Phillies Discussion, Super Bowl Edition

Other Stuff

The Phillies have agreed to a one-year, $2M contract with RHP Spencer Turnbull.  The contract includes another $2M in incentives.  It is a major league contract and will require a 40-man move when the transaction is finalized.

Brandon Marsh had orthoscopic knee surgery but is expected to be ready by opening day.  Regardless, the Phillies will probably be connected with every remaining free agent outfield and all sorts of trades will probably be floated.

Not much else on the stove this week.

Pitchers and catchers this Wednesday.  Can’t wait.  I’ll be in attendance Monday and Tuesday.  I.ve seen a lot of bullpens so far.  Some by the camp invites.  Nola looks good early on.

The rest of this will be non-baseball fluff.

I spent a day gathering super bowl info.  Rather than waste the effort, I’ll share here.

When the Eagles went to Super Bowl XV, the NFC East became the first division to send all division participants to the game.

When the Eagles won Super Bowl LII, the NFC East became the first and only division to have all teams win a Super Bowl.

Detroit has the longest stretch of failure never having gone to the Super Bowl.  The new Cleveland Browns (the old franchise moved to Baltimore), Houston, and Jacksonville have never gone to the Super Bowl but have not been in existence as long.  The NY Jets have the longest stretch of futility of teams who have been to the game.  They went to Super Bowl III and won but have never returned.

Pittsburgh and New England have the most Super Bowl wins (6) with San Francisco going for their 6th on Sunday.  New England and Denver have the most losses (5).  New England has the most appearances (11).  Minnesota (the Purple People Eaters) and the Buffalo are both particularly futile at no wins in 4 visits.  Of course, the worst lost was by Atlanta when they choked in Super Bowl LI.

Lots of memorable plays in the Super Bowl.  The Giants helmet catch as they broke up the Patriots perfect season.  The Butch Johnson catch against Denver that would not have survived the catch rule before there was a catch rule.  And of course, the best all-time, Philly Philly.  Yeah, homer.

Sorry, this was precipitated by the super bowl highlight shows on the NFL channel.  I watched the McNabb implosion in Super Bowl XXXIX.  Forgot how bad it was.  Looked worse in a half hour show.

Other than baseball, I watch some other sporting events – the Tour de France, the Women’s World Cup, some of the Men’s World Cup, Australian Rugby, Australian Rules Football (footie), poker, March Madness, and wrestling.  Real wrestling, not that fake, scripted stuff.

Big Ten wrestling is the cream of the crop in NCAA wrestling. This weekend, Penn State utterly demolished Iowa., the third ranked squad in the country.  PSU has 5 top ranked wrestlers and a couple of true freshmen in their ten-man rotation.  I think they have a match Monday night on the Big Ten network.

If you remained this far, thanks for indulging me.  Oh look.  The game is still on.  Tied with 2 minutes remaining.  What else is on?

Important Dates

  • December 15, 5 p.m. EST: Close of the 2022-2023 international signing period
  • January 8 – February 9, 2024: High Performance Camp in Clearwater
  • January 12, 2024: Salary arbitration figures exchanged
  • January 15, 2024, 9 a.m. EST: Opening of the 2023-2024 international signing period
  • January 29 – February 16, 2024: Salary arbitration hearings, Scottsdale, AZ
  • February 14, 2024: Voluntary reporting date for pitchers, catchers, and injured players
  • February 19, 2024: Voluntary reporting date for other players
  • February 19, 2024: Minor League Mini-Camp (invitation only)
  • February 23, 2024: Mandatory reporting date
  • February 29, 2024: Start of minor league spring training
  • March 1-10, 2024: Period for renewing contracts of unsigned players (pre-arb, the 0-3-year players) on 40-man rosters
  • March 20-21, 2024: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Diego in Seoul, South Korea
  • March 28, 2024: Opening day for all other teams, active rosters reduced to 26 players
  • June 8-9, 2024: New York Mets vs. Philadelphia in London
  • July 14-16, 2024: Amateur draft, Arlington, TX

Transactions

2/06/2024 – Phillies designated RHP Andrew Bellatti for assignment
2/06/2024 – Chicago Cubs traded RHP Michael Rucker to Phillies for cash
2/05/2024 – Phillies claimed SS Diego Castillo off waivers from New York Yankees

58 thoughts on “Phillies Discussion, Super Bowl Edition”

  1. Okay, I’ll follow our Fearless Leader in commenting off topic: With the Chiefs behind by just one touchdown in the second half, you knew they would win. That’s what Patrick Mahomes does.

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    1. He had the TJ in 21; didn’t pitch in 22 and had a rough 1st year back in 23. Maybe like Hoffman this will be his year.

      I saw Todd Z say he has an option but as a 5 Year service time player he can refuse AAA. Todd also says it might be that part of his deal is he wouldn’t.

