Philadelphia Phillies: Hey Trevor Plouffe, don’t scare the free agents away

Trevor Plouffe finished his nine-year MLB career as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2018. Don’t feel too bad if you forgot about it. If you attended enough Phillies games in the past, you probably run the bases at Veteran’s Stadium more times than he did.

Plouffe appeared in only seven games for the Phillies that year. A week’s worth of experience, only four took place in Philadelphia, including his lone franchise claim to fame: a walk-off home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Plouffe’s involvement with the Phillies organization isn’t memorable, nor should it take up any space in our brains. Philadelphia was a rest stop for him at the end of his career. Still, Plouffe has some strong opinions about the fans of his final MLB team, and it has the potential to scare away some free agents.

Trevor Plouffe thinks Philadelphia Phillies fans are some of the toughest around.

In an interview with Chris Rose, Plouffe discussed a possible landing spot for Japanese star outfielder Seiya Suzuki. A natural fit for the outfield-needy Phillies, Plouffe acknowledged how much they could use him, but that wasn’t the headline news. Rather, it was Plouffe’s opinion on how the fans in red and blue at Citizen’s Bank Ballpark are tougher than the ones in The Bronx rooting for the New York Yankees.

Is he wrong? In some ways, how would he really know?

Plouffe spent almost his entire career with the Minnesota Twins whose trips to Philadelphia are rare. In fact, Plouffe’s only four games in Philadelphia occurred during his July 2018 stint with the ball club. Outside of a few fans that may have strayed away from Philadelphia, I’m not so sure Plouffe ever got to experience any real wrath from the fans.

Yes, Phillies fans are tougher than most. The city itself asks a lot from its professional athletes. That’s what makes it one of the world’s great sports cities. Fans care. They aren’t just happy to get a day away from the family and a bucket hat at the gate. They want a win.

No free agent would really get scared off by Trevor Plouffe’s comments, would they?

I don’t think Plouffe’s words would frighten too many free agents from signing with any ball club. Money always does the most talking. So there’s that.

More importantly, who wants an athlete frightened of the fans anyway? Philadelphia can be a tough town. So is New York. The same is true of Boston. Even in other cities without this cutthroat reputation, there are going to be rabid fans demanding a little more than those who root for teams in smaller cities with more forgiving fans.

The greatest outcome of this would be for Suzuki to sign with the Phillies, and we learn one of the reasons why he did was for the challenge.

If you want to endear yourself to the fans in Philly quickly, you do it by showing your own toughness. Before even taking a single at-bat, a guy like Suzuki or any other free agent, for that matter, can have the fans eager to eat out of the palm of their hands.