The defending National League champs will open the season against the Rangers in Arlington, Texas.  There is lots of excitement in Pennsylvania about this team, and I'm looking forward to catching a game this weekend. 

Wouldn't this be a wonderful opportunity for Senator John Fetterman to tell us he is doing well and wish the Phillies success in 2023?  It wouldn't be a long press conference, but it's be nice to know what the newly elected senator is up to these days.  So far, he is today's version of The Invisible Man, the 1933 movie about a secret experiment that made a man invisible.

It would be nice to see him, as Matt Margolis wrote:

Fetterman's staff has reported that he is making good progress in his recovery and is preparing to resume his duties in the U.S. Senate. However, information about his condition has been limited, and attempts by his aides to present the impression that he is still performing his job have been questionable at best.

But the bottom line is that Fetterman has now been at Walter Reed for over a month, and there's still no timeline for his return. So what's going on?

"We understand the intense interest in John's status and especially appreciate the flood of well-wishes," Fetterman's communications director, Joe Calvello, said in a statement earlier this week. "However, as we have said, this will be a weeks-long process and while we will be sure to keep folks updated as it progresses, this is all there is to give by way of an update."

If this update was meant to reassure us that Fetterman would be back to work at the Capitol soon, don't be fooled. Fetterman's aides have repeatedly been moving the goalposts on us. Earlier this month, Fetterman's chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, similarly told us that Fetterman was "well on his way to recovery" and would "be back soon."

At this point, I suspect we'll hear the same thing about Fetterman's "progress" in a few weeks, followed by yet another one after that, and another, and another. How much longer are we going to be subjected to this ridiculous farce? Fetterman's staff must be clueless about his actual condition (or hiding something) because their so-called "updates" have been about as informative as a Magic 8 Ball. It's like they're just kicking the can down the road, hoping nobody notices how little they're actually saying, and avoiding the inevitable.

In the meantime, the farce is giving us its own "Paul is dead" moment.  Remember the rumor that Paul McCartney was killed in a car crash and replaced by a double?  The latest on the senator is a "body double" story, that there's someone out there pretending to be the senator.  It's a crazy, but that's what happens when people don't see you.

The people of Pennsylvania deserve more than "he'll be back soon."  This is why I am suggesting just a simple meeting with the press where he takes a few softball questions about the Phillies and proves that he is actually recovering.

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Image: Gov. Tom Wolf.