Speaker 1: Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Phillies Show with Ruben Tomorrow Junior Jim Salisbury.
Speaker 2: I am Todd's Lucky. It is Thursday, April eighteenth, twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four, gentlemen. The Phillies sweep the Colorado Rockies this
Speaker 2: week at Citizens Bank Park. A lot of really good
Speaker 2: starting pitching. I know the Rockies are not the greatest
Speaker 2: offensive team or the greatest team, I should say, they
Speaker 2: do have some hitters in that lineup, but really just
Speaker 2: tremendous starting pitching, which is what this team has had
Speaker 2: all season long. And finally we start seeing some signs
Speaker 2: of life from the offense. They scored five plus runs
Speaker 2: in consecutive games for the first time this season.
Speaker 3: Kyle Schwarber with a couple of home runs.
Speaker 2: Tray Turner seems to be heating up. Bryce Harper showing
Speaker 2: some flashes here and there. Rojas, we've talked so much about.
Speaker 2: Rojas had a couple hits on Wednesday night. He's got
Speaker 2: eight hits in his last eight games. He's hitting almost
Speaker 2: three fifteen his last eight games.
Speaker 3: That's interesting.
Speaker 2: How are you guys doing and uh Ranger Suarez maybe
Speaker 2: you know, let's talk about that performance. I thought a
Speaker 2: he pitched great, of course, but man, Bryce Harper and
Speaker 2: j t Rio Mutto had some great things to say
Speaker 2: about him after that game on Wednesday night, Bryce saying,
Speaker 2: you know this guy, if he puts it together, he's
Speaker 2: gonna get paid.
Speaker 3: Jt saying, if he.
Speaker 2: Puts it together, I think we've got a one A,
Speaker 2: one B and one C. You know, what do you
Speaker 2: guys think, Ruben.
Speaker 4: Well? I love Ranger. I love everything that he brings
Speaker 4: to the table. I love the way he goes about
Speaker 4: his business. I hear people talking the people who played
Speaker 4: the game and how much they would love to play
Speaker 4: behind him because he grabs it and he throws it.
Speaker 4: I mean, he doesn't mess around. He is confident right now.
Speaker 4: I mean, obviously he had a full spring training to
Speaker 4: get himself ready for the first time in his whole
Speaker 4: career that he had actual full spring training to prepare himself,
Speaker 4: and he prepared himself very very well. And you know,
Speaker 4: he is one of the better left handers in baseball,
Speaker 4: at least for me right now. He's got obviously a
Speaker 4: very big mix of pitches, but the fact that he's
Speaker 4: breaking ball, in particular his curveball, it's gotten better and better.
Speaker 4: He worked on it in the offseason. He worked on
Speaker 4: him with his throwing program. He did a lot of
Speaker 4: different things to prepare himself in a way that has
Speaker 4: made him come out of the gate really strong. And
Speaker 4: I think that it's arguably the best, maybe the best,
Speaker 4: top three starting pitchers in baseball at this very moment
Speaker 4: when you start talking about Wheeler, Nola, and Suarez. Nice
Speaker 4: combination of different looks and different flavors and guys who
Speaker 4: are pounding the strike zone and eating up innings.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I love that phrase. Pounding the strike zone. Ranger
Speaker 5: does that. They're working quickly. It's a joy to watch
Speaker 5: a guy like that pitch, and as you mentioned, the
Speaker 5: infielders love playing behind it. I've said this before. It
Speaker 5: reminds you a lot of Cliff Ley. He can bust
Speaker 5: it in on your hands to set up that change
Speaker 5: up away. He can spot everything is when his location
Speaker 5: is on, he is dynamite and his location has been
Speaker 5: on so far well through four starts. You know, he's
Speaker 5: shown flashes of brilliance over the year years. It just
Speaker 5: looks like he's poised, and keyword poised because he's such
Speaker 5: a poised individual on the mound in terms of when
Speaker 5: all hell's break breaking loose, he kind of calms things down,
Speaker 5: but it seems like he's poised to do it for
Speaker 5: six full months, a full season and beyond. Given the
Speaker 5: Phillies a really rugged top three. You know, Harper mentions
Speaker 5: he's going to get paid. He won't be a free
Speaker 5: agent till after twenty twenty five. Who knows. The Phillies
Speaker 5: have locked up people in the past. Maybe he's the
Speaker 5: next guy, probably a little bit down the road until
Speaker 5: they see a little bit more. But you know, with
Speaker 5: free agency looming for him after twenty after twenty five.
