I arose from my slumber this evening when I received a text from a friend that read:

“Yo. Phils hired some coach that cried with Manny Machado in Baltimore or some shit.”

Huh?

Initially, I was none too pleased about being woken up, but as it turns out, the Phillies did hire a new coach and the two did cry together.

Bobby Dickerson had been with the Orioles organization since 2010 when he was hired as the team’s infield coordinator. More recently, he was the O’s third base coach for the past six seasons. Not to discredit or downplay what Dickerson, who has a fine reputation as a coach, will bring to the table, but you know and I know that I didn’t roll out of bed to write about his soft hands drills. The story here is his relationship with Machado. Check out this tasty nugget from a story by Dan Connolly of The Athletic:

Besides select family members and a few close friends, there might be no one who knows Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Manny Machado better than Bobby Dickerson.

The longtime Orioles infield and third-base coach has had screaming matches with Machado and also has sat down and wept with the superstar when his time in Baltimore ended in July. Machado, 26, has often referred to Dickerson, 53, as one of his most important mentors.

It was Dickerson who went to Double-A Bowie and delivered a crash course in third-base instruction to a 19-year-old shortstop who would soon be thrust into a pennant race in 2012. And it was Dickerson who had those long talks with Machado about his legacy…

Close friends…wept with the superstar…one of his most important mentors.

Say no more. The hot stove is back ON!

Maybe this hire is just a coincidence. Maybe. The team did have an opening for the position when former infield instructor and first base coach Jose Flores joined the Orioles late last month, but with Machado’s decision forthcoming, it’s hard not to wonder if there’s an ulterior motive in play here.

Suck on that, Yankees and White Sox.

Either way, it feels like something is finally about to give on both the Machado and Bryce Harper fronts. To me, it feels like the night before a major snowstorm. It’s sort of quiet, but it’s out there in the distance, and it’s coming. It just has that feel. Meanwhile, I remain glued to Twitter refreshing for clues like a 90s kid listening for his school closing code on KYW Newsradio 1060.