👋 Good morning! In the case of Luis Robert Jr., yesterday’s price is not today’s price.
Couple this…
Luis Robert Jr. puts the @whitesox in front 🚀
— #MLB (#@MLB)
12:45 AM • Jul 29, 2025
with Emmanuel Clase getting placed on leave due to a gambling probe and Eugenio Suarez getting drilled in the hand (x-rays negative!) and it was not a good day for the ol’ (note: one-day old) Phillies Trade Deadline Big Board. The price of the brick is definitely going up.
RIP Ryne Sandberg. Not a fun baseball day.
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GTFO
Some more details leaked from Rob Manfred’s clubhouse chat with the Phils, and the details are juicy. The money blurb from ESPN’s Jeff Passan:
Quiet for the majority of the meeting, Harper, sitting in a chair and holding a bat, eventually grew frustrated and said if MLB were to propose a cap and hold firm to it, players "are not scared to lose 162 games," sources from the meeting told ESPN. Harper stood up, walked toward the middle of the room, faced Manfred and said: "If you want to speak about that, you can get the f--- out of our clubhouse."
Manfred, sources said, responded that he was "not going to get the f--- out of here," saying it was important to talk about threats to MLB's business and ways to grow the game.
As Tyler put it on yesterday’s Phillies show here, the combination of gravitas/cojones from Bryce Harper here is something. If I told the head of the ALLCITY Network to GTFO of the Philly office, I would be unemployed the next day. But then again, I am not Bryce Harper. The power dynamic is quite different when a legitimate MLB superstar is involved.
The big takeaway, outside of Bryce standing up to Manfred and a couple of incredible Nick Castellanos quotes: If this is what the conversation is already like in July 2025, I do not feel all that optimistic about the 2027 MLB season.
It is not all that surprising that the Phillies, a team full of veteran players and confident personalities who have fared well in the uncapped system, are the ones out in front on this issue.
To be fair, there are things about the economics of baseball that I either do not love or believe can be improved upon. The Dodgers deferring all of that money, even if it is perfectly legal and every team can do it, is one. That is not really a shot at the Dodgers either, they are playing within the rules. And something more basic that I am not crazy about: You basically play three seasons for dirt cheap, then play three more seasons under arbitration which limits your value… and then and only then can you cash in to a crazy degree. Not everyone is Bryce Harper, Trea Turner or Aaron Nola.
Some players end up signing super team-friendly deals because of the system. Sure, the Phillies bought out a couple of arb years for Cristopher Sánchez. But if he ages even moderately well, that contract looks like an absolute heist. I am not mad at the Phillies or Sánchez for settling at that number, as they are also playing within the current rules. But I just do not love all of the rules.
You know what else I do not love, though? Cheap owners, and baseball has a bunch of them. Right now, there are ten teams with a total payroll of over $200 million but also five teams under $90 million. If the owners are gonna grumble about Steve Cohen and Mark Walter, the players are well within their rights to publicly shame the likes of Bob Nutting and John Fisher.
And in fairness, Bryce was not not publicly shaming anyone. He was privately shaming someone and the details got out. Unless he was The Leaker, there is a difference.
Bryce Harper comments on the Manfred situation
— #cam ! (#@aokstott)
11:13 PM • Jul 28, 2025
In basketball, they have what is known as a “soft salary cap.” Basically, it is a cap that you can go over in certain situations. But you know what they also have? A hard salary floor, which is 90 percent of the cap and something that there is no way you can get around. We went through this during The Process. If an owner does not hit the salary floor, they have to pay the remaining difference to the guys on the roster. They are not saving any coin. With that in mind, let’s see Bruce Sherman hit $180 million worth of team salary. Until we see something like that put on the table, Bryce and the players are gonna hold the high ground in this argument.
There are a lot of balls in the air here. For now, let’s close with a quote from the great philosopher Nick Castellanos:
"Rob seems to be in a pretty desperate place on how important it is to get this salary cap because he's floating the word 'lockout' two years in advance of our collective bargaining agreement [expiration]," Castellanos said. "That's nothing to throw around. That's the same thing as me saying in a marriage, 'I think divorce is a possibility. It's probably going to happen.' You don't just say those things."
