuits. It also probably closes the door on free-agent right-handers Carlos Est¨¦vez and Jeff Hoffman.

¡°We feel comfortable where we are,¡± Dombrowski said about the bullpen. ¡°I¡¯m not saying we won¡¯t add. I never know what¡¯s going to go ... I never know that. ... If we feel we can help our club in other ways, if there¡¯s something out there that makes us so much better, we¡¯re still open to that. But we feel good where we are in our bullpen.¡±

Right now, the bullpen includes right-handers Romano, Orion Kerkering and Jos¨¦ Ruiz; and left-handers Matt Strahm, Jos¨¦ Alvarado and Tanner Banks. The Phillies acquired Est¨¦vez in July to bolster the bullpen, but Dombrowski said he¡¯s comfortable moving forward without replacing both Est¨¦vez and Hoffman.

Why?

¡°We like our guys,¡± he said. ¡°We think Kerkering is ready to take another step forward, we've got Strahm, we've got Alvarado, so really you have four back-end guys. We like Tanner Banks. Ruiz did a good job for us. I'm not saying that we would never add another guy, but I think if you've got four high-leverage relievers that we think we do, that's pretty good.¡±

Asked if the front office¡¯s focus is elsewhere, Dombrowski said yes.

¡°I¡¯m not sure what else I would say is our priority, other than to get better,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re always looking to get better and to improve yourself, but if you told me that we went in with the same players we have right now, I still think we have a good offensive club. We're not going to force things to happen, to just get them done.

"We were a top-five offense in baseball last year. It didn¡¯t look like it the last four games of the season necessarily, but we have a good offensive team as it is. But we'll continue to try to get better, too, and we've had a lot of conversations with clubs, and I'm sure we'll continue to do that over the next few days.¡±

Dombrowski cited continued production from Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and others, plus improvement from J.T. Realmuto and Bryson Stott, who battled an elbow issue last season that might have hindered his swing, as reasons for optimism.

But the Phillies still need an upgrade in left field or center field. They would need to find somebody to replace third baseman Alec Bohm, if he is traded. Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hern¨¢ndez and Alex Bregman are available, but they received qualifying offers. If the Phillies sign a player who received a qualifying offer, they will lose their second- and fifth-highest selections in next year¡¯s Draft, plus $1 million in international bonus pool money for the upcoming signing period.

¡°I'm not saying that we wouldn't sign a qualifying offer guy, but yeah, it's always a factor in what you do,¡± Dombrowski said.

The Phillies have discussed players in potential trades, but they might need more free agents to fall off the board before those talks heat up.

Maybe something happens then.

Maybe not.

¡°I continue to be of the mindset that we're very open minded,¡± Dombrowski said. ¡°We¡¯ve had a lot of conversations with people. But that's different than saying we're going to trade such and such. Because if we're going to make a move, you don't want to get worse because you're making a deal. You want to get at least equal, right, if you're changing faces. So I think that's what's really important. Every single guy that I've talked about, we like. And they're really good players.¡±