Joe Girardi: ‘I’ve always been a fan of Didi’

With the winter meetings set to begin in the next five days, the Phillies will be looking to sign their first major free agent of the offseason. For weeks, the team has been connected to former Yankees shortstop Did Gregorius. When asked about the possibility of the team signing Gregorious this offseason, skipper Joe Girardi, who managed Gregorious from 2015 to 2017, praised his former player.

“I’ve always been a fan of Didi,” Girardi said to the collective press, including the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Matt Breen, on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park. Girardi also called Gregorius “a real character guy.”

MLB Network insider Jon Morosi also reported yesterday that the Phillies are “maintaining contact” with both Gregorious and free agent third baseman Josh Donaldson. With Mike Moustakas signing a four-year, 64 million dollar contract with the Reds, it seems more likely that either Donaldson or Gregorious will land in Philadelphia. The Phillies are a team in need of infield help after deciding to part ways with Maikel Franco and César Hernández.

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When it comes to meeting face-to-face, however, general manager Matt Klentak says the team has yet to meet with any free agents, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic. Klentak also noted that there are no meetings scheduled for the future and that the front office is still evaluating the markets. That is significant considering Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg have already met with multiple teams, according to a report from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. Just last week, Rosenthal predicted Cole to sign with the Phillies during an appearance on “MLB Now.”

The Phillies have been reported to be in contact with multiple free agents. Klentak has spoken to agents representing players the team is interested in while Girardi has spoken with players, according to Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Per Gelb, Klentak also answered questions about the team’s top hitting prospect Alec Bohm, saying “I think it’s very reasonable he could factor in for us next year. That’s something we need to consider as we intake the rest of our offseason decisions.”

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