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      1. DMAR …agree.
        After a second year post-TJ pitchers seem to rebound further than their first year back. I like the signing.
        He is a 92-94T95 velo guy….but throws few 4SMrs…..mostly cutters and sinkers.

        Liked by 1 person

          1. From what I can see, Turnbull is very similar to Lorenzen in terms of their “stuff.” Turnbull is a little younger, but is also still getting right after TJ surgery. I don’t think it’s a bad depth move.

            Liked by 1 person

    2. Wow, I was impressed by Tigers confidence in him back in 2019, he went 3-17 and they never sent him to the bullpen. 30 games, 30 starts.

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  3. “The Real Wrestling not that fake scripted stuff” LOL

    My buddy and I drove down to xfinity Live Saturday for a concert and they had some event going on at the Bank. The Phanatic was out getting everyone all charged up. We saw lots of kids with their Phillies logo face paint on.

    It’s only around the corner and I can’t wait.

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  4. If anyone is interested, I was in a noisy room last night watching the SB. At the end of the game I was wondering why Andy wasn’t calling a timeout, I found out this morning, “The Chiefs would not have to worry about burning a timeout because, at the end of the first OT, they would have the ball at the exact same yard line, just on the other side of the field.”
    Just sharing in case anyone else was ignorant to this rule as I was.

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    1. Andy Reid with -3 SB wins now… all with the Chiefs, with no real time management issues. That to me, is a testament to just how good Mahomes is… he can overcome AR’s kryptonite. I’d say congrats to AR but I’m well over that now after the 2nd one

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      1. Helps being in a weaker conference and most times having home field advantage, see New England Patriots process to SB and a weaker AFC.

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        1. I think the AFC is the stronger conference. Chiefs, Ravens, Bengals, and Bills are all really good and match up favorably with the 49ers, Lions, Cowboys and Eagles/Bucs . . . ? But it’s more even than it typically is.

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    2. Do you think Lurie ever thinks in the dark hours of the night….. I really screwed up getting rid of Reid, but Chipper is still attractive as everyone wants him for OC so I wasn’t totally wrong……well kinda.

      Liked by 1 person

    3. Thanks, was assuming Andy was back to his ‘acclaimed’ time management wizardness that we witnessed in Philly

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  5. Denny…Nantz made reference at the end how the official for the coin toss made reference to starting a new game. During the season it is only one quarter, and it is over. Here it is sudden death kind of if the first team with ball scores a touchdown. Otherwise, the defense gets one chance to have the ball like Chiefs did. I kind of had a feeling that Mahomes would come through like he did but you can always get a fluke play sometimes. I was kind of surprised that the Niners were not a little more aggressive when down by the goal line. After they kicked the field goal the players looked like they knew they needed to have scored a touchdown. I thought prior to the 4th quarter the game was pretty average, but Mahomes seems to always have the ability to pull a rabbit out of the hat at the end.

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  6. Denny…I guess I am wrong. I am seeing that the Niner players are saying they did not know the rules of OT. Apparently, the only way the game ended was if the defense scored a safety. That does not sound right because it would seem the same would apply if they intercepted or recovered a fumble and scored. So, I think Nantz made reference the game would have ended if Purdy had completed that pass in the flat for a TD. But guess not. Maybe no one knew the rule but KC and Mahomes.

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      1. Rocco…too funny. Romus…I just figured out Travis and Taylor. I am as slow as the Niners were yesterday. At first, I thought how you cannot know the rules of a Super Bowl. But these guys are just like the travel kids I watch all year. They have no clue of what is going on surrounding them. I could not figure out why the Chiefs did not seem to be concerned when the Niners were near the goal line. They knew they did not know the rules. LOL

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  7. Jim…I love your recap of your TV viewing. I saw the other night the guys talking about the PSU vs Iowa match. One was saying that this PSU team may be the best ever assembled in history. They were predicting that they would win handily Saturday night with Iowa. Sounds like the march to the title will be fairly easy for them.
    We bought some squares for a fundraiser for my 9-year-old grandson’s baseball team. One of my squares would have won if Chiefs had won 19-16. I had a chance when it was tied at 16. Those two scores are not very common.
    I am really looking forward to Spring Training beginning. I saw some softball on TV that was in Clearwater. Weather looked great. Have a great time at camp.

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  9. Just seeing. Here is a proposed trade for Phillies and Red Sox. Phillies would get Jansen for one year. Plus, he is 36. Red Sox would get 2 of 3 possible RP. Strahm, Nelson, Brogdon. Any thoughts on this proposed deal. Good, bad. Not interested. Saying Red Sox need to shed payroll in effort to go after Montgomery. Not sure what Jansen is getting $$$s.

