If you’re a Phillies fan, then you love the words that you heard from owner John Middleton on Friday via Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The golden quote from Middleton is that the Phillies plan to “maybe even be a little bit stupid” about spending money this offseason. He quickly tried to laugh it off by saying that they weren’t going to be “completely stupid,” but by then, the hype train had left the station. You heard it straight from man who is signing the checks in Philadelphia: The Phillies are going to be aggressive spenders this offseason, to the point where it could be considered stupid.
Are we going to see the Phillies do some “stupid” spending this offseason?
The Phillies were always expected to be aggressive this offseason. Their owner just became the conductor of the hype train.
Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images
Naturally, this means that Phillies fans and baseball fans in general could now have dreams of potentially seeing both Manny Machado and Bryce Harper running around Citizens Bank Park in those familiar red pinstripes. That’s exactly what the crew over at The Good Phight is dreaming of at the moment, as they went into detail about just how Philadelphia could possibly afford both superstars and maybe even a couple of other stars as well.
They also made sure to note that this doesn’t necessarily mean that Philadelphia is now a lock to go after both. The luxury tax is still a thing and while the baseball decision-makers for the Phillies probably appreciate having the purse strings considerably lightened up, that could be the line that is considered as being “completely stupid.”
Maybe we will see Philadelphia go after the two biggest jewels of the free agency class and maybe a miracle can happen and they could end up finding a way to land both superstars and make it work for everybody involved. The odds of that happening are pretty small but at the same time, the baseball world may as well get ready to see the Phillies involved in plenty of Hot Stove rumors and rumblings.
This could be an incredibly memorable offseason for Philadelphia or it could end up being relatively disappointing if they don’t go on a spending spree that was hinted at by the owner, himself. Either way, it’s going to be interesting and that’s all that us neutral fans could really ask of them at this point in the offseason. Let’s set this Hot Stove on fire.
- Hey look, the Marlins have new uniforms (again). In my opinion, they’re not bad at all. What does Grant Brisbee think of them? If you want to know, then he gave his opinion on each new jersey. If you haven’t seen them yet, then now’s your chance.
- Here’s a spoiler alert: Trevor Story hit the longest home run of the 2018 season. But I’m sure that you want to see that dinger. Fortunately for us, MLB decided to post a video with not just that dinger but 19 of the longest dingers of the season.
- Apparently the Padres believe that they can get Noah Syndergaard to come to San Diego via trade. If it sounds crazy, Whitney McIntosh believes that it’s actually not all that crazy of an idea.
- This week has been a long month for the Seattle Mariners. They ended Friday with a bit of a news dump concerning their HR’s review of the ugly situation concerning their treatment of Dr. Lorena Martin.
- Steve Pearce became a popular figure for the Red Sox during their run to yet another World Series title. He’ll continue to be popular in Boston for 2019 after he agreed to a one-year deal to stay with the Red Sox.
- We’ve already talked about how the Phillies could be super-aggressive this offseason. Meanwhile in the Bay Area, how aggressive should the A’s be?
- Anibal Sanchez had himself a nice season pitching for the Braves in 2018 but it’s clear that he’s going to be moving on. Is Milwaukee going to be his next destination?
- It’s only November but David Robertson is already having himself an adventure of an offseason, for multiple reasons.
- Meanwhile, here’s hoping that Kenley Jansen’s upcoming heart surgery goes well. The date has officially been set in stone and hopefully all goes well and he can finally put these issues with his heart behind him.
- Mike Elias has been officially announced as the new GM of the Orioles. Camden Chat came up with five reasons why Orioles fans should be happy with this move.
- New Era and the Marlins both unveiled neon (or neon-adjecent) gear near the end of this week. According to Whitney McIntosh, one organization did it right and the other organization missed out on a great opportunity.
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