It's been a quiet off-season so far for the Phils, but there have been a few nuggets of news worth discussing.
- Owner John Middleton says the team is willing to spend money–a lot of money–this winter. "We're going into this expecting to spend money–and maybe even be a little stupid about it. We just prefer not to be completely stupid," Middleton told USA Today. Does that mean both Bryce Harper AND Manny Machado could be Phillies once the season starts? And what qualifies as completely stupid? Something like giving Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel a ridiculous multiyear deal? Yeah, that would be stupid. Spending big money on closers is stupid.
- Phillies ace Aaron Nola finished third in the NL Cy Young voting behind Jacob DeGrom and Max Scherzer. Nola finished 13th in NL MVP voting, which is kind of cool.
- The Phillies have a new pitching coach. After learning other teams were interested in assistant pitching coach Chris Young, the Phils went ahead and promoted him to pitching coach and kicked Rick Kranitz to the curb. They had to promote Young or risk losing him. It sucks that Kranitz had this happen, because the pitching was better this past season. But I guess the Phils value Young's analytical background more than Kranitz's old school approach.
- Backup first baseman and bench bat Justin Bour has been put on waivers to free up space on the 40-man roster ahead of next week's Rule 5 draft. This was expected since Bour only plays first. He was a late-season trade pickup who really didn't make that much of a difference.
Let's hope there's more to talk about in the coming weeks. Life without baseball sucks.
