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Let’s just consider this the calm before the storm. With the winter meetings on the horizon, it seems like the Phillies are just positioning themselves to have a busy four days in Las Vegas. Hopefully, we’ll see an end to the jockeying for one of these premier free agents and we can all calm down about whether this offseason was a failure or not. On to the links!
Here at The Good Phight:
- Justin discusses how the NL East, long a doormat for the Nationals, suddenly looks like it will be a thunderdome of competition. Bring it on...
- I put up a piece about James Pazos, introducing him and trying to get to the bottom of his loss in velocity last season. Hint: it might be mechanical.
More Phillies news:
- Jim “Ralph” Bowden has some winter moves he would like to see happen ($) and he leads off with your favorite hustler coming to Philadelphia. No, I will never not call Bowden “Ralph”.
- Corey Seidman ran with Jayson Stark’s article (more on that later) about which Phillies would be most affected by a ban on shifts.
- Corey also talked about Carlos Santana, who might be the most “polarizing” one-year athlete this city has seen in some time.
MLB esoterica:
- Yesterday’s big MLB news came from Jayson Stark, who informed us as to the possibility (likelihood?) that the league is going to ban shifts ($). I’m generally good with it, but it does open up a Pandora’s box of questions - what’s illegal? Who is going to watch out for it? What are the penalties? Let’s just hope they get it not only right, but clear. We don’t want this to become something like pass interference in the NFL, which is always open to interpretation.
- The Cardinals pulled off a coup, acquiring Paul Goldschmidt from the Diamondbacks. To some, the package seems a little light, but I think the Cardinals paid a big price for the slugger.
- Looks like another free agent pitcher is about to head off of the market.
- With Patrick Corbin now a part of the enemy, perhaps Madison Bumgarner will be moved. However, his market might not be what he thinks it will be next season.
Until next time...