Yankees could lose Austin Romine and Dellin Betances to the Phillies and Joe Girardi

According to the New York Post, the Phillies are interested in reuniting free agents Dellin Betances and Austin Romine with former Yankees manager Joe Girardi.

Earlier this offseason the Phillies were linked to free-agent shortstop Didi Gregorius and could try to sign him and shift All-Star Jean Segura to another position. The Yankees are also still in the mix to sign Didi, but it’s unclear if they’d be willing to offer him a multi-year deal.

Odds are the Yankees aren’t going to be the team that offers Didi a multi-year deal for big money, but they haven’t closed the book on bringing him back. Losing him would be a big blow to the clubhouse and the lineup so hopefully, the two sides can agree to a one-year deal that would allow Didi to re-establish his value before hitting the free-agent market again a year from now.

As for Betances and Romine, there’s a good chance neither one of them is going to be back in pinstripes next season. Romine is coming off the best year of his career and should get some multi-year offers from teams that want him to be their starting catcher.

Betances is coming off an injury-plagued season where he only appeared on one game due to shoulder problems and then suffered a partially torn Achilles in his lone outing in early September. If Dellin wants to return to New York it might also have to be on a one-year deal although I could see them offering him a contract with a club option for a second year.

It’s interesting to see Romine’s name attached to the Phillies because they already have J.T. Realmuto who is arguably the best all-around catcher in baseball. He appeared in more games and caught more innings than any backstop in baseball a season ago so it’s hard to envision Romine accepting an offer to go to Philly. That being said his former skipper Girardi would likely find ways to get him more playing time and more at-bats in the National League backing up Realmuto than he would if he stayed with the Yankees to back up Gary Sanchez (if he can stay healthy).

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Between Romine and Betances the Phillies could definitely use Betances more because their bullpen last season was not very good. Pairing him with another former Yankee David Robertson at the back end of their pen could be huge and help them contend in the crowded NL East.

Hopefully, it doesn’t happen because seeing D-Rob pitch for the Phillies last season was weird enough and if Betances joined him and Girardi it would be a lot tougher to watch. It would be an even bigger nightmare if they signed Didi who would look strange in any other uniform after finishing up five memorable seasons in New York.

The Phillies aren’t really rivals with the Yankees at all but New York fans don’t like Philly sports in general and the last thing we want to see is some of our former favorites don a different pinstriped uniform.