Speaker 3: Right Todd, right, correct, twenty five, So.
Speaker 5: With free agency looming, and I'm not trying to get
Speaker 5: way ahead of myself, but I am just more it's
Speaker 5: just kind of highlights they need to cash in like
Speaker 5: soon next year or two three, while you know, these
Speaker 5: guys are still the core, guys are still producing, and
Speaker 5: you possibly, you know, I could see us top notch
Speaker 5: picture go to free agency. I'm not saying he's going to,
Speaker 5: but you know, it all kinds of kind of adds up.
Speaker 4: Hey, this Boris is agent, just like Harper. I do
Speaker 4: not know that, but it sounds like he's doing a
Speaker 4: little commercial. Sure, I mean, Harper has been known to
Speaker 4: do a commercial or two and in his day, you know,
Speaker 4: he did it for JT. He's done it, you know,
Speaker 4: maybe a little bit for Trede Turner, you know, uh Huhrez,
Speaker 4: you know, just a little commercial.
Speaker 2: I want you guys, I want you guys to educate
Speaker 2: me a little bit. And this is this might be
Speaker 2: interesting for the listeners if it seems like Ranger Suarez
Speaker 2: has so many balls hit back to him at the
Speaker 2: mound and it must have had like three or four
Speaker 2: on Wednesday just hit right.
Speaker 3: Back to him.
Speaker 2: That's how he finished the shutout. Ball hit back to
Speaker 2: the mound. It was the most fitting thing ever, most nonchalant, accurate,
Speaker 2: solid throw to first base.
Speaker 3: Very very ranger.
Speaker 1: I look this up because I was just curious. He
Speaker 1: has sixty assists.
Speaker 2: As a pitcher over the last three seasons to lead
Speaker 2: all pitchers in baseball. And I'm wondering, can you guys
Speaker 2: explain why he get so many balls hit back to him?
Speaker 2: Is that the pitches he throws is at the locations.
Speaker 2: Is how he keeps guys off balanced, you know, because
Speaker 2: you don't see a lot of you know, like I said,
Speaker 2: leads baseball over the last three years.
Speaker 3: Balls hit back to the mound.
Speaker 5: I don't know. Maybe he's such a good athlete he
Speaker 5: just gets more of them than other guys. You know,
Speaker 5: reyal Cormier used to be very good, very good fielder.
Speaker 5: Clifflee was a very good fielder. Rangers so athletic. He
Speaker 5: was a hell of a soccer player. Let me, you
Speaker 5: still see him kicking it around now and then.
Speaker 4: So to me, it's it is a combination of the
Speaker 4: fact that his mechanics are so good that he actually
Speaker 4: is facing the batter in a athletic position when the
Speaker 4: ball is struck. Many pictures and most pictures are so
Speaker 4: maximum effort that they take them spin off. And you know,
Speaker 4: years ago he used to be pitching. Coaches used to
Speaker 4: tell pictures, hey, after you deliver your pitch, you know
Speaker 4: you're a fielder. Now you're part of the fielding team. Nowadays,
Speaker 4: they don't want the pitchers to touch the ball because
Speaker 4: they're one they're not athletic, and two they're not even
Speaker 4: their bodies aren't even facing home plate when they deliver
Speaker 4: their pitches. But he is doing both both of those things.
Speaker 4: He's athletic, he delivers the pitch, he doesn't throw maximum effort.
Speaker 4: He's ready to field this position, and he feels it
Speaker 4: flawlessly because frankly, he's got big, gigantic guts. I said
Speaker 4: it guts instead of the other words. And I think
Speaker 4: that he's you know, I love the way he goes
Speaker 4: about it. He believes in himself. He's got a tremendous
Speaker 4: amount of trust in himself and confidence.
Speaker 3: He's very laid back. You talked about the poise.
Speaker 2: And you know we've talked I feel like we've also
Speaker 2: talked about you know, max effort.
