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John Middleton Says “No Truth” to Suggestion He Wouldn’t Pay the Luxury Tax
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John Middleton spoke in Clearwater Monday morning following Kyle Schwarber’s introductory press conference.
Todd Zolecki went over the big topic at MLB.com –
What’s finally go into the luxury tax now? Middleton explained that GM Dave Dombrowski was going to pitch the idea of crossing that threshold to sign Nick Castellanos:
“I started to interrupt him, because I knew where it was going and I was fine with it,” … “But he had worked on this, and he wanted to lay out the logic to it, and I said, ‘OK, I’ll be quiet, I’ll sit patiently.’ After 20 minutes, I said, ‘Yes,’ again.”
….
“[Dombrowski] talked about why and he talked about the opportunity,” Middleton said. “And he talked about, if you didn’t do this, what it meant and what else you could do if you didn’t want to be this aggressive. But at the end of the day, he said this is what I think you need to do. He’s the only GM who has taken three different franchises to the World Series. He’s one of five who has won two with two different franchises. When that guy says to you, ‘This in an opportunity’ — he’s been there. He’s been there a dozen times over in a career of 30-plus years. He’s making that judgment. He says, ‘You know, I think this is the time to strike.’ Those opportunities don’t come along very often.”
The translation there is that Dombrowski wanted to pay the Competitive Balance Tax, which is what it’s actually called, but Middleton claims he was okay with doing that and didn’t need convincing. The Phillies have never done this before, and it goes against earlier reports that Dombrowski was under orders to hold firm at the $230 million salary limit.
Middleton disputed that:
“You hear that, but the question then is what factual evidence would you provide to support that statement, because there is none,” he said. “There’s no memo in the file that says, ‘You may not do this.’ I’ve heard people say, ‘Well, there’s a directive.’ Really? … Did I write it down? Was it a verbal directive? Who was I talking to? When did I say it? There was no truth to any of that. But you know what, sometimes you just have to be patient and wait until the right moment, and then you get to do what you’ve always said you were going to do all along.”
Couple things to consider here:
- Middleton promised us “stupid money,” and now he’s delivering. They were already a top-six payroll team before going into the tax, so what’s a few extra million to actually be competitive and give yourself a chance?
- He owes that much to Bryce Harper, whom he recruited here in part because he pitched the desire to win big and get his “fucking trophy” back.
- The timing here makes sense because they’ve got guys like Harper, J.T. Realmuto, and Zack Wheeler in their primes. If you’re not going to spend into the tax now, you’re never going to spend into the tax.
- The other thing to think about is how much money comes off the books next season. They have club options on Aaron Nola and Jean Segura and will see Didi Gregorius and others become free agents, so they could very easily fall below the threshold again. This may be a one-year foray and then they sort things out and build around the core.
Say what you will about shitty projected defense, but this Phillies lineup looks super fun. They really are going for it. The halcyon days of Matt Klentak dumpster diving for bullpen arms has been traded for Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos, and the luxury tax. Let’s fast forward and play some ball here.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com