John POWERS (emphasis my own) Middleton, son of Phillies owner John Middleton, had an interesting tweet last night, shortly after the team acquired left-handed reliever Jose Alvarez in exchange for Luis Garcia:

https://twitter.com/johnmiddleton/status/1070877477524987904?s=21

One down…a few more to go!

The energy, the enthusiasm, the uncorked bottle of champagne emoji! This isn’t what I wanted to see this morning, it’s what I needed to see ahead of the MLB Owners Meetings. Jean Segura is a fine piece, and the Alvarez trade seems solid enough, but I’ve admittedly become growingly concerned about the Phillies’ ability to give away hundreds of millions of dollars to Manny Machado and/or Bryce Harper. But there’s JPM, quote tweeting his dad’s “little bit stupid” remarks, going public with an unbridled swagger that says…you’re going to catch this money, excellent baseball player, and we’re going to give it to you in a completely firm and demanding, yet sensual way.

I’m dead serious when I say this—stuff like this brings me comfort. I’ve wondered recently if John Middleton was like, “Man, I probably shouldn’t have said that whole “a little bit stupid” bit on how we are going to spend our money. I’d like to have that one back.” But here’s his son, on Twitter, before a huge, potentially franchise-defining week, basically saying, “Hey, ICYMI.”

There’s no way the Phillies get outbid on one of these guys after they’ve been verbally windmilling their fiscal superiority about at the onset of this offseason. Absolutely no way…

…right?