Speaker 3: Guys.
Speaker 2: Top three guys, Rubiny said at the top here maybe
Speaker 2: the best top three in baseball. All three are just pitchers.
Speaker 2: I know Zach throws harder than the other two guys,
Speaker 2: but guys that change speeds, locate, you know, they're not
Speaker 2: out there just going one hundred and fifteen percent. And
Speaker 2: it's you know, Rangers probably epitomizes, epitomizes that success that
Speaker 2: they're having right now.
Speaker 5: They've got one, two and three, you know, in reputation
Speaker 5: and performance have been terrific for this team, and they've
Speaker 5: gotten really nice contributions out of four and five. I
Speaker 5: mean Christopher Sanchez again last night. You know, he's ninety seven,
Speaker 5: he's got an outstanding change up, he's getting Chase on it,
Speaker 5: he's getting swinging misses on it. I get ten strikeouts,
Speaker 5: just another really two two quality starts in a row
Speaker 5: from from Christopher Sanchez, who you know they got a
Speaker 5: few years ago on a trade, and he just keeps
Speaker 5: getting better and better. I think you could say, you know,
Speaker 5: the player development folks have done a really good job
Speaker 5: with him, and the pitching people at the big blue level,
Speaker 5: they've done a good job with him because he keeps
Speaker 5: getting better and better and he's become a mainstay on
Speaker 5: this staff. And then you got Spencer Turnbull, who will
Speaker 5: pitch on Friday night. You got another week team coming
Speaker 5: in the Chicago White Sox, and he's opportunity knocks for
Speaker 5: this team right on the schedule. But Turnbull, I see
Speaker 5: his name pop up, and I think he's done a
Speaker 5: very good job. What happens with when Tywan Walker comes back,
Speaker 5: because now we're hearing he may be back sooner than
Speaker 5: lay right.
Speaker 1: N Yeah, So Rob Rob mentions this yesterday.
Speaker 2: So last week in Saint Louis, before Walker started his rehab,
Speaker 2: he says, yeah, we're probably I want to have him
Speaker 2: get up to one hundred pitches at least before reactivate him.
Speaker 2: So we're thinking late April, early May. And then yesterday,
Speaker 2: after his second rehab start, we asked Rob how he's doing.
Speaker 2: He's like, well, he feels great, and we're gonna see
Speaker 2: what happens after his bullpen on Friday, and we're like,
Speaker 2: what do you mean.
Speaker 3: He's like, well, there's a chance. There's a chance he's ready.
Speaker 2: Interesting because you go from three to four rehab starts
Speaker 2: to maybe only two and.
Speaker 1: Had an opportunity.
Speaker 2: Mac gelp And from the Athletic and I chatted with Taiwan.
Speaker 3: Before the game yesterday.
Speaker 2: Now, Taiwan's velocity has been talked about a lot since
Speaker 2: last season. You know how it fluctuated so wildly from
Speaker 2: start to start. That's a big reason why he didn't
Speaker 2: pitch in the postseason because he didn't really know what
Speaker 2: you were going to get from him. He talked all
Speaker 2: spring about I want to get my velocity up because
Speaker 2: that's so important to be because man, I'm throwing ninety
Speaker 2: three to ninety four, My splitter plays that much better.
Speaker 2: Now he threw ninety one into first rehab start forcing
Speaker 2: fastball ninety one point one in a second.
Speaker 1: So I asked him, Yester, I said, well.
Speaker 2: How do you kind of come to terms with the
Speaker 2: fact that you've talked a lot about velocity and now
Speaker 2: you're only throwing ninety one point one? And he said, well,
Speaker 2: it's the way it's coming out of the hand. Now
Speaker 2: there's more movement and the more late life. You know,
Speaker 2: my other pitches are crisper and sharper, And it's just
Speaker 2: it's just interesting to me because there's been so much
Speaker 2: empass on the velocity and now it sounds like they've
Speaker 2: almost don't expect it to come back. Maybe I don't
Speaker 2: know what to think of it, but it is interesting
Speaker 2: because he sounds like he's going to come back next week,
Speaker 2: and can he pitch successfully at ninety one? Maybe ninety two?
