When I saw this tweet from Phillies beat writer Matt Gelb last night, my head exploded a little bit. But before I took fingers to keyboard, I decided to give it a few hours.
The optimist in me wants to give Klentak the benefit of the doubt. He knows what he's doing. And the key words in the tweet are "in person." Surely he's been on the phone non-stop, calling agents of free agent pitchers and getting an idea of how much they're looking for.
Then there's the Negadelphian me. The one who expects the worst, therefore not being disappointed when something bad happens. Klentak doesn't exactly have a whole lot of credibility right now. He's the one who hired Gabe Kapler, a true Dumpster fire of a decision. He also green-lighted (green-lit?) the promotion of Chris Young to pitching coach while simultaneously kicking Rick Kranitz to the curb. How'd that work out? Phillies pitchers regressed, Young got canned after one season, and Kranitz and his new team won the National League East.
Klentak should be running a shuttle bus between the airport and Citizens Bank Park, bringing in every available pitcher and selling him on a future in Philadelphia. Maybe he could schedule a side trip to owner John Middleton's house, to show the pitchers the huge piles of cash that await them should they decide to sign here.
Publicly admitting that there have been no in-person meetings and none on the calendar doesn't exactly instill confidence in the fans, many of whom are asking Santa for pitchforks and torches to storm the ballpark if the pitching staff doesn't get upgraded in a big, big way.
The Winter Meetings start next Monday in San Diego. I sure hope Klentak and Co. can find the time to meet with some free agents and their people. Because if he comes back to Philadelphia empty-handed, his holiday season is going to be miserable.
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