Good morning! It’s Friday! The Winter Meetings start Sunday!

(GIDDY SMILE EMOJI)

So the big news reported Thursday was the hiring of John Kruk to join the Phillies television broadcast team.

There are hints that Kruk will join the team in a part-time role. Of course, Matt Stairs – who he’s replacing and who’s the Phils’ new hitting coach – also had a part-time role, with he and Ben Davis typically trading the spot throughout the season. So expect much of the same next year, only with Kruk in the Stairs role.

Each can accept or decline, and a decline means the player and team heads to arbitration. But if the Phils don’t extend a contract offer, the player becomes a free agent. Of the four, expect Galvis and Hernandez to be offered contracts. Gomez is not such a certainty. Asche is even less of a certainty. The Phils may want to make room on the 40-man roster before the Winter Meetings (and Rule 5 Draft), so it’s possible we could see the end of the Cody Asche era tonight.

We’ll have more when it happens.

Speaking of the Winter Meetings, they begin Sunday outside Washington D.C.

It’s the week every year when every team sends a large delegation of front office personnel to one place for a giant conference. And, since tons of front office personnel are in one place, trades and signings typically occur.

Also, tons of baseball writers are there. So there’s a lot of noise and very little news. We’ll get you the news as it comes, with reaction, whether it’s a trade or signing, or something else entirely different. Also, the Rule 5 Draft is Thursday, and we’ll be on that when it happens.