clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Phillies news and links — Brock Stassi is everyone’s hero

Today, it’s all about the roster, Brock Stassi, and more Kyle Kendrick.

By Liz Roscher
MLB: Spring Training-Philadelphia Phillies at New York Yankees
This Brock Stassi guy is adorable.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Happy last spring training Friday, everyone! The next time we do links, it’ll be opening day. Opening day! Just think about it. The start of meaningful baseball. Real uniforms, real crowds, hits and pitches and home runs that have actual significance.

So let’s wrap this spring training right up.

Brock Stassi made the 25-man roster

Guys, it happened. Brock Stassi, the underdog’s underdog, the longshot’s longshot, made the Phillies opening day roster. It’s stupendous. It’s wonderful. I could include this in tweet of the day, but you deserve to see it right here, right now.

If that doesn’t make your soul shine with happiness, I don’t know what to tell you. Because that’s so absolutely wonderful, that’s what baseball is all about this time of year. And there’s been some great writing about Stassi. For instance, I wrote about him yesterday. Matt Breen has turned in two fantastic articles about him, here and here. And Sam Donnellon as well. Read them all, but especially mine. (I’m kidding.) (I’m not kidding.)

The Phillies 25-man roster is set

Daniel Nava made it onto the 25-man roster, and Luis Garcia is for some reason on the 40-man. Jesmuel Valentin and Tyler Goeddel got the bad end of this. Valentin will be starting the season at Triple-A, and Goeddel has been designated for assignment and off the 40-man to make room for Nava. It’s an even tougher break for Goeddel, who just found out that he would be starting the season at Double-A after an entire year in the majors. This is the time of year for heartbreak, and the Phillies have given their fair share.

Kyle Kendrick’s prank saga continues, thanks to Kyle Kendrick

If Kendrick wanted people to stop talking about that prank from 2008, talking about it may have been the wrong thing to do. Actually it was definitely the wrong thing to do, because now Brett Myers has weighed in. Myers did an interview with CSNPhilly, and he gave this nugget of information.

"Now knowing me, I wanted everything covered," Myers said. "I went the extra mile to make sure that this looked as real as possible. I had to get the front office involved. I had to get Charlie (Manuel) involved. I let the media know about it -- keep them quiet. I had to get the traveling secretary involved. We had to make it look as good as possible. It took two weeks of planning to make sure everybody was on board before we pulled the prank off."

Uh, whoa. So the deepness of this prank was all Myers. That seems... honestly, it seems a little overboard, but Kendrick’s a pud. Myers also points out that if Kendrick was so hurt by this prank and essentially wanted everyone to forget it, why did he talk about it with a reporter? It’s not like his apology from Ruben Amaro was caught on camera or or done in front of a beat writer. Because talking about it is the absolute last way to make people forget it. I’ve watched the thing six times this week after not watching it for over a year. People who had never seen the prank before this week have now seen and heard about it. So... good job, Kyle?

Around the Phight

Tweet(s) of the day

Uh...

Michael. Martinez. Michael. Martinez. What else can I say? Wilson Valdez didn’t pop up as much as this.

When bees think spring training is too long, spring training is too long.

That’s Max Stassi of the Astros, Brock’s brother, tweeting about Brock’s ascension to the bigs. It’s adorable that he typed out a whole thing, took a screenshot, and posted it. He is so proud of his brother. Also, the Stassi elders did an excellent job naming their kids. Brock and Max? It sounds like they should be sexy, high-end detectives on a 70s tv show. I’d watch that, wouldn’t you?

More From The Good Phight