Speaker 2: Maybe he gets a bump right when he comes back
Speaker 2: in the big leagues. But it's going to be interesting,
Speaker 2: And I don't know, Ken, do you guys think he
Speaker 2: can pitch successfully at a lower velocity with the stuff
Speaker 2: that he has.
Speaker 4: Well, Todd, you've mentioned it before. The first three guys
Speaker 4: in this rotation they pitched right. They pitch and it's
Speaker 4: not necessarily about velocity, but their ability to change speeds
Speaker 4: and hit their locations. And I think that that is
Speaker 4: a worry and very important element of all pitching. I
Speaker 4: mean in the bullpen, maybe not as much because you're
Speaker 4: looking for strikeouts and there it's going to be a
Speaker 4: much briefer stint, but particularly with starting pitching, man, it's
Speaker 4: about pitching and trying to get through innings and being efficient.
Speaker 4: I think there is a way and there is a
Speaker 4: pathway for Taiwan Walker to do that. But he's going
Speaker 4: to have to utilize his fastball and sinker and be
Speaker 4: able to dot it. So when I say dot it,
Speaker 4: that's one of the things. You know. He's always been
Speaker 4: sort of durable. I mean even you even last year,
Speaker 4: what do you eat at one hundred and seventy innings?
Speaker 4: Undred and eighty innings? So the durability is there and
Speaker 4: the physicality is there, but it's a matter of him
Speaker 4: being able to stay on the mound and pitch without
Speaker 4: utilizing up too many pitches overall. And that's command. And
Speaker 4: there were times during the course of the season last
Speaker 4: here where his command just wasn't there. Man, he can't
Speaker 4: go and walk four guys and average of four walks
Speaker 4: the game. He just can't do it. He's going to
Speaker 4: have to keep the walks down, hopefully, keep the ball
Speaker 4: out of the middle of the plate, and let some
Speaker 4: of his stuff work. Now, the split he relies on
Speaker 4: that sometimes when he's not commanding his fastball, he sometimes
Speaker 4: relies on that for a strike pitch, and I don't
Speaker 4: think he can survive doing that. He's going to have
Speaker 4: to be able to throw his four seemer and a
Speaker 4: sinker for strikes and be able to like utilize that
Speaker 4: in different quadrants of his own. That will make his
Speaker 4: fastball or a split finger much more effective, because then
Speaker 4: you just can't sit on you know, you just can't
Speaker 4: sit on one pitch. And I really, Kenneth, is there
Speaker 4: a pathway from the do it? Is there a roadmap
Speaker 4: for him? Yes? But he can't. He can't do it
Speaker 4: if he is not throwing his his you know, four
Speaker 4: seemers sinker to the right spots. Then it's going to
Speaker 4: be an uphill battle for him.
Speaker 5: I find it a little fascinating that, you know, Turnbull's
Speaker 5: given him a couple of good starts one so so,
Speaker 5: and he's gonna pitch again on Friday night when they
Speaker 5: you know, after Thursday's off day against the White Sox
Speaker 5: lineup he could do very well against with all the
Speaker 5: injuries and whatnot. I mean, they got the three and fifteen.
Speaker 5: Suppose he pitches really, really well again. And my question
Speaker 5: is in you know, look, Taiwan certainly go out there
Speaker 5: in Cincinnati next week, if he's back in the rotation
Speaker 5: pitch well. He could reel off three good, good ones
Speaker 5: in a row, and then the point is kind of moot.
Speaker 5: But what happens if Taiwan struggles or maybe needs time
Speaker 5: to get his legs it just doesn't pitch really well
Speaker 5: out of the gate, or if these sort of unspoken
Speaker 5: concerns manifest and he's not as good as people need
Speaker 5: him to be all of a sudden, Now, how fast
Speaker 5: do they go back to turnball. It's kind of fascinating.
Speaker 2: Especially because Taiwan has is in the second year of
Speaker 2: a seventy two million dollar contract.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's that's that's right.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, Ruben, you can speak to that
Speaker 2: better than anybody. I mean if you're a front office guy,
Speaker 2: because you've already heard it, Like, how.
Speaker 3: Can they what are they gonna do with Turnber.
