Who wouldn’t want to play for the Phillies these days? We’ve got Ryan Howard. We’ve got Chase Utley. They’re pretty cool guys. To roll out of bed every morning, yawn, stretch, and open your eyes to see the sun rise over Citizens Bank Park is the dream of every Delaware Valley lad who for some reason thinks all of the Phillies player live in the stadium.
But not everyone experienced the deluded childhood of a Delware Valley native. Some people are Phillies draft pick RHP Alec Rash, who, when faced with the ultimate decision, chose to turn away from the franchise who thrilled him on draft day.
Forking over a $180,000 signing bonus, Ruben Amaro and his briefcase-toting cohorts couldn’t seduce young Alec from the allure of a Missourian education. That’s $180,00 they won’t be able to spend on a relief pitcher over 30 years old.
But Rash, who doesn’t even know the potential for his banner-holding fan group’s nickname, and his family we extremely adamant in their demand for $800,000, despite the Phillies kind-hearted offer of $500,000, plus 120 grand for schoolin’.
As Matt Gelb reported, there’s only $693,100 left in the team’s piggy bank, and with a $500,000 offer, they were prepared to blow the whole wad.
Per Philadelphia law (The “J.D. Drew Ordinance”), we are now obligated to boo the shit out of Alec and his family when they appear in the city. I’m not sure if that still applies if he’s not playing for a Major League Baseball team at the time. I guess we’d just boo them on the street. But nobody really knows what they look like. So everybody just boo everybody to be safe.
Crisi averted!