2018-19 Phillies Off-Season Discussion (2019 version)

[bigegypt0417]

Individually all of these rumours seem silly but there seems to be a lot of momentum today. The Zolecki thing is a bit of a game changer, hes not one to throw out unfounded rumours.

I agree that they are silly but this is the world we live in today...social media has changed how this type of news is communicated.

[julio]

I agree that they are silly but this is the world we live in today...social media has changed how this type of news is communicated.

Yep. Social media has accelerated the spread of news - both real news, and rumor, speculation, and deliberate misinformation. Before social media, the older media tended to apply some level of filters - seeking second sources, attempting to verify things. Social media doesn't do that - filtering out wheat from chaff is entirely up to the consumer. Moreover, consumers become re-distributors, and if their judgment about content quality is lacking, they re-distribute garbage... far and wide. All evidence is that this doesn't work very well; more and more people see, "believe" and promulgate things that are wrong - in many cases, transparently wrong, but still widely "believed" by those who want to believe.,

[David_Criss]

I think at this point we are waiting for something, anything to happen. Kimbrel, Machado, Harper, Moustakas, Keuchel,,,,,,
I am growing tired of this dragging on. If Harper or Machado don't want to play for the Phillies then it is time to move on.

[el-pietro]

I have no issue with news coming from the video game or random twitter sources but most of the stuff that has been shared in the last 24 hours seems fake. I didn't expect the video game to have the announcement, I suspect they are piggybacking on peoples desperation for news to launch a trailer or something. But with so many small pieces coming out at once each one makes it seem more likely that there is some truth behind them all.

However without the comment from Zolecki I'd probably still disregard all of these pieces as nothing.

[Lawman]

Let's say the Phillies get Harper. Assuming that the offers from Philly and CWS to Machado are equal, would he rather go to Chicago where he gets to be THE GUY or to Philly where he shares that mantle with Harper?

[bigegypt0417]

Let's say the Phillies get Harper. Assuming that the offers from Philly and CWS to Machado are equal, would he rather go to Chicago where he gets to be THE GUY or to Philly where he shares that mantle with Harper?

If Harper signs I don't think there is any conversation about Machado coming here...

[zambonir]

Zolecki also published a column today saying this would surely drag into February, if not March 1, so who knows. (He has not opted to tweet what he said on the radio.)

What would the Phillies "move on" to and why? What good would it do them to make a seven-year franchise-altering decision based on fan impatience and an inability to wait four weeks to make other, basically minor moves that only affect this season?

Now, if they trade Franco today, or Moustakas tells them he's signing with another team tomorrow, maybe that changes things (though only with one of the players)

[fish]

Let's say the Phillies get Harper. Assuming that the offers from Philly and CWS to Machado are equal, would he rather go to Chicago where he gets to be THE GUY or to Philly where he shares that mantle with Harper?

Isn't that part of the appeal for him to go to NY- getting rich and famous to have fun playing with the 'other' GUYs?

[zambonir]

Phillies fans keep getting duped about Bryce Harper by fake Twitter account

[julio]

I love this. "There's no excuse for continuing to fall for...a fake Twitter account..."

If there's "no excuse" for falling for fake social media "information," how do we explain the tens of millions of Americans who routinely "fall for" misinformation on social media? A third of our population (or more) has "no excuse" for being so gullible?

This is a huge problem - and Bryce Harper's status doesn't begin to describe it.

[BostonRoss]

I think at this point we are waiting for something, anything to happen. Kimbrel, Machado, Harper, Moustakas, Keuchel,,,,,,
I am growing tired of this dragging on. If Harper or Machado don't want to play for the Phillies then it is time to move on.

Should the Red Sox have moved on from J.D. Martinez a year ago?

[allentown]

Now, if they trade Franco today, or Moustakas tells them he's signing with another team tomorrow, maybe that changes things (though only with one of the players)

I'm not interested in replacing Franco with Moustakis. Franco is younger, cheaper, we won't have a multi-year contract commitment to him, he had a higher OPS and o-WAR last season. Franco had a quite bad d-WAR last season, but it was significantly worse than his normal (still negative) value, so I blame some of that on the shift. The b-WAR for 2018 Franco was almost identical to Moustakis'. Replacing Franco with Moustakis may not be an upgrade at all and will certainly be a lot more expensive and introduce more roster/budget inflexibility. No thank you.

[bkeich]

I'm not interested in replacing Franco with Moustakis. Franco is younger, cheaper, we won't have a multi-year contract commitment to him, he had a higher OPS and o-WAR last season. Franco had a quite bad d-WAR last season, but it was significantly worse than his normal (still negative) value, so I blame some of that on the shift. The b-WAR for 2018 Franco was almost identical to Moustakis'. Replacing Franco with Moustakis may not be an upgrade at all and will certainly be a lot more expensive and introduce more roster/budget inflexibility. No thank you.

But your evaluation doesnt include what you can get for Franco. If you can get a prospect or two, or a ML ready player than the idea seems better. That said, I doubt his value is particularly high, but you never know

[Philsmania]

Phillies hire Jimmy Rollins as "Special Advisor". Interestingly, not specified as advisor to whom and David Buck (the business end of things guy) announced it, not Klentak. More of a promotional and amabassadorial role as opposed to a baseball role?

Phillies Hire Rollins As Special Advisor

[bkeich]

Good to see. I actually am in the minority and think that Jimmy is fairly overrated as a player, but he has always been a class act and a smart, articulate guy. I wonder if he has any interest in Baseball Management as a career, either as a Coach/Manager or Front Office type. He certainly has the intellect and experience to do about anything he wants in the game, just a question of whether he wants to (obviously he doesnt need the money).

[teabag259]

I'm guessing some are jumping the gun but it seems that based on "reports" the Phils will be getting Harper at some point during the next week or so.

[donaldorc]

I'm not interested in replacing Franco with Moustakis. Franco is younger, cheaper, we won't have a multi-year contract commitment to him, he had a higher OPS and o-WAR last season.

This!

[Patchmk88]

See above. A lot of these “reports” stem from a fake twitter account.

[zambonir]

I think Moustakas is a clear upgrade for two years unless you best-case scenario everything about Franco. Granted, you have to best-case Moustakas too but I find the argument that he had one bad defensive year coming off an injury more convincing than the idea that Franco struggled because of the shift (I don't even imagined he shifted enough - let alone had any chances on it - for that to have made an impact).

But my assumption is simply still that the Phillies are done with Franco. If Harper is truly the way they go it will be interesting to see what happens.

Clearly the Rollins thing was the only news coming out of the front office today and that helped fuel the other rumors.

[andyb]

I am not sure what they would do with Franco if they signed Harper. Agree that Moustakas is a little bit better, but am also inclined to think that money would probably be better spent elsewhere. We should also not be shy about upgrading at the deadline this year. Give Franco another season to take a step forward defensively. If he has not done so by July and the team is competing, then make a trade.

I am still expecting Machado more than Harper. Just seems the better fit even with the crazy rumors the past 24 hours. In that scenario we definitely trade Franco. BTW, some of the articles about the Padres and Machado noted they had soured on Franco of late. Not sure what to read into that.