The Time Has Come For The Phillies To Run The "Stupid Money" Play
November 16th was only 3 months ago but it might as well have been 3 goddamn years ago with how long MLB Free Agency has been dragged out so far. But on November 16th, Philadelphia Phillies owner John Middleton said this about the Phils’ offseason plans.
USA Today – If anyone had any doubt about Philadelphia Phillies owner John Middleton’s intentions this winter, he made it abundantly clear before leaving the Major League Baseball owners’ meetings.
“We’re going into this expecting to spend money,’’ Middleton told USA TODAY Sports. “And maybe even be a little bit stupid about it.’’
Stupid Money. That’s been the mantra all along. The fellas have some empty checks to hand out and there were two major pieces available on the market. After today, there is only one considering Manny Machado just signed with the Chicago White Sox errrr San Diego Padres. The Padres are not a good team but $300 million is a very good number. I’ll be real with you guys for a moment here–that’s a lot of money. I mean I’d say that like…$6 million is a lot of money. And what Manny Machado is getting paid in San Diego is 50 times more than what I already thought was a lot of money. So yeah.
So now we are left with Bryce Harper being the belle of da ball. And the reports are out there that Bryce isn’t necessarily too keen on playing in Philadelphia. Is that just a negotiating ploy from Boras to get the Phillies to up their offer? Does Bryce Harper fear the fact that he’ll be living in Mike Trout’s shadow here in Philadelphia? We may never know. But the time has come for the Phillies to run the “Stupid Money” play because it may be their final hope.
Just do the thing.
I mean the Phillies have been having a pretty solid offseason and everything. They’ve made some nice moves and brought in some good players. But this whole offseason has been hyped up around Machado or Harper. Hell, there was even a point over the last few months when it was Machado AND Harper. But now if it ends up being neither Machado nor Harper? Well it’s going to be pretty tough for the casual fans to get themselves invested into a Phillies season again without either of those guys there to build some hype around. Not saying the Phillies won’t be fine in the long run if Harper doesn’t end up here. They’ll just get Mike Trout later. All I’m saying is that for people out there who aren’t die hard fans who will watch every single game no matter what, it’s going to be hard to get their interest back without either going on another run or bringing in Bryce Harper now. So if eye balls are what the Phillies ownership group is going after, then it’s time for some Stupid Money.