Joe Girardi is in Philadelphia today for his second meeting with ownership, and it’s his job to lose, tweets ESPN1000’s David Kaplan. The Phillies have no qualms about their ability to compete in 2020, and Girardi certainly fits the bill of a guy who’s been there before – both in terms of competition and level of scrutiny. Ownership and the front office weren’t necessarily aligned in their decision to part ways with Gabe Kapler, and it seems clear that ownership’s desire for a veteran hand is top-of-mind in their current search. Whomever takes the role will have an expectation to compete right away. Easier said than done in a division with the Braves, Nationals, and Mets also in gung-ho win-now mode. Let’s take a look elsewhere on the coaching carousel…
- Peter Fatse will become the assistant hitting coach of the Boston Red Sox, per Brandon Warne of ZoneCoverageMN (via Twitter). Fatse, 32, spent last season as a minor league hitting coordinator for the Minnesota Twins. He is a native of Massachusetts, and he has owned an Advanced Performance Facility in the area since 2010, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. Fatse is the first offseason addition to Boston’s coaching staff, but they will soon look to fill out the pitching side of their coaching team.
- Joe Espada has a second interview upcoming in Chicago, but he’s been through the ringer before. Espada interviewed with the Angels, Blue Jays, and Rangers last year before returning to Houston. Better than last year’s tryout, Espada’s off-field perseverance prepped him for this year’s round of interviews, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. While serving as Girardi’s third base and infield coach with the Yankees, Espada and his wife began to wrestle with what would become a diagnosis of autism for their daughter, who was only two-years-old at the time. “Seeing a four-year-old struggle to communicate with another four-year-old; you need to take time to spend with someone to teach them basic things,” Espada said, per Feinsand. “That can be the case in a clubhouse, too. The more we get involved, they see how much you care. The compassion, the commitment to do something together, it makes you a better person. It’s made me a better father and a better coach.”
Ready
Let’s go Phillies, what time is the press conference
Amen! Let’s hope Middleton doesn’t let him walk out of there without a contract. He’s got the extra million to get it done.
Time to spend more “stupid money”.
Not sure why Joe would want the Phillies job actually.
only so many jobs to go around and the phillies have shown a better commitment to both loyalty and winning than the mets have and are definitely in a better position to WIN
Ehhh.
I’m a phils fan but I’d take that Mets rotation any day of the week. Those are the pitchers that you see in October. Add to that mets lineup a more productive hitter to go alongsode mcneil and Alonso, and you’ve got a significantly better team than the phils. Only advantage phils have is the willingness to spend money
That’s a pretty decisive advantage.
The other big advantage the Phillies have is they don’t have the Mets ownership group.
Amen to that. The Wilpons are despotic thieves. It’s all about them.
it’s that green stuff in your wallet he wants more of. LOL
Soo Peter Faste has an “Advanced Performance Facility.” Is this like the Tony Bosch clinic or is it actually a facility where they work on their swing/skills etc? I googled it and can’t seem to find it.
Tko11……….
Are you sure Google didn’t redirect you to “Peter Fast” as it did to me? When corrected it was easy to find things like this imdb.com/title/tt10329024/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2
Both you guys, it may be your spelling…
F-A-T-S-E
not… F-A-S-T-E
…you’re flipping the S and the T.
The correct spelling of his surname would help when performing a search, it’s Fatse, not “Faste”.. All the references to his clinic do not exist in the internet, even though there may be a clinic, it’s either “site under construction” or “this account does not exist”. apacademyma.com/ twitter.com/TheAPAcademy
all this concern over a fatse
The Phillies need to sign Girardi before the Mets do. I think the next manager for the Mets is either Joe Girardi or Carlos Beltran. Girardi has experience and he knows how to win games. The Phillies are not afraid to spend money in free agents. Also, I would like to see Beltran managing the Mets. It’s time to see the Phillies in the playoffs.
I agree. Don’t let him leave without a signature on a contract. Mets can have Beltran
Coming from a Crads fan!?! They ain’t been there since the Halladay vs Carpenter duel.
Facts are irrelevant to you, right?
Just yours.
Amen to that. As a Phillies fan, I’ve always been envious of the Cardinals consistent success and hoped the Phils would pluck some members of the Cardinals upper management over the years. That hasn’t happened, but hopefully they’re getting on the right track starting this year with a Girardi hire (fingers crossed). I’m still angry that Klentak and MacPhail have jobs with the team, but this would be a step in the right direction.
i agree with that for the most part.
@flyerzfan12
Absolutely could be a step in the right direction for sure. Perhaps a step for one foot into the out door for McFail. One would hope.
I agree with your sentiment about the Cards and wish the Phillies would/could operate in a similar fashion.
On another note, the wife and I made the trek from Denver to Busch Stadium to watch the Phils play the Cards this past season. If you ever get the chance to go (and haven’t done so already) I highly recommend it. Nice ballpark and atmosphere. The Cards museum even has Carlton’s ’67 Jersey in there. Something for us Phillies fans to appreciate. It was a great experience.
That’s awesome! Naw I haven’t gotten a chance to go there yet but it’s definitely on my to do list. The park itself always looks so nice on TV but that’s a nice added bonus with the Carlton jersey!
The museum as a whole is outstanding and well worth the $12 admission fee. The whole atmosphere is really good and you can go there without renting a car since it’s downtown.
The only two knocks I can give Busch Stadium would be that they do not have an open air concourse so it’s like going to the Vet in that respect. The other is since it is “Busch” Stadium, the primary beer is overwhelmingly Busch products, so if you like craft beer your selections are severely limited.
It’s been obvious that Espada was the front runner for the Cubs job and their choice for a while now. If it was anybody else they would of been hired already. As I believe the job comes with the condition that the new guy keeps Hottovy who Epstein and Hoyer love, it’s no surprise that Girardi would move on as he would want his own guys. If Espada doesn’t take the job, Ross would be the obvious fall back guy.
@ uncle mike I don’t think Ross is the fall back guy. This is all about due diligence and postering. I would say more so Ross is the man they want. You can’t discount the connections with the players.
If Ross was #1, Why hasn’t he been hired? Posturing will only give somebody a greater chance of finding a better offer. If that’s true, then it’s a really stupid strategy..
I think Ross would be a terrible signing only because he played with most of that roster. When he has to make a manager decision, how will his buddy take it? Like if he has to take out Lester at 3 innings and 80 pitches. “I thought we were friends, Rossy. How are you going to take me out of this game already?”
They would be better off with Espada and Ross as a bench coach. Let him build up a good knowledge base in coaching and watch some of his former teammates filter out. When Matheny took over, the only true former teammate on the roster was Molina. Wainwright was up in September of 2004, but didn’t pitch much.
That would be great for the Cubs but Ross would say no. Why would he leave a great job with ESPN and his consultants job with the Cubs to schlepp around being a bench coach? As for the players listening to him they will listen to whoever gets the gig.
Lester would listen to Ross because he knows him inside out. Plus Ross would immediately yank Contreras out of the job of catching him, Because Lester hates his style of Catching which takes strikes away from him. Contreras has bad pitch framing skills, bounces around and stands up too much, and catches everything backhanded which pulls Lester’s cutter out of the strike zone. Ross is the fall back option, but won’t take a coaching role, why would he?
Lesters cutter is never in the strike zone, he needed Ross to frame it to look like a strike. Lester is over the hill, he has sucked the last 2 second half’s. He’s toast.
There’s only 11 guys left from the 2016 roster that he played with. Also, by the time the 2020 season starts, there will be about 7 or 8, due to incoming trades, retirements, or players signing elsewhere. The “he played with these guys before” thing isn’t an issue. Moreover, even the guy he played with said he was like a player/coach, and they respected him greatly.
paindonthurt, that is utter nonsense.
Wow… I didn’t know Espada had to deal with that in his personal life. When you have that sort of obstacle to overcome and do so with the attitude he exhibits with the quote in the article (combined, of course, with a solid baseball grounding), it sure sounds like the man is going to be an asset wherever he goes.
It’s interesting that in the age of analytics it is the “soft” skills that are still important. Maybe even more important.
that was a great quote from him. how do u hear something like that in an interview and not be convinced he’s ur guy?
Interesting quote Joe may want to add his own guys to help coach the team. I believe the Phillies retained several coach’s from last season. Not sure how this will transpire with any manager. I want Joe but Showalter May get this job because he’s willing to keep several of the golf over coach’s. Not a fan of Showalter.
none of the major coaches are still there. both the pitching and hitting coaches in specific.
On the bright side, the Phillies retained Rob Thomson as bench coach who Girardi had as his bench coach for the Yanks
As a Mets fan I would like Girardi but fact is the Phillies position is just more attractive especially when you take into account ownership/management.
Just do it Middleton. I don’t care what Joe wants just sign him.
Joe should take Phillie job then go back to Yankees if they fire Boone. Mets are a dead end because ownership not willing to spend money.
“Joe Girardi is in Philadelphia today for his second meeting with ownership, and it’s his job to lose”
Really? ok
Girardi has got three job offers . Cubs, Mets, and Phillies. It all about money now.
Phillies 3/12? Should get the job done. Maybe 3/15
Hopefully Giardi goes to the Phillies. Dude didn’t win with an All Star team in NY for 8 years. Philly has a lot less talent than NY would have good a bad year.
A high payroll doesn’t make a good team. There is a reason the Yankees did a mini rebuild in 2016. They were and had been a bad team. Joe did a great job to get what he got out of them.
Uhhh he beat our Phillies in the World Series in his first year in 2009, didn’t he?
Bottomline for the cubs is, you don’t hire Ross if you’re trading away or not re-signing a sizable portion of the roster. That fact alone renders his relationships with the current roster players irrelevant. The cubs need someone who has experience coaching/managing winning teams, especially young ones.
Red Sox DO NOT discriminate against the obese;
Even a FATSE can be a coach for them.!!
The Phillies should spend more time getting pitching than they should anything else. You can’t ask a manager to get a team to the postseason without reliable pitching.
Exactly. I honestly cant get excited about the next manager at all, unless he shows Klentak how to acquire talented arms. VV and Pivetta have had their chances to show who they are, and the verdict is in: you wanna talk October baseball, these guys wouldn’t even be on that postseason roster. Lineup needs a few tweaks–pitching needs a full blown overhaul. Need more than ONE Aaron Nola to even dream of postseason play.
Ross will become Maddon’s bench coach, Zobrist his hitting coach.
The Wilpon’s better known as the “coupons” will go with the less expensive option here which is Beltran.
Because choosing to fire your manager (therefore paying his salary) and also paying the salary of a new one is definitely a cheap move!
Go braves!