After not making progress on the two big names, the Phillies GM is already heading home from the Winter Meetings.
The Philadelphia Phillies performance at the MLB Winter Meetings was encapsulated in a partial sentence arriving on Philly area porches in the Thursday morning (Dec. 13) paper. Inquirer writer Bob Brookover informed his readers that Phillies GM Matt Klentak would be checking out of the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay complex, site of those meetings, on “Thursday morning.”
Hmmm. Not even hanging around for lunch, Matt?
Yes, Dec. 13 was the last day of the Winter Meetings. But if you were an MLB GM, wouldn’t you be concerned a competitor could be eating your Machado Spicy Omelet or your Harper Hearty Man’s Brunch while you were headed to the airport?
Of course, many had assumed neither Manny Machado nor Bryce Harper would be signed during the Vegas confab, but Brookover’s headline (in the print edition of the Inky) was also a little disconcerting: “Phils may lose out on both stars.”
Hoo-boy. That may not play particularly well in the Delaware Valley.
As the clock ticked through Thursday morning in the East, it became clearer and clearer that the Phillies winter might drag on inconclusively for a while yet. However, one other reality seemed to be distilling: The Phillies upgrade of their current 80-82 squad probably won’t be considered a true success if they don’t sign one of the two players named above or left-handed starter Dallas Keuchel before spring training. All three were still available early Thursday.
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That’s it. One of those three guys. You can scan the list of remaining free agents all you want, but I don’t see another one on it who has performed adequately. How is “adequately” defined? That’s simple – in a way that will be seen as living up to Phillies owner John Middleton’s promise-that-wasn’t to spend the team’s money in a way that might be considered “stupid.”
You may have your Gio Gonzalez or Wade Miley, your A.J. Pollock or Marwin Gonzalez. All four of those players represent value at the MLB level, but is even one of them a clear upgrade over the Phillies player he would replace? That’s a firm “maybe.”
The left-handed pitchers are left-handed. Will either of them be clearly better in 2019 than the younger Phillies starter on the team already? Maybe. Pollock and Gonzalez are good outfielders, but is either clearly going to have a better season than the younger Phillies outfielder he’d replace? Maybe. (And remember, Rhys Hoskins is now a first baseman again. Neither Pollack nor Gonzalez would replace him directly.)
It may seem unfair, but adding an All-Star (Jean Segura) and a former MVP (Andrew McCutchen) to the Phillies, as Klentak has done, may well be considered a disappointment in Philadelphia. If that’s all that happens, it will take a fast start out of the gate in April to convince Philly fans that those were really good moves.