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    1. Jansen is due $16 million this season. I did not realize that. I’m not interested in him at that cost.

      I guess maybe I would give up Brogdon and Nelson if they ate about $8 million of that (I don’t know enough about Nelson we may not want to do that) I assure you of this Jansen is not worth 3-1.

      Strahm is making $7.5 million but I want to keep him. His ability to go multiple innings is extremely valuable.

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      1. Keep Strahm. Deal for Boston is getting out of $16m commit. So 1 ‘B’ prospect if we take all $16m; 2 ‘B’ prospects if Boston eats $8m.

        Like Kimbrel in ’23, I would like Jansen for regular season, not playoffs as Age + Games does not equal results.

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    2. Nelson and Brogdon have zero market value. So it’s Strahm for Jansen – I don’t know – I think I’d rather keep Strahm and look elsewhere. Strahm fills a pretty interesting niche on the team. He’s a decent pitcher and he can pitch two innings, close a game when needed, serve as a lefty specialist and even start. I like having him around. For whatever it’s worth, Strahm had 2.2 WAR last year Jansen had 0.80.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I am sure McGarry alone would get it done…..but that may be an over-price for Jansen..
        Not surehowever, …I thought Nick Puvetta was an over priced trade years ago, so who knows.

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  10. dmar…ouch on the $16M. I agree on pass. Plus, I like Strahm.
    SoCal…I had that worry on Kimbrel at the beginning of the Spring last year. He seemed to have faded in recent years late just like he did vs Dbacks.
    Catch…I see you have won Rocco over. That is great news. If they would take Nelson and Brogdon I might think a little. But not big on the $16M. Somehow Kimbrel I think got $11M from O’s.

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  11. Romus…Just hearing now that Taylor is taking her Eras Tour to SF and on the way will explain to Shanahan the new OT rules. LOL It is obvious that he had no clue what they were. But then again, he let the Pats overcome 25-point deficit.

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    1. How can you get to a Super Bowl and not have all the coaches at last know the basic overtime rules? Furthermore, how can you at least not have one person who knows them cold who is able to tell the coaches on the spot and have them tell the players? Amazing.

      And this is nothing new. Every single time a regular season NFL game ends in a tie, some player or players will say “I didn’t know the game could end in a tie.” This happened to Donovan McNabb and many others. Wait, what? First of all, how did you not know that? Secondly, how did someone – anyone – not explain that to you on the spot? It totally changes how you make decisions.

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      1. Didn’t Gabe Kapler do something stupid in one of his first games managing the Phillies because he didn’t know a rule or rules?

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            1. Kapler took the hit for the coach who didn’t call the bullpen when instructed. That’s what happens when the incoming manager is forced to keep the incumbent staff that happens to include the guy passed over for the job.

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  12. Here is another guy, Brad Wakai. I do not know. He is still on the Jansen deal. He is saying Phillies are interested. He mentions Phillies not giving up much player wise or maybe simply a cash consideration deal. I am not sure how those are done. The $16M is still a big number to me. Maybe the Phillies can get the Red Sox to pay some of the $16M.

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  13. Going to Clearwater for a couple days of ST end of March; anyone know of any good Dog Resorts for 2 large dogs near the ballpark for boarding?

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Seeing on TV those of you in the Philly area are getting lots of snow.
    Denny…that is a nice deal to take the dogs. I am sure you will find a nice place.
    Catch…the amazing thing is this was not first game with that rule. It has been in place for the playoffs the last two years. Niners have no excuse to not know the rules. They have been in like 6 playoff games. Time to move to baseball.

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  16. When it comes to Jansen, I believe the BSox would gladly eat some money and take a middling prospect to out from under his contract.

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    2. A couple of weeks ago I was concerned about the organization’s starting pitching assets. Since that time, DD went down to the Salvation Army Store and staying shopping. I wish they might upgrade to Target and maybe Macys.

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  18. Ciada…I agree that Red Sox need to eat some of the $16M. That is a ridiculous amount of money. Think Phillies gave Kimbrel $10M last year. Would anyone go for that?

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  19. According to Rosenthal it appears that Phillies will be a pass on Jansen at this point in time. Might be different at trade deadline depending on how things are going.
    I am thinking Phillies are satisfied with what they have at this time. Unless maybe some more Dollar General deals. LOL That is for you Denny.

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        1. Is that all he is? Son of a gun, I knew he got outta of the Little Big Horn expedition when his horse went lame, but thought he was older than that. Knew he met George, about the time he and Abner Doubleday were developing the rules for a game we know as baseball…only 90, are you sure Rocco?

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  20. DD just got back from the Salvation Army Thrift Shop and had a David Buchanan and Kaleb Orb in his basket, also got 2 returned items , Simon Muzziotti & Bellatti, but donated 1 Diego Castillo.

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