Speaker 2: What are they gonna do with turn But well, I
Speaker 2: think the argument you can make with Turnbull is or
Speaker 2: what they could say potentially, is if they move him
Speaker 2: into the long man role and say, well, this is
Speaker 2: the job that we probably had ticketed for him before
Speaker 2: the season started. You know, he was and he was
Speaker 2: going to be the long man before Tye went down.
Speaker 2: They could say, listen, Spencer's only thrown. He hasn't thrown
Speaker 2: more than sixty innings since twenty nineteen. You know, he's
Speaker 2: been hurt a lot, pandemic. We have to manage his workload.
Speaker 2: We heard a lot about that last season with Matt Strom.
Speaker 2: You know, when Stroum was in the rotation to start
Speaker 2: this season, They're like, we got to pump the bricks
Speaker 2: in this guy. We want to keep him healthy down
Speaker 2: the stretch so they.
Speaker 3: Can put him in the long man role.
Speaker 2: But you're right, Jim, It's like if he goes out
Speaker 2: and pitches what he should do against a really bad
Speaker 2: White Sox team and Ty struggles. But Ty's going to
Speaker 2: get his opportunities right because he's He's make a lot
Speaker 2: of money the.
Speaker 3: Next few years.
Speaker 1: He's going to get a shot.
Speaker 4: I mean, we talk about the back of the baseball
Speaker 4: card a lot. And here's the reality. Spencer Turnbull wise
Speaker 4: turned into a couple of good starts. Let's not necessarily
Speaker 4: annoyed him to be like the next Cy Young Award winner.
Speaker 4: His last outing, he did he did not command a
Speaker 4: strike zone all that. Well, He's got good stuff, and
Speaker 4: I think that he can be a decent starting pitcher,
Speaker 4: but he hasn't proven himself to be a you know,
Speaker 4: a someone that you can count on to take the
Speaker 4: baseball every fifth day. Now, can he be better than
Speaker 4: he has been in the past? Can he Can he
Speaker 4: get to that point? He's always had great stuff. He's
Speaker 4: had a lot of injury issues, but he was assigned
Speaker 4: to be a sort of a stopgap in case and
Speaker 4: you know, someone who was a depth pitcher to you know,
Speaker 4: in case they have a breakdown or in case exactly
Speaker 4: what happened to Taiwan Walker. He wasn't ready to go.
Speaker 4: So here's what I think is going to happen. I mean,
Speaker 4: Spencer Turnbo can throw a one hit shutout against the
Speaker 4: Chicago White Sox, a terrible, terrible hitting team, and I
Speaker 4: still think at some point that Taiwan is going to
Speaker 4: be sliding into that rotation and the spencer turnbo is
Speaker 4: going to slide into that long man role. Now, I
Speaker 4: do know Dave Dave Dombrowski well enough that if Taiwan
Speaker 4: Walker does not in his first four, three, four, five
Speaker 4: out of I don't know how long the lease is
Speaker 4: going to be. If he does not throw well that
Speaker 4: he that may be they may be flip flopped. David, David,
Speaker 4: you know, he's not afraid to like put the best
Speaker 4: people in their positions to succeed, and that Taiwan Walker
Speaker 4: is not getting the job done, then he's not getting
Speaker 4: a job done. And uh but but again, I mean,
Speaker 4: like I said, Taiwan Walker's been there, he's done it.
Speaker 4: He's had some success. He did not have a tremendous
Speaker 4: year last year, but the man ate up some innings
Speaker 4: now and he won a lot of baseball games, and this.
Speaker 5: Is and he's earned the right to get back in
Speaker 5: there with those innings. It just seems like it just
Speaker 5: seems like the timetable was just inch along a little quicker,
Speaker 5: and then maybe first you thought it would be and
Speaker 5: it almost seems like, Okay, he's ready. Let's find out
Speaker 5: because if the situation is going to come to pass
Speaker 5: where they have to flip flop them. You know, why
Speaker 5: not find out sooner rather than later. If Taiwan's going
Speaker 5: to be the guy. And I'm not saying it's going
Speaker 5: to hinge on one start in Cincinnati or one start
Speaker 5: by Turnbull on Friday Night, but you know, he's healthy,
Speaker 5: he's ready, got the arm strength game on. Let's figure
Speaker 5: this stuff out.
