Know Rob Drake?
Longtime MLB umpire, Indiana Pennsylvania native. He’s been doing it for about 20 years now.
Apparently he fired off a political tweet yesterday, immediately took it down, and now the league is looking into it.
Holy cow!
BREAKING: A source says the #Phillies have hired Joe Girardi as manager. An announcement could come today.
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) October 24, 2019
Phillies are hiring Joe Girardi, source confirms. Announcement could come today
— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyNBCS) October 24, 2019
Great hire.
Girardi will whip these bums into shape. Nobody is gonna be dogging it on the base paths next season. We’re gonna have hustle and focus and ACCOUNTABILITY at Citizens Bank Park.
He’s an experienced, World Series-winning manager, and we’ll see how he interfaces with a young, analytics-focused general manager. If you were giving me the choice of Girardi, Dusty Baker, and Buck Showalter, I’d take Girardi any day of the week.
Let’s go.
Edit:
Another tidbit from Heyman –
Girardi was said to have really hit it off w/Phillies owner John Middleton, GM Matt Klentak and others in interviews there. Word is he also liked freedom he’ll have in making out lineup cards and other moves, which isn’t the case everywhere #PhiladelphiaFreedom @ToddZolecki 1st
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 24, 2019
Sports Betting Updates
What’s going on with the Phils’ managerial search?
Here’s some news from the main man, Jon Heyman:
Heard Joe Girardi had 2nd interview w/Mets yesterday. If they want him they’d likely have to act now as Phillies are ready to make call by end of week and all signs point to JG as Philly favorite. Phils like all 3 of their candidates but JG said to hit it off w/Middleton/Klentak
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 23, 2019
Girardi seems much more likely to wind up with Phillies. His interviews there are said to have gone great, and perception may be that he’d have more freedom in Philadelphia. Mets covering bases. No certainty he’d be their 1st choice.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 23, 2019
Well shit. If the interviews went great, then what’s the hesitation? Give Joe Girardi a call and offer him the job. #DoTheDeal. Let’s get on with it already.
If the Mets are gonna drag their feet, then the Phillies need to slide in there and lock him up.
This episode of Crossing Broadcast first aired on Monday, October 21 on 610 ESPN Philadelphia.
Russ, Kevin, Bob, and Anthony break down the Eagles’ loss to the Cowboys, the anonymous sources and subsequent fallout, preview the Sixers’ season expectations, and react to Joe Girardi being named the favorite to take over as Phillies manager.
This episode of Crossing Broadcast is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook PA, where you can take advantage of their $500 risk-free bet with the promo code “CB”.
Please subscribe to the show ([Apple Podcasts] [Spotify] [Google Play] [Stitcher] [iHeartRadio] [RSS]), leave a 5 star review, and follow us on Twitter: @JoyOnBroad @BobWankelCB @AntSanPhilly @Kevin_Kinkead
Check out the other shows on the Crossing Broad Podcast Network including: Crossed Up: A Phillies Podcast, Snow the Goalie: A Flyers Podcast, It’s Always Soccer in Philadelphia, Crossing Broad FC: A Soccer Podcast and Broad Lines: Sports Betting Podcast.
Audio after the jump:
Continue Reading
The Eagles stink.
Let’s get it back to the Phillies.
Joe Girardi reportedly interviewed again with the Phils today, according to Jim Salisbury at NBC Sports Philadelphia:
On Monday, the club will host Joe Girardi at Citizens Bank Park in a second interview for the team’s open manager’s job.
Girardi met with team officials last Monday in the New York metropolitan area. He is the third candidate to receive a second interview for the position. Dusty Baker and Buck Showalter visited Philadelphia for second interviews on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
David Kaplan, of ESPN 1000 in Chicago went as far to call Girardi the “clear favorite” for the gig:
Two weeks ago I wrote about the IMPROBABLE scenario of Gabe Kapler being relieved of his managerial duties, while Phillies GM Matt Klentak and team President Andy MacPhail were allowed to remain in power. It would’ve be madness to pull the plug on the man handpicked by both Klentak and MacPhail and then allow the two to choose his replacement, while expecting it to work out.
Reason stood if Kapler went, he should have been followed by his two biggest fans, tarred and feathered with the shredding of millions of analytic-based spreadsheets that showed empirical evidence that the Phillies have been abject failures since 2011.
But now Kapler is gone. Klentak and MacPhail are picking his replacement. Both still have their jobs.
John Middleton made sure the insane asylum continued to be open for business, and, baby, business-is-a-boomin’ in South Philadelphia.
In the immortal words of George Costanza: “You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts.”
The Phillies really want us to hate them, don’t they? As an admittedly fallen-away Phillies fan, I asked Bob and Anthony on Crossing Broadcast whether the names Dusty Baker, Buck Showalter, and Joe Girardi might’ve been a diversion, an elaborate bait-and-switch of sorts, while John Middleton scoured major league coaching staffs for a young bench coach or a minor league manager. They sighed and delivered a deadpan, “No.” And so it should come as no shock that the Phillies have already initiated Round 2 of “Which retread will restore our mediocre team to slightly-above mediocrity 2020”.
That’s because -following a previous report from the Inquirer’s Matt Breen– Todd Zolecki dropped a bit of a managerial search bombshell on Thursday evening:
#Phillies began a second round of interviews today with Dusty Baker. Buck Showalter scheduled tomorrow and Joe Girardi scheduled Monday. An announcement could come soon after that.
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) October 17, 2019
More after the jump:
Let’s get it back to the Phillies, who reportedly interviewed Buck Showalter, Dusty Baker, and Joe Girardi this week.
What’s next?
Apparently another round of interviews, according to the Inquirer’s Matt Breen, who writes the following in his Thursday newsletter:
