Rise and Phight: 3/21/2022

While it wasn’t quite the same as Merry Cliffmas, the midnight signing of Nick Castellanos has given a jolt to this fanbase. You don’t see often a collective group of people suddenly see their opinion of a team grow as much as when we all checked our phones Saturday morning, but now that he is in the fold, along with Kyle Schwarber, it has heightened expectations quite a bit.

It’s probably arguable who has the hottest managerial seat in the game, but with the team exceeding the luxury tax for the first time, Joe Girardi’s fanny probably just got a little bit warmer. The ownership group wasn’t going to be break that self-imposed ceiling unless they thought the team had a shot at the postseason, so now the pressure will be on Girardi to help guide the team toward that final destination. It should be interesting.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Even though he is a little bit behind schedule, Zack Wheeler fully intends to be ready when the bell rings.
• Kyle Gibson is looking to harness a new pitch this spring and was encouraged by what he saw in his outing yesterday.
• Johan Rojas will always be known for his glove, but it’s his bat that could make him the final answer to the team’s center field question ($).
• The inside story, and a fascinating one at that, on how Dave Dombrowski persuaded the owners to get Castellanos ($).

MLB news:

• In yet another attempt to speed up the game, some teams are looking at an audio system to help get signals to pitchers.
• Trevor Story went to the Red Sox, Carlos Correa went to Minnesota, Jorge Soler to the Marlins. What a weekend for transactions!