Speaker 4: I think it's a and I think it's a combination
Speaker 4: of things because it's different in this day and age.
Speaker 4: Like as an executive, I used to have the ability to,
Speaker 4: like if he was on a thirty day rehab or
Speaker 4: a twenty day rehab, to stretch him out to twenty
Speaker 4: days and make a decision. Nowadays, the player can basically
Speaker 4: say to you. I mean, he can say to the
Speaker 4: front office, listen, I'm ready to go. I'm a five
Speaker 4: year player or whatever the case may be. And I'm
Speaker 4: not positive on all the rules, but there could be grievances.
Speaker 4: I mean, if this guy says he's ready to go
Speaker 4: and he doesn't come to the big leagues, then he
Speaker 4: can you know, file a grievance against the team. You know,
Speaker 4: I don't think any team wants to have that happen,
Speaker 4: and so I think it's a combination of things. I
Speaker 4: think you're right, Jim. On one hand, I think they
Speaker 4: want to find out whether the guy can pitch and
Speaker 4: then make a decision after that. But but I do
Speaker 4: think that the player has a lot more He has
Speaker 4: a lot more of the hammer as far as how
Speaker 4: long he's supposed to stay on the on the d
Speaker 4: L or the other.
Speaker 2: That sounds like the conversation that happened on Wednesday and
Speaker 2: Rob's office, and you know, Taiwan went and they said
Speaker 2: I'm ready to go, and then he told us after
Speaker 2: He's like, I'm built up enough.
Speaker 3: I'm built up enough.
Speaker 2: So I mean, he's gonna throw a bullpen in session
Speaker 2: on Friday. I don't know what could possibly come out
Speaker 2: of that bullpen session on Friday where they go.
Speaker 3: You know what, I think, we're gonna give you another
Speaker 3: rehab start.
Speaker 2: I mean, would you not be floored if that was
Speaker 2: the risk that was the answer, Like, you know, we
Speaker 2: decided after this bullpen session that we're going to have
Speaker 2: him give him one more rehab start.
Speaker 5: Everybody pitches a no hitter in the bullpen exactly right.
Speaker 4: Let's think are that and he has and he has
Speaker 4: every right to do that because how many I mean,
Speaker 4: who maxed out in spring training over eighty pitches in
Speaker 4: their rotation? Not one pitcher, I think the most somebody
Speaker 4: threw with seventy eight or seventy eight nine pitches or
Speaker 4: something like that. Was it Nola or or Wheeler. I
Speaker 4: don't think they got much more than that.
Speaker 2: And that's what Taiwan threw on Tuesday in Leehigh Valley.
Speaker 2: I think it was seventy eight eightmen there, there you go, there,
Speaker 2: you go see in Cincinnati, Taiwan there or whether it
Speaker 2: might be you.
Speaker 5: You mentioned earlier in the show Todd that the offense
Speaker 5: turners for where you know, started to show some life
Speaker 5: in that Colorado series even a little bit before that,
Speaker 5: Johann Rojas. You know, just just you're seeing an uptick
Speaker 5: and it's good to see. I thought one of the
Speaker 5: coolest things in last night's came. So there's a hanging slider.
Speaker 5: He boom off the center field wall, really used the
Speaker 5: bat head, went out, got it, weighted down it, and
Speaker 5: went out drove it. But I thought the coolest thing
Speaker 5: of the night, and there were a lot of cool things.
Speaker 5: She Schwober hit two home runs back to back with
Speaker 5: Turner in the first inning. Sanchez pitch great. I thought
Speaker 5: the coolest thing of the night was Johann Rojas standing
Speaker 5: on second after smacking that double, and you know, the crowd,
Speaker 5: which was thirty five thousand, you know, they gave him
Speaker 5: a really polite, appreciative, supportive cheer, round of applots whatever
Speaker 5: you want to call. It wasn't an eruption, but it
Speaker 5: was noticeable and it was appreciative, and it sort of
Speaker 5: felt like it was from the heart. It was like
Speaker 5: they were they're so cute in that this is a kid, young,
Speaker 5: struggling and working on stuff and he just did something
Speaker 5: good and they like they had his back. I thought
Speaker 5: it was a really cool moment. Did you did that
Speaker 5: jump out to you at all?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it totally did.