I enjoy Nick Castellanos, human being. Nick Castellanos, baseball player drives me insane, but I like him as a guy. The man is right, you don’t just say those things!
Quinyon stands out: The links, the links, the links…
Pod: Bo, Zach and Fran on another sweltering day of training camp
Quick recap: If you do not have 60 minutes, ZB recaps the day in 60 seconds
Practice notes: ZB and Bo contributed on these
Big day for the defense, big day for Quinyon Mitchell. The interceptions were really the only thing that Quinyon did not provide as a rookie. Well, that and traveling with No. 1 receivers. If training camp is any indication, we might see both things from Q this year.
In a third-and-long situation, Hurts threw deep to A.J. Brown. The pass was underthrown, and Mitchell tracked the ball, made an adjustment, and brought down the catch. It appeared like he pulled it in with one hand. It was not an easy play, and it wasn’t the type of play he made last year. Mitchell’s first interception did not come until the postseason and his hands were often the subject of jokes from Darius Slay. The veteran cornerback added that it takes time for young cornerbacks to track the ball in the NFL, and if this play was an example, Mitchell’s interceptions could come sooner this season.
But it was not just the interception that stood out. Mitchell was tight in coverage throughout practice, including a pass breakup on a play to Brown earlier in practice. He’s been able to make some routes difficult for Brown this summer, which is a difficult feat. Mitchell is a legitimate No. 1 cornerback for the Eagles.
And if you want to read more practice notes from Zach, or all of the other writers we have on the site (Fran Duffy, Charlie O’Connor, Alex Appleyard, Kyle Neubeck, Derek Bodner, Jim Salisbury, etc.), we have a Diehard deal going for a short time. You get a shirt from the store included, plus we have this crazy Discord community where people are talkin’ ball and a bunch of other stuff all day, every day. Come join the fastest-growing Philly sports community.
I have been slacking on the Eagles recently, more on them tomorrow. First practice with full pads today, and I wish I was in the locker room. Someone will stick a microphone in ten players’ faces and ask the same question: How did it finally feel to get out there and HIT SOMEONE?!? That is my second-favorite lazy preseason media question, only trailing the day before the first preseason game: Is it gonna feel good to finally hit someone IN A DIFFERENT JERSEY?
Porter Martone, not Quitter Gauthier: Martone is playing for Canada at the World Junior Summer Showcase. Do not ask me what that is. And when talking about his decision to play at Michigan State, he said the following about the Flyers…
“They were gonna support me [with] either decision I made. Obviously if I do get a chance to go into training camp and try to make the NHL, they were gonna support that. But at the same time, I really sat down and thought with my camp and I did include the Flyers as well, ‘What’s gonna make me the best player 5 to 10 years down the road when the Flyers are trying to win a Stanley Cup?”
Sold.
Chicago (AL) 6, Phillies 2: Just a complete dud against a bad baseball team. Credit to the pope, he won this round.
Weird to get back-to-back subpar starts from Wheels and Sanchy. In fairness to Cris Sánchez, the Luis Robert Jr. bomb felt pretty fluky. That said, Wheeler and Sánchez both gave up (gasp) four runs in 5.2/6.2 innings and this offense yet again does not have four runs in them. Tough stuff.
I am firmly in the camp that this team could use Eugenio Suarez before they have to spend a ton of prospect capital on a reliever. Ideally they would get both, but I would much prefer the best bat on the market over the best reliever.
Eagles practice again, and Phils-White Sox Game 2 (7:40 p.m., NBC Sports Philly). Jesús Luzardo, buddy, you owe us all a gem. And our Sixers event is tonight at 6 p.m.!
🎙️ The Anthony Gargano Show: 9:00 a.m.
🏒 Flyers: 12:00 p.m.
🦅 Eagles: 2:00 p.m.
🏀 Sixers: 3:00 p.m.
Let's make it a good one.
Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS
