Phast Phive: Phair Warning
By Justin Klugh
Meetings INSIDE of a camera! Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE
John Stolnis
The Phillies are on the hunt for a couple free agent outfielders. Did you know this? It’s been in the papers. Anywho, while the free agency pool seems like the best place to acquire a center fielder and/or a corner outfielder, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal had this interesting look at how often a free agent signee actually holds their value for the team that selected them. It’s fair warning to any team that think assembling a team full of high-priced free agents is the way to go.
Speaking of free agents, ESPN’s Jim Bowden estimated what he thought all of the top free agents were worth on the open market. Here’s a hint… he’s a former GM. He lowballed them. All of ’em.
ESPN Radio 97.3 FM in South Jersey posed this ridiculous question… will the Phillies replace Jimmy Rollins this offseason? Um, exactly who are they going to replace him with, fellas?
And every offseason there are one or two knuckleheads who manage to injure themselves putting on boots or assembling a satellite dish on the roof of their houses. The Mets’ Lucas Duda joined that list this week.
Ethan Seidel
As much as a tried, Bill Baer has outdone me once again. This time in making the case for or against B.J. Upton. The numbers can be used either way (sound familiar), but it seems clear that Upton makes a lot of sense for the Phils despite his short comings.
Most folks who were wide awake watching the election results on Tuesday night may have missed several baseball connections. The folks at Hardball Talk didn’t, and summed up the night in baseball election news. (Spoiler: former Phillies manager Connie Mack’s great grandson ran for office).
Justin Klugh
There’s not a lot of news churning out right now, just a lot of theories and recaps and unnecessarily involved David Herndon narratives. We’re just going to have to deal with it.
But it’s not like there’s any joy or superiority to be gained from staying outside the offseason fun, so here’s a list of the slowly diminishing free agents. All of the ones people are associating with the Phillies are still there–huzzah!–but the GM meetings are underway! Who knows what will happen! Meetings?! Probably!
"“Believe it or not, there can be spirited discussion on rules and administration.”–a team executive, The New York Times"
You see! In fact, I’d go so far as to say this is the most spirited time of year for the sport! The trick is to force yourself into getting excited about almost nothing.