As the Major League Baseball offseason drags on into mid-January and we're still a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, here's the latest roundup of news from the Philadelphia Phillies' neck of the woods.
The Phillies seem content with the roster as is, but that doesn't mean there won't be more changes before the team gathers in Clearwater next month. One face who we know for sure won't be back now is Jeff Hoffman.
The right-hander signed a three-year, $33 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday and makes the departure from Philadelphia official. It's a tough pill for fans to swallow, but that's the reality of the business side of the game we love.
Jeff Hoffman's farewell message to Phillies, fans is heart-melting
As for Hoffman, he's returning to the team that originally drafted him back in 2014 and gets the term he was looking for, plus incentives that could take the deal up to $39 million. That doesn't mean he had an easy time saying goodbye to the Phillies. He had made it well-known at the end of the season that he loved playing here and would have liked nothing more to be back in the Citizens Bank Park bullpen again.
Hoffman posted a farewell message to the Phillies organization and the fans on his Instagram:
"Philly, I’ve been trying to find the words for a while now," Hoffman wrote with a photo of the team celebrating the NL East division title. "But I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express how much the last two years have meant to my family and I. You gave me new life. I loved every second of it, the cheers, the boos, and everything in between. I felt how much winning meant to you and didn’t ever want to let you down. I’m sorry we didn’t accomplish our goal. Thank you to the entire Phillies organization from top to bottom for creating such a special environment to work in and thank you, Philadelphia, for giving us something that is so hard to say goodbye to."
Jeff Hoffman’s 2024 Season:
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) January 11, 2025
⭐️ 2.17 ERA
⭐️ 0.96 WHIP
⭐️ 89 Ks
⭐️ 66.1 IP
⭐️ All-Star pic.twitter.com/oGXWIkl6ZP
It's going to be hard watching Hoffman pitch in another uniform for the next three seasons, but we wish him all the best in Toronto.
Bryce Harper gaining food fame on TikTok
Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper must be having a slow offseason.
Lost amid the hoopla this weekend about Hoffman signing in Toronto was Harper's new winter job of creating food tutorials on TikTok. Harper, who joined TikTok last July and has 236.8K followers, posted a step-by-step tutorial of how he makes his coffee, or more specifically, a latte. The video has racked up 2.7 million views in just a few days.
Harper didn't stop there, getting into baking in his second video. He walked viewers through how he makes banana bread, complete with a taste test at the end. The latest in his offseason culinary series was making a cold brew as he prepared for Sunday's Eagles playoff game.
With plenty of downtime before he heads to Florida to join his teammates to begin their quest to finally win a World Series in 2025, we'll have to keep an eye out for Harper's newest TikTok creations.