The Offseason: 10/19/2020

The Phillies got some unexpected news yesterday when pitching coach Bryan Price announced his retirement from coaching. It’s not something that the team planned for and now they are going to have to scramble to fill the job. They, of course, still have plenty of time, but with other more pressing positions to fill, this one probably caught them a little off guard.

Price did see some improvement in his charges in 2020, notably seeing Zack Wheeler and Zach Eflin getting better as the season progressed. The bullpen, as we know, didn’t get better at all and Price does bear some of the responsibility for that, but he also didn’t have much talent to work with in that department. Even the midseason acquisitions weren’t exactly stellar when they arrived and saw a pretty steep decline, something we all know well.

Still, Price was pretty highly regarded and it would have been nice to see him get to work with the staff over the course of a full season. Now, though, the team will have to find someone else who may want to incorporate a whole new set of philosophies.

On to the links!

Phillies news:

• Those always scarily accurate arbitration projections were released over the weekend, and the Phillies look like they’ll have some decisions to make.
• This one is, well, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
• We all know about J.T. Realmuto and what he’ll potentially cost the team. He will draw a lot of suitors.
• Speaking of Realmuto, he was on the Sporting News’ end of season National League all-star team, with no other catcher drawing consideration.

MLB news:

• We now know the teams that will make up the World Series. We also know the times the games will be played.
• It’s going to be bad for free agents this offseason. Read bad.
• The Astros are mercifully done and guess what? Their “dynasty” has started to crumble.
• There has been an indictment in the death of Tyler Skaggs.

Rumor roundup:

• The Marlins are also looking for a new GM/president of baseball operations.