The Phillies have been expected to go big in free agency this offseason for several years now. The argument can be made that they conducted their entire rebuild around this class, only recently becoming somewhat competitive.
Considering that, most in baseball are wondering just how much the team is willing to spend in free agency. There is a general consensus that they will be big players this offseason, but just how big of a player they will be has been largely conjecture. Well, at least until now.
As the owner’s meetings ended, team owner John Middleton made it clear to Bob Nightengale of USA Today that the team is ready to spend:
We’re going into this expecting to spend money,’’ Middleton told USA TODAY Sports.