The Offseason: 10/7/2020

Last night saw some thrillers in the playoffs. One of them, the Padres/Dodgers game, saw the Padres have a lead late in the game only to blow it thanks to some shoddy defense by Jake Cronenworth and Eric Hosmer. It allowed Los Angeles to tie the game and eventually take the lead. Who knows what would’ve happened if they had made the play.

It leads to me to think about the Phillies’ defense this year. The outfield defense seemed particularly shaky, even with some players out there that are normally solid. Bryce Harper had a negative defensive WAR from Fangraphs, Adam Haseley and Roman Quinn looked like they were being chased by bees at times in center, and Andrew McCutchen’s knee was clearly bothering him at certain points, something to be expected coming off a major injury as he did. It’s something the team should be emphasizing this coming season. With a pitching staff, particularly the bullpen, needing as much help as they can get, the defense needs to shore itself up to plug any more leaks.

On to the links!

Phillies news:

• Bryce Harper is continuing to be extremely vocal of his desire to retain J.T. Realmuto. To be a fly on the wall of the meeting between him and management if they don’t...
• Was Matt Klentak the problem in Philadelphia? Not according to David Murphy.
• A former member of the team’s front office thinks he knows the perfect person to run the ship for the Phillies.
• Let the Epstein to Philadelphia rumors begin.

MLB news:

• Remember Will Middlebrooks? He was in Philadelphia for like 10 minutes. Well he’s doing some good now.
• The Yankees took a former top prospect off of the restricted list yesterday.
• There could be a big issue with front offices and the people they hire very soon.
• The Angels are going to buy the site of their stadium.