Talkin’ Baseball: WWE is ‘essential’ so could the Phillies be headed to Florida?

Usually, we would have these conversations in the press box or the dugout or on the walk to our cars after another night of watching the Phillies. There’s no baseball to watch in 2020, but there’s still plenty to talk about.

The Inquirer’s baseball writers -- Bob Brookover, Scott Lauber, and Matt Breen -- chatted Tuesday morning through their computers. It almost felt like the press box.

Matt Breen: I’m sure you guys saw earlier this week (you know that I did) that the state of Florida deemed WWE an “essential service”, which allows the wrestling company to continue filming its weekly TV shows in Orlando. WWE was deemed essential after Florida added a new category to its list of essential services, which now includes “employees at professionals sports and media production with a national audience” as long as the event is closed to the general public. So does this open the door for MLB to play in Florida? I’m starting to think it does.

Scott Lauber: A live look at Matt’s Breen living room when Florida classified WWE as “essential."

Bob Brookover: Now we need somebody to be serious around here and once again it has to be me. That, combined with the green light from Anthony Fauci to play the games behind closed doors, probably does open up the Florida idea. Weather, however, is going to be a serious problem in both Florida and Arizona. In the desert, of course, it’s going to be 100-plus degrees at game time every night, and in Florida it’s going to be hot, humid, and probably raining. The low in Miami on Monday was 80 degrees, which is two degrees higher than the normal low in July there.

Lauber: Oh, we’re being serious all of a sudden? Saw where Red Sox interim manager Ron Roenicke said Tuesday that his “gut” tells him MLB will have some sort of season. I’m starting to agree. Baseball really wants to be a force for normalcy in the country, and although there’s nothing normal about playing in empty spring-training ballparks in Florida and Arizona, it would better than the alternative. Also — and let’s be honest here, this is a factor — there’s financial incentive in playing. Owners will recoup some lost revenues with TV money; players will make more of their salaries by playing games. I will say this: Players are going to have to be talked into leaving their families in the midst of a pandemic, if that’s what it takes to play. Sounds like there’s a lot of resistance to that right now within the rank and file. So, lots of logistics to work out. And safety of players/coaches, etc., is paramount. But I’m starting to think they’ll find a way.

Breen: For argument’s sake, let’s say that baseball does have some sort of season in 2020. And they follow the Florida-Arizona model that USA Today outlined last week. The Phillies would be in the “Grapefruit League - North” with the Yankees, Blue Jays, Tigers, and Pirates. Is that an easier route to the playoffs than the traditional National League East?

Lauber: Yes sir. I’d trade the Nationals for the Blue Jays and the Mets for the Pirates. Even the Marlins are better than the Tigers. And if the playoff format is expanded to include more teams (everything’s on the table, right?), the Phillies would certainly have an easier path.

Brookover: It is easier because the division would have two teams as bad as the Marlins instead of one. Both Detroit and Pittsburgh figure to be awful. Toronto has some terrific young players, but the Blue Jays are short in the pitching department. Taking the division from the Yankees will be a task too tall for the Phillies, but having Joe Girardi in the same division with his former team makes for great story lines and theater.

Breen: We’ll keep this fantasy season going. It’s now the second week of September and the Phillies are chasing down the Yankees for the division title in an empty stadium. Name me the five starters in the Phillies rotation

Lauber: Nola, Wheeler, Arrieta, Eflin, Howard.

Brookover: I go with Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Jake Arrieta, Spencer Howard, and Ranger Suarez.

Lauber: Allowing for a shortened season, I don’t think Howard’s workload is as much of a factor. And with an expanded roster, I think you can get away with Howard in the rotation and some combo of Pivetta/Velasquez/Suarez/Irvin piggybacking.

Brookover: Howard’s workload is not going to be a factor at all because even if this fantasy scenario happens, it’s not going to begin until at least the middle of June.

Breen: In an added new rule for this fantasy season, every team is allowed to sign one player from a baseball movie. John Middleton calls you and asks you who the Phillies should sign. What do you tell him? Remember, the player has to have a fit on the current team. So don’t sign someone to play, say, right field.

Lauber: Easy. Roy Hobbs. Scouts tell me he has 80 power. I still listen to my scouts.

Breen: He played right field!

Lauber: I’m anticipating a DH!

Brookover: Morris Buttermaker would become my bench coach.

Breen: All right. I’m telling John Middleton to make a play for Henry Rowengartner, the 12-year-old pitcher from Rookie of the Year with a triple-digit fastball after he broke his arm and the tendons fused too tightly to the humerus. Put him at the top of a rotation with Nola and Wheeler and the Phillies are Grapefruit League champions. Plus, he hasn’t reached arbitration yet so the Phillies will have him for a while.

Brookover: Buttermaker will bring the beer and we’re going to need lots of beer if they’re playing half the season in Pinellas County.

Lauber: Hmm. I was thinking of going with Eddie Harris from Major League because, you know, everyone needs a crafty veteran. I mean, Jamie Moyer worked out OK.

Breen: Last one before we go: Will J.T. Realmuto be playing for the Phillies in 2021? We know he can become a free agent no matter what happens this season.

Brookover: I think so. I just do not see John Middleton letting him get away and I suspect Joe Girardi is going to fall in love with him, too, provided they do play games this season.

Lauber: Yeah, I think Realmuto is back. But the Phillies are going to have to win him on the open market. Can’t see him signing an extension now. That said, the free-agent market might be more depressed than usual because of lost revenues from a partial season.The Middleton factor is just too strong here. We’ve seen what happens when Middleton really, really wants something — guy gets on his plane and goes to Vegas to take Bryce Harper out for dinner. He’s not going to let JTR get away. And if he does, Harper might revolt. Too much at stake for Phillies to not make sure they come in with the high bid, whatever that winds up being.

Breen: That’s it. This kind of felt like the press box. Only thing we’re missing is Frank’s ice cream and that guy who scans our credentials every day.