The Phillies continue to dumpster dive look for value on the open market.
After being linked to Francisco Liriano earlier today, they are also reportedly bringing in 34 year old Neil Walker:
If the Astros and Red Sox are cheating bastards, but they get to keep their World Series titles, then does breaking the rules really matter?
It goes back to the old saying – “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying,” and while A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow lost their jobs while the Astros were handed a monetary fine and other punishments, the discipline resulting from the sign-stealing scandal didn’t touch their status as “world fucking champions,” as Chase Utley would say.
Commissioner Rob Manfred was on Fox Business today with Maria Bartiromo, saying this (via the Houston Chronicle) –
Sports Betting Updates
I originally read this tweet as “Lindor” and almost had a heart attack.
Per Jon Heyman:
Francisco Liriano is close to a deal with Phillies
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 22, 2020
Liriano is 36 years old now and spent 2019 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He appeared in 69 games with a 3.47 ERA, striking out 8.1 batters and walking 4.5 per nine innings.
Bob points out that lefties only hit .194 against Liriano last year. He throws his slider about 30% of the time and batters only hit .143 against that pitch. He’s another bullpen arm, and with a lack of effective left-handed relief options, he’s an interesting “buy low” type of guy. Liriano did start 26 games for Detroit in 2018, but all of his appearances in Pittsburgh came out of the bullpen. The Phils still need… something in the pen, and this would qualify.
EDIT:
Robert Murray with details –
Sources: #Phillies in agreement with free-agent pitcher Francisco Liriano on a minor-league deal. $1.5 million with $1.25 million in incentives. @JonHeyman first said close.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) January 22, 2020
Turns out Jessica Mendoza isn’t the only person annoyed with Mike Fiers for snitching.
Ex-Phillie Pedro Martinez went on the radio Tuesday and shared a viewpoint similar to the one that brought a lot of shit on Mendoza, explaining that he felt like Fiers should have addressed the Astros cheating scandal while playing for Houston and before he ended up in Detroit and Oakland.
Phillies manager Joe Girardi spoke last night at the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association Banquet.
Not sure whether this clip comes from before or after his speech, but he was asked, off to the side, about the Astros’ sign stealing scandal, saying this:
ESPN personality and New York Mets adviser Jessica Mendoza took some shit on Thursday when she called out whistleblower Mike Fiers for the way he exposed the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. Fiers, you’ll recall, spoke with The Athletic on the record last November regarding the cheating.
Appearing on Golic and Wingo, Mendoza explained that she didn’t like how the news “came from within,” saying this, in part:
But to go public, yeah, it didn’t set well with me. Honestly it made me sad for the sport that that’s how this all got found out. This wasn’t something that MLB naturally investigated or that even other teams complained about because they naturally heard about it and then investigations happened. It came from within, it was a player that was a part of it, that benefited from it during the regular season when he was a part of that team. That, when I first heard about it, it hits you like any teammate would, it’s something that you don’t do. I totally get telling your future teammates, helping them win, letting people know. But to go public with it and call them out and start all of this, it’s hard to swallow.”
That didn’t sit well with a lot of baseball folks, who thought Mendoza was criticizing Fiers for doing what they thought was the right thing (aka ripping him for snitching).
Sports Radio 94 WIP moved into their new studios on Thursday.
Beautiful building on 24th and Market, the Aramark location right on the Schuylkill River with great views of 30th Street Station and University City. The entire cluster of local Entercom stations, which includes KYW News Radio and Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, is now housed in this location, which doubles as a national headquarters for the company.
On their first day at the new office, Jon Marks and Ike Reese were treated to one of the best calls I’ve heard in recent years, with a guy named Chris justifying the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing by comparing it to World War II:
Baseball Twitter is ablaze as we speak, with what appears to be new information on how deep the sign stealing scandal ran down in Houston.
The topic today is an alleged “buzzer” device that some players are accused of wearing, a device that would allow others to signal to them what pitches were coming. The catalyst tweet has since been deleted, but it comes from a person who claims that Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman wore these items:
