Are the Phillies Serious About Soto?

Happy Friday! Lots to discuss today:

• The Phillies are one of a handful of teams with a “legitimate” chance at signing Juan Soto this offseason, according to The Athletic’s Jim Bowden ($). But it’s unclear whether the Phillies plan to make a serious push for the superstar.

• Did you know Penn State has a basketball team? Despite a 5-0 start, students in Happy Valley seem unaware.

• Former Eagles RB Wendell Smallwood is facing some serious federal charges.

Let’s jump in.

In the email today:

• 🤔 Are the Phillies Serious About Soto?

• 🥺 Penn State's Men's Basketball Coach Ain't Too Proud to Beg Nittany Lions Fans to Show Up

• ⚖️ Former Eagles RB Wendell Smallwood Charged with Three Federal Fraud Counts

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

The Phillies are consistently mentioned as a potential suitor for Juan Soto. Here’s what The Athletic’s Jim Bowden wrote on Thursday, as he ranked Philadelphia as one of Soto’s five most likely destinations:

Those thoughts are consistent with what Bowden has said about the Phillies in the past.

ESPN’s Buster Olney said Thursday that “there’s no doubt” that the Phillies will do “something big,” including possibly signing Soto.

MLB insider Jon Heyman also believes the Phillies are in the mix:

Ok. They’re in the mix. They’ll have a meeting. But are the Phillies serious about any of this?

There’s a generational talent on the market, and the teams with the deepest pockets in baseball are going all-out to land him.

The Phils, meanwhile, seem like they’re pretty casual in their pursuit. They haven’t set a meeting yet. And John Middleton is on record as saying he thinks Soto will stay in New York:

Our takeaway here is that the Phils execs are not particularly hopeful of landing Soto, so they’re not pursuing him aggressively. They will meet with the outfielder, because it would be organizational malpractice not to. Soto has connections with the Phils, through several ex-teammates and hitting coach Kevin Long, and that can’t hurt.

But the Phils just don’t give the impression that they’re going all-out in their pursuit. And with the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, and others making a serious push, anything less than an all-out effort won’t be enough to get a deal done.

We could be wrong, of course. Maybe the Phillies plan to pursue Soto more aggressively than they are letting on. The old smokescreen.

But think about when the Phillies went after Bryce Harper or Trea Turner. It felt… different. The Phillies were all the way in. The guess here is that the team is looking elsewhere for its big offseason moves.

Penn State football is having what projects to be their third straight season with double digit wins. This one is also likely to qualify the Nittany Lions for the NCAA College Football Playoff bracket.

Basketball season is also underway in State College. Based on the attendance at their most recent home game, though, you’d never know it.

Penn State beat Purdue University Fort Wayne (a school we definitely had never heard of) 102-89 to remain unbeaten.

But the Nits’ 5-0 start clearly has not motivated fans to show up to the Bryce Jordan Center. This was not a situation where the students had gone home for Thanksgiving break, either. That break starts Sunday.

Mike Rhoades scored 2,050 points in four seasons at Lebanon Valley College, a Division III school. Almost certainly, Rhoades played in front of bigger crowds in Annville than he coached in front of Wednesday night. Don’t think he didn’t notice.

That “sweat with us” is a direct quote. Rhoades had a number of other thoughts, all of which pointed to a sweaty desire to have some Penn State fans, like, support the basketball team even a little bit.

• “I’m challenging all of you, the old Penn Staters to middle-aged Penn Staters like me and all the young ones, all the students, every one of us.”

• “We should never have the BJC quiet. I don’t care how big the BJC is. We’re not making any excuses around here. But I need you all.”

• “For all you young people, get crazy with it, and bring your friends with you all the time…I want it to be a fun night in State College every time we play.”

You kind of have to feel for the coach, don’t you? James Franklin can openly antagonize fans, lose every big game he’s involved in, and Beaver Stadium is over capacity every time his team plays.

Rhoades would probably need to win multiple Big Ten conference championships to force anyone to sit in the second level at the Bryce Jordan Center to watch Penn State basketball.

Which, incidentally, is probably the point…maybe don’t play there.

Sometimes, the obvious answer really is the right answer.

“I’m going to Disney World!” Those were Nick Foles’ words in the immediate aftermath of Super Bowl LII. Such is the lot of the Super Bowl MVP.

Life doesn’t stop, though. Careers end, and the truth is that most NFL players don’t earn enough money to retire on.

The average NFL career is less than three and a half seasons. And many of those players whose time in the league is short aren’t making big money.

Did any of the foregoing lead to this result? You’d have to ask the accused.

It bears noting that Smallwood has only been charged. He hasn’t been tried or convicted. It’s entirely possible that he did not do these things the Feds allege.

But the charges are kind of grim.

• Smallwood is charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the IRS.

• The charges stem from an alleged scheme wherein Smallwood is said to have submitted false information to Federal agencies to collect tens of thousands of dollars of COVID-19 relief money.

• Additionally, it is alleged that Smallwood helped others defraud the government in exchange for kickbacks.

• The moneys in question purportedly came from COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans and the Paycheck Protection Program.

We’re going to go out on a limb and say that this next X post is unlikely to come to pass.

Federal prosecutors routinely overcharge knowing that the most likely outcome is a plea bargain where the defendant pleads guilty or no contest to far lesser offenses.

No matter how this turns out, though, it is hard to imagine Smallwood leaving this situation with his good name restored.

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

On November 23, 1943, Phillies owner William D. Cox was banned from baseball for life after betting on games (including Phillies games). That same day, the Carpenter family bought the team for an estimated $400,000.

The Phillies franchise is valued somewhere around $3 billion today.

📊 Poll

Results from Thursday:

If only BBWAA voters were as smart as On Pattison readers:

🔗 Links

• 🦉A former Temple basketball player is being investigated for alleged point-shaving.

• 🏆️ Apparently Robert Kraft’s Patriot teams didn’t win enough Super Bowls to get him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

• 🏀 Paul George will miss some time with a bone bruise in his knee.

• 🏒 Alexander Ovechkin’s blazing hot start to the season has been halted by a broken leg.

• 🗽Daniel Jones was introspective about what appears to be the end of his time as a New York Giant.

📺 Coming Up

Games before our next send.

Friday, November 22, 2024

• Nets at Sixers, 7:00 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia)

Saturday, November 23, 2024

• Blackhawks at Flyers, 1:00 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia)

Sunday, November 24, 2024

• Clippers at Sixers, 6:00 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia)

• Eagles at Rams, 8:20 p.m. (NBC)

Thanks for reading. See you Monday.

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