Philly Front Office

Catching up on the last few days…

Football:

• The big story from yesterday was the benching of Kirk Cousins in favor of too-old-to-be-a-rookie Michael Penix. Despite being one of only two QBs to beat the Eagles this year, the Falcons are making a change. The Falcons inexplicably signed Cousins to a big contract this past off season while also spending a top 10 draft pick on Penix. His cap number next year is $40m. If they cut him straight up, that jumps to $65m for not playing. If they trade him, they will owe a little less, $37.5m but will be free of future obligations. Pundits are acting like he has no trade market. I don’t think so. Any team that drafts a QB but also wants to compete next year could trade basically nothing (or even get an asset) for him and only be on the hook for his $27.5m salary for one year. That’s not crazy. Lastly, someone in Atlanta needs to be fired for this debacle. (Pssst…he’ll probably end up in NY)
• The 49ers restructured the contract of former Eagle Javon Hargrave. The move saves them about $18m of cap space for next year and also sets up his likely exit from the team. With Trent Williams constantly angling for more money, Brock Purdy’s looming extension, and needs all over the field, SF needs all the money it can get. I wouldn’t mind a cost-effective reunion with Hargrave especially if Milton Williams walks.

Baseball

• The Yankees traded for Cody Bellinger yesterday taking on most of his salary. The Cubs are kicking in $5m this year and next. Should the Phillies have bid on him? At $22.5m for next year, I don’t know. With no budget, sure! He hits lefties and righties and can play centerfield. At the Phillies-don’t-really-want-to-go-over-the-4th-tax-level-unless-it’s-an-offer-they-can’t-refuse budget, then probably not. He is just too volatile at that number with other moves to be made. Interesting note for the Yankees, his wife apparently used to date Stanton.
• Ranger Suarez is now a Scott Boras client. This means that whatever extension negotiations occurred between the Phillies and Suarez are now moot. It isn’t personal, the Phillies have several Boras clients, but with different representation comes different demands. Also, Boras clients test free agency. It isn’t ALL the time, but it is like 99% of the time. You can infer that this change and the events leading up to it is why he is not only on the block but we have not heard much about him at all.

Basketball

• Embiid broke his face but not as badly as his previous two face breakings. He will be “reevaluated” in a week. This reevaluation will reveal that progress has been made and a re-reevaluation will be made in another week. Following this re-reevaluation he will then need to “ramp up” which should take another week because, as everyone knows, you can’t run with a broken face. He will then have knee swelling from the ramp up causing a need for further ramp up and possible reevaluation. Lather, rinse, repeat. It should be noted that before this most recent injury, he had gone a season high 5.5 quarters without getting injured.
• Jared McCain had successful surgery. That “successful” part seems unnecessary or at least premature. Can I have a definition please? Does it just mean “not death”? Does it mean the stitches came out pretty? I should start labeling my posts as successful if I hit the publish button on the first try (even if I miss and have to try again, you will NEVER KNOW). Anyway, no timetable on him coming back. I think best case and most practical scenario is him coming back for the end of the season so he can have a full and complete summer to rest and add to his game.

Hockey

• John Tortorella said the Flyers do not have a center good enough to play with Matvei Michkov. Crazy how blunt that guy is. They are not going to trade for one during the season, but at least they know what they need. They will be looking to acquire assets to possibly trade for one in the future though.
• Speaking of which, Danny Briere made it clear that the Flyers are not contenders right now even if they end up near the backend of the playoffs. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this. This means that they will not be tempted to chase short term success by sacrificing the future and they will be sellers at the deadline. I wish the Sixers would come to this realization sooner rather than later.