New Bullpen Guy

Phillies head honcho (because president of baseball operations is too wordy) Dave Dombrowski finally made his first move. And it wasn't re-signing JT Realmuto.

The Phillies, Rays, and Dodgers had a three-way and the Phils came away with lefthanded reliever Jose Alvarado, who is kind of a good news, bad news guy.

The good news is he misses a lot of bats. The 25-year-old Venezuelan has struck out 161 hitters in 132.2 innings and throws in the upper 90s. The bad news is he misses home plate a lot, too. He averages nearly five walks per nine innings. And he's been hurt a lot since making his MLB debut in 2017.

He's one of those low-cost, high-reward kind of guys. But you have to wonder why Tampa got rid of him. The Rays have the best front office in baseball. Surely this guy must be damaged goods or something for the Rays to trade him. All the Phillies had to give up was Garret Cleavinger, who had a cup of coffee in the Phils bullpen this past summer. 

Back to Realmuto. It's been reported that the Phils have been in contact with JT, but have yet to make a formal contract offer. WHY? They need to sign him, like yesterday. Unless they have their eyes on Cubs catcher Wilson Contreras, who is reportedly on the market. 

Contreras is a less-accomplished catcher than Realmuto, but he has some pop and a career OPS of .814, just a tick below Realmuto. He wouldn't be an awful replacement for Realmuto, and he's definitely better than Andrew Knapp, and he wouldn't cost nearly as much as Realmuto. And he's younger than JT. If the Phils don't want to spend the big bucks on JT, they could do a lot worse than two-time All Star Wilson Contreras. 

Fuld in the House

The Phillies have a new GM, and it's a former Stanford player. No, it's not Ruben Amaro Jr., again. It's Sam Fuld, who played eight years in the majors and has been with the team since 2017.

Fuld is heavily into analytics and will report directly to Dave Dombrowski, the team's newish president of baseball operations. Fuld won't have the traditional role as most GMs, since Dombrowski will be calling all the shots. 

With the Phillies, he's helped get the analytics information to the players to use, and also served as an outfield instructor. He was probably given the GM title to keep other teams from hiring him.

Fuld told MLB Tonight that he and Dombrowski haven't discussed how exactly the team will look for the 2021 season, but says the team has a lot of good players. So he gets an A for diplomacy. 

But the best thing I've heard about Fuld came from former big leaguer Trevor Plouffe, who tweeted "you put Sam Fuld in a room full of highly educated execs, he fits. You put Sam Fuld in a room full of baseball grinders, he fits. Philly fans should be celebrating today!"

Indians No More

The Cleveland Indians will be no more. The team is changing its name to something less racially charged, according to a report in The New York Times.

The team, an original member of the American League, has also been known as Blues, Bronchos, and Naps. Will we see them temporarily known as the Cleveland Baseball Team, ala Washington's entry in the NFL? I'm guessing a contest will be forthcoming so fans can choose the name. 

I suggest Spiders, since there was a team in Cleveland by that name from 1887 to 1899. They would sell a ton of merchandise, and there's historical precedent. 

I'm sure we'll hear other ideas, many of them terrible. Such as:

Rocks/Rockers for the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. 

Grovers, with the blue Muppet as the mascot. 

Steamers.

Any other ideas out there? Let's hear them. 

Mets Sign Catcher Not Named Realmuto

The New York Mets and their obscenely wealthy owner signed a free agent catcher today, and it wasn't JT Realmuto. They signed James McCann to a four-year, $40 million contract. 

The Mets were almost universally expected to be Realmuto's new employers. What better way for the new owner to stick it to a division rival by signing their catcher? But either JT's price was too high or for whatever reason, they liked McCann better. 

So Realmuto is still available. Will the Nationals come calling? The Yankees? Will Phillies owner John Middleton let new VPBO Dave Dombrowski pay Realmuto whatever he's looking for? Yesterday, DD said there was unanimous feeling in the front office the Realmuto should be re-signed. Realmuto is reportedly looking to get the biggest contract ever for a catcher. With the Mets out of the picture, will his price come down?

And Dombrowski has been in charge of the Phillies for 24 whole hours already and hasn't made any moves. What a disappointment. #sarcasm (Photo from The Philadelphia Inquirer).

The World According to DD

Dave Dombrowski (DD) was formally introduced as the Phillies' first-ever president of baseball operations this afternoon. Here's what he had to say:

• "I consider it a retool and not a rebuild."
  
  
• "I don't think anybody thinks we're a player away (from contending for a playoff spot). I mean, we have some holes to plug.
  
  
• "We have a lot of nice pieces to win."
  
  
• "We want to win this year. We will do what we can."

Even though he's considered an "old school" baseball guy, DD said he'll rely on scouting and analytics equally when it comes to evaluating players.

As for budget constraints for the suddenly frugal Phils, DD said "there's flexibility to do things."

DD, who has a reputation of raiding the minor leagues to trade for big-league talent, said he doesn't want to sacrifice people who might be part of the team's future success for short-term gains if it's "not a difference-maker in trying to be a championship club."

