Week In Review – JoePa, Hamels, Bieber

-Update: Just after finishing this post the Joe Paterno update flashed across the screen.  Paterno’s family issued a statement saying JoePa has passed away due to complications with lung cancer.  RIP Joe Paterno 1926 – 2012

Well Twitter did it again.  They killed somebody off.  Last night, according to Twitter, Joe Paterno died in a State College hospital while Beaver Stadium was showing a video dedicated to one of winningest college football coaches ever.  But wait.  It’s not true?  JoePa is alive? You are telling me that Twitter lied?  Can’t be true.

Turns out that all the pseudo-journalists reporting this info were wrong.  We can’t really blame them though, I guess, for trying to kill people off.  A lot of people have died according to Twitter in the past couple years.  Folks like Justin Beiber, Brittany Spears, Aretha Franklin, Paris Hilton and Morgan Freeman has reportedly died.  All of which are alive and well.  Even Barack Obama suffered a Twitter death once. My thoughts and prayers go out to JoePa and his family during this tough time.

Ok back to baseball.  There are 74 days until Opening Day.  Most of the big signings have occurred and now its just tweaking what you already got to get the team ready for this marathon of a season.  Ruben Amaro and the front office continue to tie up some loose ends inside the Phillies clubhouse by signing Cole Hamels to a one year deal.

At first glance, this seems like a great thing.  And don’t get me wrong, I love seeing Hamels in red pinstripes.  However, the higher ups really should have locked this guy up for the rest of his career.  Hamels is coming into the prime of his career and will be the backbone of this team longer after Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee ride out their current contracts.  Pat Gallen and friends talk about what Hamels could be asking for in order to stay long term.  Bottom line is they need to get it done.

Pat also dives into a controversial issue about Phillies fans.  It’s been a long standing opinion, hell tradition, that fans of Philadelphia are the worst (I say passionate) fans in their respective league.  We’ve gotten a bad rep about being negative, unappreciative and down right dirty to all things Philly.  Is this true?  Pat voices some concerning opinions about the current state of our fan base and it makes you think.

The end of last week we snuck an update in saying the Phillies had signed Joel Pineiro to a minor league contract.  Just like Pat Misch and Dave Bush, Pineiro will add some depth to this organization and should an injury pop up could see some spot starts with the Phillies.  I think this guy has too much talent to be stuck in the minors.  Ian touches on some feelings once the deal was announced.

It seems every time I sit down to write one of these WIR, I continuously praise Jay Floyd for his work.  I mean who else spends countless hours keeping up with the Phillies farm system?  Since his arrival to Phillies Nation, Floyd has opened our eyes, and hearts, to what happens outside of Philadelphia.  It’s no longer just another rookie getting the call to the show to make his debut.  It’s Domonic Brown or Vance Worley.  We know these guys long before they wear Phillies pinstripes.  We thank you for that Jay Floyd.

So in typical Floyd-fashion, he is currently breaking down the top prospects of the Phillies system.  This week he welcomes Austin Wright, Aaron Altherr, Cameron Rupp, Garett Claypool, and David Buchanan into our baseball homes.  Go check out the future of the Phillies!