👋 Good morning! Hard Knocks was un-canceled this week.

Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Spector Sports Art! Doing some last-minute Christmas shopping? Head on over and see what Jordan has to offer for the Philly sports fan in your life.

As always, you can reach me at [email protected]

Woooooo!!!! Bill’s instant observations are here, and Charlie’s dispatch on the site is probably up on the site by the time you are reading this.

There will continue to be a degree of skepticism that I completely understand, but it’s hard not to feel decent about this Flyers team right now… at least in terms of their ability to remain competitive for the entire season. The Orange and Black just had a super difficult three-game stretch against two of the NHL’s elite (Vegas, Carolina x2) and got points in all three games. In fact, they were probably unlucky to not win one of those shootouts or overtime periods.

And then last night, against an average-ish Montreal team, they got down 1-0 and then just kinda took it to them until Dan Vladar shut the door in the third period. After digging an early hole, I dunno, the Flyers just had a certain je ne sais quoi. The Flyers now have the second-highest points percentage in the entire Eastern Conference. The only team ahead of them is Carolina, who they have already played three times this season.

They’re not bad!

Rasmus Ristolainen made his season debut in Montreal, after a long rehab that saw him return from a ruptured triceps back last March. And as Charlie pointed out, the blue line corps is not looking too bad right now. No Quinn Hughes star-level player back there, but six pretty solid players…

You wonder if the Flyers might mix and match the tall and small guys at some point, but regardless, that looks like a solid group on paper. Until an injury happens, the Zamulas and Juulsens of the world now do not have to play. Ristolainen played a healthy amount for his first game back (19 minutes), and delivered a huge hit.

Trevor Zegras, who both looks and talks like Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, said the following about Risto.

The Flyers’ first three goals were cool, too.

The Flyers are still on the road a bunch over the next few weeks, but this has been an excellent start to that stretch.

Injury report: It’s a Saturday game this week, so we get the injury report early. Since the Eagles played two days ago, they held a walkthrough. With that in mind, I am not gonna read too much into this one until tomorrow.

The Eagles could be getting Lane Johnson back from the Lisfranc injury this weekend. If the extra week would really benefit Lane, it might be smart to let Big Fred have one more game and get ready for Buffalo. But if you caught Hard Knocks last night, Lane was going ham in his “Bro Barn” with Gabe Rangel rehabbing like crazy. Good to see. Lane lifting all that weight with that neck harness looked like something I very much will never do.

Saturday has not for been for the Birds: The Eagles have lost four regular-season games in a row on Saturdays. And in the modern era, they have played Washington thrice on Saturdees…

Well, at least Chip is not here this time. He certainly could not beat Washington on a Saturday in December. Do not need to see that movie again.

Hard Knocks Episode 3 Review: But do not take my word for it, Jamie and EJ have you covered.

Some highlights for me:

Elsewhere around the NFC East, a great weekend of Dallas Cowboys football — Jerry Jones’ victory lap for the Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark acquisitions, followed by a loss to J.J. McCarthy — and some sadness seeing Zach Ertz injured.

“Pretty well set”: That is how Dave Dombrowski described the Phillies’ 2026 outfield in a conference call yesterday. So, here is where we copy-and-paste from yesterday’s newsletter.

(*With Harrison Bader likely a goner, sadly crab walks one last time*)

Looking at this group, I am of two minds. I am both intrigued and worried, and I am both understanding and frustrated.

But first let’s focus on Justin Crawford, because this is his big moment. It sounds like the center field job will be his to lose in spring training, and barring something crazy happening in Clearwooder, Crawford will be in the opening-day lineup. Let’s hope The Spring of Justin goes better than The Summer of Kelee.

Pretty wild stat in Jimmy Steaks’ piece…

This promotion is something we have all been calling for. There seems to be a ton of skepticism around “the industry” about whether Crawford’s ground-ball heavy style can translate to the majors. But Crawford has an .831 OPS in almost 1500 minor-league plate appearances over the last 3.5 years. That style has worked at every level, and the Phillies would be wasting time by sending him back to Lehigh Valley and not finding out.

Obviously, Crawford has a risky profile. But he seems like a fun player, a guy who can absolutely fly and who should be a good defensive outfielder. And if Crawford hits, the expensive Phillies will have something that they desperately need: a young contributor under team control for the next six years. Let’s open The Day Care back up! It feels like the old Day Care are all eligible for Social Security.

That said, I am also pretty skeptical of this outfield working.

The Phillies were 19th in OPS from their outfielders a season ago, which was the lowest of this four-year playoff streak. And that number also includes an excellent few months from Bader, who was probably the best single acquisition in all of baseball at the trade deadline in terms of bang for your buck.

Crawford is risky. García is risky. And Marsh is fine, but are you gonna pair him with a proven righty platoon bat like Rob Refsnyder or is it gonna be Otto Kemp? The latter option, in multiple ways, would be risky.

The Phillies are built to withstand a below-average outfield. Their pitching has been excellent and their best three hitters are the designated hitter, the first baseman (who used to help in the outfield) and the shortstop (who might help in the outfield down the road). But there are degrees of “below-average,” and my hope is that they are above whatever threshold they need to be.

J.T. update: Oh, the other element of this offseason and something that Dave Dombrowski mentioned in Jim’s piece: The Phillies are currently negotiating with J.T. Realmuto, who they want to bring back. That seems to be the last move that they want to make on the board.

Jordan Romano: One year and $2 million from the Angels. What a country.

UnionBall: That is what I am dubbing the Union’s ruthless management style that has produced consistently competitive teams on a shoestring budget. Creative, I know.

And man, they are not getting sentimental anytime soon. Just look at their last week…

Here is a live look at Chester: We cannot replace Glesnes and Baribo. But what we might be able to do is recreate them in the aggregate.

The Union clearly have a style of play they believe in, and the management thinks that the players are somewhat replaceable. And it’s hard to argue with the success they have had, even if sporting director Ernst Tanner is currently on leave due to the MLS investigation into alleged racist, sexist and homophobic comments. Tanner might be gone, but I am sure whoever would replace him would carry over the same philosophies.

Last season, the Union had the lowest payroll and best record in the league! Pretty tough to do. I wish they would be smart and spend, but alas. You wonder if that, like Billy Beane’s Athletics before them, this style of play is not as conducive to the postseason. But just from afar, it is pretty fascinating to see how that organization runs.

Nothing tonight, which means it’s time for the PHLY holiday party. Uh oh.

Loaded day before that, though. Your tentative Wednesday schedule at PHLY:

Let’s make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS