Photo: MLB Fan Cave

Another day (January 23, to be exact– just weeks away from pitchers and catchers) and another loosely-sourced report that the Phillies possibly, maybe, might trade their most hated player.

Yahoo!’s Jeff Passan reports:

The Philadelphia Phillies have engaged in serious discussions to send closer Jonathan Papelbon to the Milwaukee Brewers, sources familiar with the negotiations told Yahoo Sports.

Papelbon’s contract, which calls for a $13 million salary this season with a $13 million option for 2016 that vests if he finishes 48 games this year, includes a no-trade clause that can block deals to 17 teams. It is unclear if Milwaukee is on the list.

But not so fast, my friend, says the bow tie man himself, little baby Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal):

Source: #Brewers on Papelbon’s no-trade list. Talks with #Phillies have picked up in recent weeks, but deal still not close. For #Brewers, #Phillies to make Papelbon trade, they would need to agree on $$$ going to MIL and players to PHI – and secure Pap’s approval. For #Brewers, #Phillies to make Papelbon trade, they would need to agree on $$$ going to MIL and players to PHI – and secure Pap’s approval. To this point, none of those things have occurred. But deal certainly not out of question, given #Phillies’ motivation to move Papelbon.

Rosenthal goes on to say that he represents the Lollipop Guild for Papelbon to waive his no-trade clause, the Brewers would have to guarantee his $13 million option in 2016.

He also says that the Phillies may prefer to keep Cole Hamels around, because if Cliff Lee is healthy and capable of producing and his 2016 options vests, then the Phils would have at least two formidable starters in 2016… which, to me, makes absolutely no sense. Lee is 36 and coming off a throwing-arm injury. How useful will he possibly be a year from now, at age 37, on a team that likely still won’t have a lineup capable of contending? It’s just speculation from Rosenthal, but I wouldn’t put it past Ruben Amaro and the Phillies to actually be thinking along these lines. There’s an argument to be made for keeping Hamels around, but it has nothing to do with Lee.

Back to Papelbon: Jim Salisbury reports that the 12 teams he can be traded to without his permission are the Red Sox (surprise!), Rays, Royals, Angels, Mariners, Astros, Mets, Braves, Cardinals, Reds, Cubs and Padres.

Sadly, this will be the nature of most Phillies posts for the next, oh, three years or so.

Photo credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports

Mets owner Fred Wilpon has reportedly been tapped by new commissioner Rob Manfred to head Major League Baseball’s finance committee. Here’s a succinct graf from Deadspin summarizing just some of Wilpon’s missteps in the late-oughts and early-10s(?):

Madoff money went to cover the Mets’ payroll, to support the single-A Brooklyn Cyclones, to construct Citi Field and to launch a regional sports network. And when it disappeared, Wilpon and co-owner Saul Katz found themselves desperate. They took out a reported $450 million in loans (including about $65 million in emergency bailout money using a line of credit from MLB), using the SportsNet channel as collateral. They publicly announced he was willing to sell minority shares in the team to inject much-needed cash into the operation. They settled a lawsuit brought by Madoff victims for $162 million. They still carry hundreds of millions of debt.

So it makes sense that Wilpon would head MLB’s finance committee. You learn from your mistakes, right? I mean, it’s not like Wilpon just dumped a huge chunk of money on a MASSIVE new scoreboard for his only-six-year-old stadium or anything. Oh… wait… what’s that? I’m sorry, Jim, but I’m getting in my ear that Wilpon has in fact invested in a new scoreboard instead of, say, a fourth starter or any other player(s) capable of turning the Mets into something that resembles a contender:

The Mets announced Monday they are installing a new Daktronics high definition screen in center field that will be unveiled for the April 13 home opener.

According to the press release, the video board – at 5,670 square feet – will be among the 10 largest displays in professional baseball. The old video board was 3,500 square feet.

The Nats may have gotten Scherzer, but the Mets are unveiling a new scoreboard that is 62 percent bigger than the old one.

— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) January 19, 2015

I can’t wait to see MLB’s balance sheet next year.

Photo note: I can’t tell if Chris Christie is farting or if he’s merely shifting his copious weight to prevent bedsores. Maybe both?

I don’t know what I’m doing!

SB Nation baseball writer Grant Brisbee uses little actual math and science when he compiles his annual win-now, win-later baseball windows graph. It’s subjective, but telling nonetheless. [Last year he did have both World Series participants, the Royals and Giants, on his should contend side of things, though they were closer to the middle of the pack than hindsight would like.] And this year, like last year, the Phillies are in literally the worst spot on the age of talent-should contend scale:

via SB Nation

The Phils hanging off the side of the page isn’t a cropping issue– they were placed there, ostensibly because their chances of contending this year may have dipped into the negative. In fact, Brisbee even refers to that undesirable upper-left quadrant as Phillies. Here’s some of what he had to say:

It’s really, really hard to be in this quadrant. You have to try. That, or be in denial. Teams that aren’t on the should-contend side of the spectrum look around and say, “OK, who isn’t going to be here when we do contend?” Then they ship those players off for prospects, or at least make room for younger players to see what sort of part they might play in the future. The Phillies declined to do any of that. They declined with extreme prejudice. And now they’re kinda old and definitely abysmal. The younger players they have aren’t thrilling.

– sad face –

H/T to (@jason_kantor)