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One of the most intriguing free agent pitchers, maybe ever, just said he's play for league minimum, for literally anyone who offers him a contract. Should the Phillies go after him? The last time we saw Trevor Bauer on a major league mound, he was half way through what was shaping up to be a pretty good season for the Dodgers. One year removed from winning the Cy Young award in the Covid shortened 2020 season, Bauer was 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA and 1.003 WHIP, with 137 strike outs for in 17 starts for the 106 win Dodgers. That's when everything came to a screeching halt. On July 2, 2021, the MLB placed him on administrative leave while they conducted an investigation into a sexual assault allegation. When all was said and done, 3 different women ended up accusing him of sexual assault, all of which he denied. I am not going to get into the details here, but there are plenty of articles that discuss, at length, the accusations, which if true, are very disturbing. Ultimately, the MLB decided to suspend Bauer for a record 324 games, which cost him the rest of the 2021 and all of 2022. One December 22, 2022, an arbitrator shortened the suspension to just the 194 games he has already missed. On January 6, 2023, the Dodgers DFA'd Bauer, and he hasn't signed with an MLB club since. After a pretty good season in Japan, Bauer is looking for an MLB contract. He went on Theo Von's "This Past Weekend" podcast to discuss his future, where he states he will play for a league minimum, incentive laden deal. He just wants the chance to show he can still play. Now getting a Cy Young winner at league minimum is intriguing, no matter the situation. But is Bauer worth it, not only from the PR hit you will undoubtedly take, but from an on-field perspective? I say no. Even if you were to overlook the sexual assault allegations, and to be fair to Trevor, he did provide some pretty strong evidence that he was set up by his accuser, and they ultimately settled for no money after Bauer countersued her, he was pretty disliked by a lot of his teammates. Miguel Montero, his first catcher in the big leagues, nicknamed him "Bobblehead" because he shook off so many of his pitches. He also said Bauer didn't listen to anyone, and sarcastically wished Carlos Santana, Cleveland's catcher at the time, "good luck" in having to deal with him. He was well known to scream at teammates when they made errors behind him. And of course, the infamous throwing the ball 300 feet over the center field wall when Terry Francona pulled him from a game. There are plenty other examples of this. So at worst, hes a sexual predator, at best hes a weirdo. His teammates hate him. How is he on the field? With the exception of 2018, 2020, and the first half of 2021, Bauer was surprisingly average. And I have to admit, I thought his overall numbers would have been better. Since 2020 was the Covid shortened season and he only had 11 starts, the only above average full season he has had in the majors was 2018/ His career WHIP of 1.24 would have been good for 28th in the league last season. He's only hit 200 Ks twice in a season. His career ERA is 3.79, which would have been 26th last season. He does pitch a lot of innings though, so at least he can save your bullpen. So with the exception of two (really one full) outlier seasons, Trevor Bauer has mainly been average. Throw in the backlash they would get for signing him, the fact that he's a bad teammate, and he's 33 and hasn't pitched at the major league level in 3 years. The Phillies are, for better or worse, a vibes team. Can't have a guy like that come in and ruin the vibes.* *I reserve the right to scream about not signing him if he signs with the Braves or Mets and kills the Phillies

Are the Phillies trying to be worse than last year? Craig Kimbrel walks off the mound in the 2023 NLC in Arizona after blowing Game 4 The 2023 Phillies bullpen was awesome. The ranked 7th in ERA at 3.58 and 3rd in WAR at 6.8. Craig Kimbrel was an All-Star. Jose Alvarado was just named the 10th best reliever in all of baseball (too low in my opinion). Seranthony Dominguez should be healthy. Matt Strahm showed promise. Orion Kerkering showed he belonged. But hoping everyone either gets better, or just doesn't regress, is dumb, especially with the bullpen. In 2022, the Phillies were near the bottom of the league in bullpen ERA, good for 23rd at 4.27. In 2021, they were 25th at 4.60. 2020 they were dead last (COVID year but still, 7.06 over 60 games is putrid.) They have done a lot to revamp their bullpen over the last few years, but they job is not and should not be done, especially when it is a major reason why they lost in the LCS last year. Kimbrel left a sour taste in everyone's mouth due to his LCS outings, but he was awesome last season. He was an All-Star. 69 IP, 23 saves, 94 Ks, and a 3.26 ERA. He was a horse and is going to be tough to replace. Enter Orion Kerkering. He came up with a lot of hype, and was thrown into the thick of a playoff hunt. This is not as much a knock on him, as the organization, but thrusting this youngster into an important role shutting down game on a team that has World Series aspirations is dumb and unfair. He was bad, real bad against Arizona. In 4 games in the NLCS, he face 15 batters. He only got 7 outs. More than half of the batter he faced reach base. That is not good enough. Hoping he turns into the guy before he proves it is what loser franchises do. Jake Diekman and Shintaro Fujunami went to the Mets for less than $4M each. Kimbrel, who I know was never coming back, signed with the Orioles. Reynaldo Lopez signed with the Braves. Josh Hader signed with the Astros. The teams the Philies will be facing last in September and October are getting better. They are hoping guys like Soto and Brogdon have bounce back seasons. The remaining relief pitchers on the FA market leave much to be desired. I wouldn't mind Ryne Stanek. Phil Maton is still available (can't have the wrong brother if you get them both!) Brad Hand is another name. They could also sign a starter and slide Christopher Sanchez into a full time relief role. But they need to do something.