The more I think about it, the more I like it. DD will lead the Phillies back into the playoffs. What's your take? Let me know. 

Instant Credibility

By all indications, it looks like the Phillies are about to make Dave Dombrowski president of baseball operations. Dombrowski has an amazing resume–he was in charge when the Marlins and Red Sox won World Series and turned the Tigers from a laughingstock into a sustained power in the AL Central.

Dombrowski's MO is spending money and trading prospects, and that doesn't really line up with the Phillies current situation. The team has slashed jobs within the organization and owner John Middleton is talking about lowering the payroll. And the minor league system is pretty barren, aside from a handful of prospects. I'm guessing Dombrowski told Middleton he needs to spend money to make money and win pennants, otherwise he wouldn't have taken the job.

The Tigers won four AL Central titles and made two World Series when he was in charge. His 2018 Red Sox won the World Series after winning 108 games during the regular season. This hiring shows that Middleton made a huge mistake hiring Matt Klentak and bringing on Gabe Kapler. Dombrowski's resume gives this team instant credibility. Now let's see if he can sign JT Realmuto. (Photo by Boston Herald)

RIP Dick Allen

Dick Allen, the man who won Rookie of the Year with the Phillies and put up Hall of Fame numbers, but has yet to receive the honor, died today. He was 78.

Allen also won the AL MVP award in 1972. The Hall of Fame's Golden Era Committee was supposed to have voted on candidates during the winter meetings today, but that was canceled due to the Coronavirus. During his peak, from 1964 to 1974, Allen had an offensive WAR of 68.5, better than that of Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, and Carl Yastrzemski. But he still wasn't elected.

The Phillies retired his number, 15, this past season on the anniversary of his MLB debut. Here's hoping the committee does the right thing and votes him in as soon as possible. 

In other news related to the Phillies, it looks like the universal DH rule won't be a thing in the NL in 2021. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that MLB told the players association not to count on having the DH in the NL this upcoming season. Everybody seemed happy with it in use universally. But I guess commissioner Rob Manfred decided it was better not to have everyone playing by the same rules. (Photo from Forbes.com)

Burning it Down?

There are reports today that the Phillies are listening to offers on starting pitcher Zack Wheeler. If this is true, it means the never-ending rebuild will continue for years to come. 

Hear me out–if they trade Wheeler, signed last year to a five-year, $118 million deal, there's no way in hell they're going to sign JT Realmuto to stay with the team. You don't trade one of your best starters to save money to sign Realmuto. You don't create a huge weakness in order to sign an all-star catcher. Who's he going to catch? 

If they trade Wheeler and Realmuto signs elsewhere, how is Bryce Harper going to feel? He allegedly signed here because the Phils were close to getting back to the playoffs. Losing Wheeler and Realmuto, no matter what the return, would be two gigantic steps backward. They already decided to let shortstop Didi Greogrius go. There's also talk that Jean Segura will be traded as well. 

I guess billionaire owner John Middleton is really worried about the economics of the game for 2021. Nobody knows if fans will be allowed in the stands. The team reportedly lost more than $100 million last season and offered buyouts or laid off  more than 80 people in the front office. But just how bad are the finances for this team? In 2014, the Phillies signed a 25-year TV deal with Comcast reported to be worth more than $2.5 billion. Surely, that money can be found somewhere in the accounting department at Citizens Bank Park. 

I hate when billionaires cry poor and then cut off the cash at the expense of their employees and ultimately, their customers. Philadelphia is a top-five television market. They should have a top-five payroll as well, pandemic or not. (Photo from Slate.com)

Dammit

I guess they're counting on the new pitching coach to finally unlock all of Velasquez's potential. How many chances does this guy get? 

Phils Sign Catcher! No, Not That One

Lots of news coming out of South Philly today. There's talk that shortstop Jean Segura is going to get traded this winter, and the signing of a catcher. The catcher is backup Andrew Knapp, who signed a one-year, $1.1 million contract. Meanwhile, all we hear are crickets regarding free agent JT Realmuto.

Since they didn't offer a qualifying deal to Didi Gregorius and might trade Segura, that leaves kind of a big hole at short. Top prospect Bryson Stott isn't quite ready for prime time, and nobody knows how Scott Kingery is recovering from his disastrous 2020 season and COVID infection. 

But here's a name to consider as a possible stopgap at short–Freddy Galvis. He's a free agent who still defends with the best of them, and can contribute a little bit with the bat. It's a huge dropoff from Gregorius, but I can think of worse options than Galvis. And he'll be relatively cheap, which is right up owner John "Ebenezer" Middleton's alley. 

So the Phils still need to figure out who will play center and who will catch full time, since it's looking painfully clear like Realmuto won't be back next season. 

And non-tenders are supposed to be announced really soon. Here's hoping Vince Velasquez doesn't get a new deal. Readers of this space know who I feel about VV, and it's time to bid good riddance. Enough is enough. (Photo by The Philadelphia Inquirer)