Phillies pitchers and catchers to hold first official workout today

Happy Wednesday!

Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore will be the head coach of the Saints next year and the Sixers lost to the Raptors on Tuesday night.

But the Eagles are Super Bowl champs and the Phillies will hold their first workout in Clearwater today.

All in all? Not a bad day to be a Philly sports fan. Not a bad day at all.

In the email today:

• 🌴 Phillies pitchers and catchers to hold first official workout today

• ⚜️ First Eagle leaves nest, Moore named head coach of Saints

• 😔 Sixers lose to Raptors

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

It may be winter in Philadelphia, but spring is just 1,068 miles away.

Phillies pitchers and catchers will hold their first official workout in Clearwooder today, as the team embarks once again on a mission to win their first World Series since 2008.

On Pattison has boots on the ground in the form of intrepid reporter Tim Kelly, who—in between tropical drinks by the pool—will keep us informed on all things Phillies over at🚦THE Philly Sports Website.

Here’s a summary of the Phils’ transactions during the offseason:

• Carlos Estevez, Jeff Hoffman, Spencer Turnbull, and Austin Hays departed via free agency. So did Andrew Bellatti, Dylan Covey, Nick Nelson, Aramis Garcia, Kolby Allard, Rodolfo Castro, David Dahl, Darick Hall, Jordan Luplow, Yunior Marte, Ryan McKenna, Luis Ortiz, Nicklaus Snyder, and Freddy Tarnok. Scott Kingery was sold to the Angels.

• Tyler Gilbert was traded to the White Sox in exchange for minor leaguer Aaron Combs.

• Jordan Romano and Max Kepler were the team’s biggest free agent additions. The Phillies also signed Joe Ross, Nicholas Padilla, Payton Henry, Nabil Crismatt, Guillo Zuniga, Joel Kuhnel, and Nick Vespi. They purchased Josh Hejka from the Mets.

• The Phils acquired Jesus Luzardo from the Marlins in exchange for highly-regarded minor leaguers Starlyn Caba and Emaarion Boyd. Minor leaguer Paul McIntosh also joined the Phillies as part of the deal.

• Dylan Campbell joined the club from the Dodgers in exchange for future considerations.

And here are some FAQs:

• Q- Did the Phillies get significantly better over the offseason?

  A- Probably not. Luzardo is a great pickup for the rotation. But barring huge bounce-back years from Romano and/or Kepler, the roster may actually be a bit worse (primarily due to the departures of Estevez and Hoffman).

• Q- Do the Phillies still have a chance to win it all?

  A- Yes… to the extent you believe anyone other than the Dodgers has a chance. Just like there was in 2022, 2023, and 2024, there is enough talent on the 2025 roster to keep them in the mix.

• Q- Can the club get hot at the right time, in October?

  A- Nobody knows. But that’s an issue for October. For now, enjoy the incoming sights and sounds of spring training. Sunshine and palm trees. Cleats crunchin’, mitts poppin’, bats crackin’. Baseball is back.

Losing key players and coaches in the wake of a Super Bowl, win or lose, is nothing new. It also falls into the category of a nice problem to have.

Still, seeing the offensive coordinator who led the Eagles to victory four short days ago already announced as the new head coach of the New Orleans Saints feels sudden.

Calling Moore well-traveled might sound disrespectful, but the facts are indisputable. Moore spent one year in Philadelphia after serving as the Los Angeles Chargers’ offensive coordinator for one season.

Prior to his stopover in L.A., Moore oversaw the circus in Texas, where he had success but never got past the divisional round.

Moore will have his hands full in the Big Easy. The Saints ranked 21st in points scored and 24th in yards gained in 2024. As the head coach, he’ll have to deal with the defense too — which was rough (30th in yards allowed).

And it’s not as though Moore is going to a kitchen with a stocked cupboard offensively. You know things are bad when Derek Carr is ambivalent about coming back. Overpaying a journeyman like Carr to stay isn’t a recipe for success.

Alvin Kamara is still there, but he’s entering his age-30 season and hasn’t made a Pro Bowl since 2021. Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley aren’t walking through that door.

So there will be some skepticism.

Too late, Darius. And good luck to Moore, because he’ll probably need it.

“It’ll all be OK,” some said, “once we get Embiid, Maxey and George playing together.”

Separately, Kate Scott and Alaa Abdelnaby said dozens of times in the early season that it wasn’t about winning games in November, it was about (paraphrasing here) “having these guys healthy in May.”

Well, Embiid, Maxey and George played 108 combined minutes last night, and the Sixers — favored by double digits — lost their fourth game in a row to drop to 20-33.

Oh, yeah, we forgot to mention that they lost at home to the 16-37 Raptors who were playing without Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl.

The Sixers had the ball down two with 19 seconds left with a chance to tie or take the lead. They got it to Joel Embiid at the top of the arc. This is what he did with it.

Is this a bad time to mention that Embiid, Maxey and George:

• Played 99 total minutes in Sunday’s ugly loss to the Bucks, who were playing without Giannis Antetekounmpo.

• Played 99 total minutes in Friday’s blowout loss to the Pistons, who were playing without Cade Cunningham.

Before the season began, given that none of those three games were a back-to-back, you would have expected two wins from three and thought three wins was possible.

Before the season began, given the losses to the Pistons and the Bucks, you would have been confident of a “stop the bleeding” rout over the toothless Raptors.

But you really can’t trust NO ONE on the Sixers now. And maybe now it really is time.

Hey, Mike…they’re doing as much (little) as they can, man.

The moment has arrived—our Authentic Philly Fan Contest has entered the voting round, and we need YOUR help to choose the winner! These fans live and breathe Philly, but only one can take home $5,000.

Click here to check out the incredible entries and cast your vote.

Voting closes on February 16th—don’t wait!

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

On February 12, 2023, the Eagles lost to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.

📊 Poll

Results from Tuesday:

🔗 Links

• 💵 Saquon Barkley’s quiet Super Bowl had a lot to do with Nevada sportsbooks cleaning up on Sunday.

• 🤠 Look out Birds, Dak Prescott thinks the Cowboys are “very close” to a title.

• ⚖️ Philadelphia’s city courts and public schools will be closed on Friday.

• 💹 At least as of now, the Eagles will pick last in the 2025 NFL Draft.

• 🤑 Eagles fans set a 24-hour sports championship merch sales record.

📺 Coming Up

Games before our next send.

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

• Sixers at Nets, 7:30 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia)

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

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