A leak of the Phillies city connect jersey seems to have hit the waves the other day, and people have had some takes. Some love it. It seems most hate it. But few things get the people going as much as uniforms. Picture courtesy of @gottagoto_MOs Paul Lukas from Uniwatch let us know on December 30 that the Phillies city connect would feature the blue and yellow of the city flag. Because, obviously when you think of Philadelphia you think of baby blue and yellow. The Eagles famously recreated the 1934 uniforms that sported these colors, and they...were...something.... And, of course, the Union main colors are Blue and Yellow. While they have used different variations of blue and yellow, it has been their main colors since their inception in 2010 I am of the opinion that they are fine. They aren't good, by any means. But my question to everyone is, what did you expect? All of the city connect uniforms have been horrible. The only ones that are even close to any good are the Angels, and that is mainly because they are plain. Nike has been awful in designing uniforms in all sports they manufacture uniforms for. See examples here. NFL, NBA, and quite possibly the worst uniform ever. When Nike has to design their own jersey, they are usually terrible, so these could have been MUCH worse. If they choose a good hat, and they don't do something stupid with the pants, like the Rockies did, they could be okay. I was hoping for something like this...

The biggest question mark for the 2024 Phillies, to me, is centerfield. Who is the starter? Do Pache and Rojas platoon? Does one, or both, start in AAA? Who is going to provide offense? All of these questions need answers if the Phillies want to get back to the World Series in 2024. For all intents and purposes, 8 of the 9 regular spots are taken. Barring injury, Schwarber (DH), Harper(1B), Stott (2B), Bohm (3B), Turner (SS), Marsh (LF), Castellanos (RF) and Realmuto (C) are sharpied into the line up most days. The only decision Rob Thomson has to make is, "Who is in CF?" Personally, I would LOVE it if that person was not on the roster right now. I am smart enough to know that, at this point, the Phillies aren't going to shell out big money to Cody Bellinger, although, he would get my vote. I know he had a peak contract year after a few bad ones, but if you get the player he was last year, he can play all three OF spots well, 1B when Harper needs a day off, and he balances the lineup out. You wouldn't have to force Stott to hit 4 or 5 in order to separate the lefties and righties. However, I am glad it's not my decision to give a guy $200M+ who slashed .165/.240/.302 just three seasons ago. The Case for Rojas Johan Rojas is an absolutely elite defensive center fielder. I'm not sure I've seen anyone track fly balls as well as him since Andruw Jones. He doesn't even make great plays because he gets himself into position where great plays look routine. He finished the season with the ninth-highest defensive WAR by a center fielder in Phillies history despite playing just 59 games. Rojas' 15 defensive runs saved ranked fourth this season among all major league center fielders. At the plate, in 59 regular season games, Rojas showed some promise. He was able to slash .302/.342/.430, .771 OPS, with 2 HRs, 23 RBI and 14 SB. Those aren't Earth shattering numbers, but that is more than formidable from your 9 hitter, in a lineup with 5 guys who should hit 25+ homers. His base running, especially in front of Schwarber, could be a weapon as he gets more comfortable and aggressive in the major leagues. The Case Against Rojas While his defense was still elite, in the 2023 playoffs, he was abysmal at the plate. 15 strikeouts in 43 ABs, only 2 walks and most importantly, he looks over-matched and lost. He was not putting up good at bats. They may as well have just skipped his spot and taken an automatic out to speed up the game. You cannot be an automatic out, and be an everyday player in the lineup for a team that has World Series aspirations, no matter how good you are on defense. He'll be a pinch runner/defensive replacement if he shows up to spring training hitting like he did in the playoffs. The Case for Pache Christian Pache is not quite the defender that Rojas is, but he is no slouch. Pache had 5 defensive runs saved in the OF, which is not the eye popping number Rojas put up, but prior to his torn meniscus in May, he was killing the ball. On his third team in three years, and only 24, he was hitting .360/.360/.600 with a .960 OPS. After the injuries, he fell back down to Earth a little, but he showed promise under Kevin Long. The Case Against Pache Had Rojas had even a bad post season, this wouldn't even be a conversation. The only reason Pache is under consideration is because Rojas had quite possibly the worst post season at the plate ever. Rojas had better numbers across the board, all while being a better defender. If Rojas hits in spring training, this question will be answered. The Case for a Free Agent Currently, the available players listed as center fielders on MLB.com free agent tracker, who I PERSONALLY like better than Rojas and Pache, are Adam Duvall and Cody Bellinger. Bellinger is going to get paid, so I think he's out, but Duvall had a decent season with the Red Sox last year, which included playing all three outfield spots, hitting .247/.303/.531 with 21 HRs and 58 RBI. All would be massive upgrades, offensively to Pache and Rojas. Also, when you factor in that Marsh is a center fielder, that opens up the possibility or Jorge Soler, Wil Myers, Tommy Pham, or Jurickson Profar. Realistically, I think this is Rojas' job to lose. If it were up to me, I would play Rojas and Pache every game in spring training, and whomever hits more, wins the job. I think Rojas' defense and base running gives him the edge. Unless he comes out and hits sub .100 again, or Bellinger wants another 1-year prove it deal, I think your CF and 9 hitter is Johan Rojas.

No. No they should not have.