Have a safe and Happy New Year. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of December 30th →

Happy Holidays to all as we enter Christmas week and the start of Hanukkah.

It’s been rather nice to be a sports fan in Philadelphia recently.  The Eagles fielded their taxi squad and were still able to soundly beat an overrated Cowboys team in what was essentially a playoff game for the division title.  Now, just beat the Giants.  The Sixers are fifth in the conference after losing three of their last four games. They’re still likely one of the top three teams in the conference.  The Flyers are coming off their best November, are sixth in the conference, and sitting in better position than in years past for their late season rush to qualify for the playoffs.  A ranked Villanova basketball team knocked off #1 Kansas in an upset over the weekend.  Penn State basketball entered the weekend ranked 23rd after upsetting a top ranked Maryland team a couple weeks ago.  The Temple and Penn State football squads are going “bowling” this week.  And, the Phillies bolstered their line up and rotation with the additions of Didi Gregorius and Zack Wheeler. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of December 23rd →

Baseball’s winter meetings have ended.  The Phillies acquired free agents RHP Zack Wheeler and SS Didi Gregorius.  They also selected an infielder from the Cubs organization during the Rule 5 draft and flipped him to Oakland for “cash considerations”, maybe just the $24,000 for making the selection or hopefully for some international dollars which are traded in $250K increments.  Even the minimum international allotment would be nice.

Big names have been flying of the board at a refreshing rate this off season.   Fifteen of MLBTR’s top 20 free agents have signed.  They are listed below with MLBTR’s projection and the actual contract outlay/status. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of December 16th →

Baseball’s winter meetings have begun.  Sunday, there was a full slate of meetings and events starting with a Job Fair that began at 7:00 AM and ran all day.  I was surprised to learn that the winter meetings are essentially an MiLB event.  Between 300-400 people will find jobs with minor league affiliates.  Industry and trade shows target MiLB leagues and organizations who negotiate their own deals free from MLB oversight.  During the next three days, every minor league has at least one meeting scheduled.  None of the schedules I’ve seen have anything listed specifically for MLB teams.  Maybe they have their own separate, secret schedule? Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of December 9th →

As we turn the page on the calendar to December, we move closer to spring training and real baseball.  During a slow week, the Phillies announced the signing of former all-star Josh Harrison to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training.  The 32-year-old infielder/outfielder was a teammate of the Phillies’ Andrew McCutchen. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of December 2nd →

The Phillies hired Joe Dillon as their new hitting coach.  He spent the last two seasons as the assistant hitting coach in Washington.  He had been the Nationals hitting coach at their AAA affilaite 2014-15, and the Miami Marlins minor league hitting coordinator 2016-17. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of November 25th →

The GM meetings are over.  Nothing much happened or was announced.  This should not be a surprise.  Baseball moves at its own pace.  It doesn’t move at the pace that the fans want.  Unless you all want three to four games.  Haha, couldn’t resist that shot.

Last season with three big name players available (Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and Patrick Corbin), baseball’s signing of free agents moved at a snail’s pace.  Corbin signed a couple days before the Winter meetings and a lot of second and third tier free agents began signing in early December.  But, the Big Two didn’t sign until late February and early March. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of November 18th →

The GM meetings are being held this week in Scottsdale, AZ.

In Phillies’ baseball news this week, the Phillies hired Juan Castro as their new infield coach, replacing recently departed Bobby Dickerson who accepted the job as the Padres’ bench coach.  And, catcher J.T. Realmuto added the National League’s Silver Slugger Award fo catchers to his collection of post-season awards.  Not bad for a guy the fans left off the NL starting All Star team. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of November 11th →

In Phillies’ baseball news this week, the Phillies hired former Reds’ manager Bryan Price as the their Pitching Coach.   And, catcher J.T. Realmuto won the National League’s Gold Glove Award for his position.

Price  had served 14 successful seasons as a  pitching coach for three different franchises.  He was much sought after before finally signing with the Phillies. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of November 4th →

In Phillies’ baseball news this week, the Phillies hired Brian Barber as their Director of Amateur Scouting.  He replaces Johnny Almarez who stepped down for personal reasons.  A few days later, the Phillies hired Joe Girardi to manage the ball club.  He replaces Gabe Kapler who stepped down because , well … he was fired.  Miller and Girardi both come from the Yankees organization.  If you missed it, I wrote about their backgrounds here. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of October 28th →