KP

I’m happy to have Schwarbs rather that Pete. Woulda been incredible to have both, but that was never on the table.

Is it too much to add BB into the bit?

Is that us waiting for something meaningful to happen?

Side editorial note: “count your losses” is a mixed mashup of two sayings. I think y’all meant “cut your losses” (but it tripped and got mixed with “count your blessings”) 😁😬

If not for the relationship fracture, it may make sense to keep Nick rather than selling (cutting) low. They meed a RHH, and there aren’t many available. And if it was only a fracture with Topper, they might work to repair it. But sounds like several of his teammates are not too happy with him.

And now they can say they did

Yay Zack!

What happened to his Frank Zappa look?

Signing him for 5 means you are going all in to see if you can finally get to the summit in 2026 or (locked out) 2027, then you need to start talking about rebuilding your farm system and playing things out with the out-of-contention “old” guys for the following 3 or 4 years.

I think he will be very good for two more years. Then goodish for a year. His hands are very quick, there are specific reasons he has improved the last two years, not just a fluke. But at some point in the next few years, his quick-twitch hands will slow down.

Interesting exploration. Makes me think if the Phillies have to straight up release him, paying nearly his entire salary and making him, in essence, a free agent. He’s gonna call his buddy in Pittsburgh and the Marlins.

www.mlb.com/amp/news/cub...

Welp, seems like it would be interesting to hear some thoughts on the multi-year deals several relievers are getting across MLB and how the Phillies compare.

There is a scenario where I’d say maybe. If you’d asked me in July, I would have definitely said Go. But we’ve seen it before where a guy needs a year to settle in and he started to find a little something toward season’s end. But not at $10M and depends on where they land with the RHH/LHH mix.

Given that the Phillies usually need at least 10 different starting pitchers to make it through a season, what is the depth chart based on their current guys, and what they might do to enhance that depth. (Maybe list a couple guys they might sign if that seems possible?)

Which contract is better. José at $9M/1yr or Romano at $8.5M/1 yr? 😂🙄

Yeah. I figured he wasn’t a bad risk. Just got turned around a bit. But not sure the O’s are the best spot for a pitcher to bounce back. I would have expected them to sign Jordan Romano. 🙄

At that point, his catcher was Tim McCarver.

I think I went to my first game in ‘76 or ‘77 with my older brothers and Dad. I was hooked. (Them, not as much) Then discovered baseball cards in ‘77. Obsessively followed Phillies until college, including Carlton. He was amazing.

When I looked up Bateman, there’s lots of references to him being Carlton’s favorite catcher and him attributing much of his 1972 Cy Young success to Bateman. But… you know… not everything on internet is true. I haven’t fully validated the references or anything.

Thx for identifying year of card.
John Bateman, also a catcher for Phillies and Carlton in 1972, also wore #6 that year. McCarver was traded to Expos and Bateman came to Phillies.

What year? Looks pre-1977 when I started collecting. Trying to guess which catcher is in pic. While Tim McCarver was his guy exclusively for a chunk of time (and he wore #6 for a couple years) that does not look like him.

Just waiting for the Phillies to do something.

I’m irritated that I like the Cowboys Thanksgiving Day throwback uniforms.

Yeah. Completely insane. The agents probably hesitate before leaking that the Pirates have shown interest. Other front offices to the agent “It’s hard for me to take you seriously when you say stuff like that.”

If someone can figure out how the Angels FO thinks, shouldn’t they be able to pull off a good trade?

There’s zero depth. They already need to sign a few borderline starters in February to minor league deals just to survive the season. They typically need 10 to 11 starting pitchers.

A-Can’t figure how contract affects his value. On one hand, committing to a guy for several more years as he ages. On other, sounds like he’s affordable relative to what he could get if a FA.
B-Dbacks need starting pitching, but while Phillies have a good top 5, not much depth to enable trade.

On the one hand, it’s unrealistic to expect him to bounce back to his best, mind-blowing, year. But a moderate offensive improvement combined with his defense adds, at minimum, a RHH with the threat of some pop. I will take it. But, to your point, how many other teams think the same?

Are the Phillies likely to pick anyone up in the Rule 5 draft? They pick 29th. Several teams likely to pass due to roster crunch, so they will be, perhaps, the 15th team with room on the roster, since they currently only have 32 guys on 40-man. Any chance there’s a guy available who could stick?