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, as tough as Philly fans
Speaker 2: can be, I think they also have a lot of
Speaker 2: self aware self awareness. And yeah, I think exactly what
Speaker 2: you said. They they seen a guy who's been struggling,
Speaker 2: and they see a guy who's been maybe swinging the
Speaker 2: battle attle bit better lately, and man, if he could
Speaker 2: get going at that bottom, you know that nine hole
Speaker 2: now now now all that talk can go away, and
Speaker 2: you know, now you can.
Speaker 5: Call it struggling. I think they see a guy who's
Speaker 5: working hard, that's not a finished product, and that it's
Speaker 5: true as a young player, that is working hard to
Speaker 5: fix some flaws. And I think they identify and appreciate
Speaker 5: that as opposed to maybe a veteran who's just in
Speaker 5: a big offer and they get on them, you know.
Speaker 2: You know, and Jim, you and the well yeah, Ruben,
Speaker 2: Jim was back in the at the ballpark yesterday.
Speaker 4: First, I need to talk about that.
Speaker 5: Yes, yeah, so you finally got back to the booth.
Speaker 4: I was not there. You were at the ballpark with
Speaker 4: all your boys and uh so many of your friends.
Speaker 4: What was the reaction, Like I heard, it was pretty spectacular.
Speaker 5: Well, the uh, I don't cry like you you cry
Speaker 5: all the time.
Speaker 4: I mean, are you not? I mean, do you not
Speaker 4: have a heart? Are you? You know what?
Speaker 5: It was nice to see Todd and the Koala and
Speaker 5: Alex and Lobby and all the good people and the
Speaker 5: Paul Breen, all the nice folks.
Speaker 4: But it was let me ask you a question, who
Speaker 4: is who who gave me the nicest hug, the nicest hug.
Speaker 4: I gave you the best hug.
Speaker 5: I gotta think about that, t Mac.
Speaker 4: Maybe you know you better say that, because if you
Speaker 4: didn't say that, he was gonna be awfully pissed off
Speaker 4: of you. He gave you a nice, long, thick Was
Speaker 4: it a nice long thick hug? Early?
Speaker 5: It was a good hug, a little little, a little sweaty,
Speaker 5: but it was good. People.
Speaker 2: I can tell you that people were very excited to
Speaker 2: see Jim. And what what I was thinking about this
Speaker 2: in the drive home last night. I swear to god, Jim,
Speaker 2: you had not been in the clubhouse for a while
Speaker 2: and not been in the ballpark for a while, but
Speaker 2: as soon as you walked in, it felt very normal.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I wasn't like, this is really weird and out of bias,
Speaker 2: was Jim. Jim is back in the clubhouse. That's where
Speaker 2: he should be.
Speaker 1: But it was great.
Speaker 4: There's there's a lot of people that love the man
Speaker 4: and I'll embarrassed the hell out of him. He's a
Speaker 4: great person. He loves baseball, he loves covering baseball, and
Speaker 4: he's been doing it for a long time and in
Speaker 4: a lot of ways, and it's great to have him back.
Speaker 5: Thank you. Yeah, nice you to say, even though I
Speaker 5: got you fired.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, you know, I don't hold grudges.
Speaker 5: That's the beautiful thing about it.
Speaker 4: Let's go back to.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, so so so Jim.
Speaker 2: I was saying that Jim was Jim was in the
Speaker 2: club last night and speaking of guys working hard Jim,
Speaker 2: Trey Turner mentions, and then Kyle Schwarber talked about it
Speaker 2: as well. How yesterday in the cage, Trey and Johann
Speaker 2: got together and they just really talked hitting. They had
Speaker 2: a really good conversation. Trey didn't really elaborate in terms
Speaker 2: of what they were talking about. If it's mechanics, if
Speaker 2: it's approach. But Joan Rojas is in that cage, and
Speaker 2: I think it was he's either Trey or Schwarber says.
Speaker 2: He's not doing bulkwork in the cage. He's not going
Speaker 2: out there and just hitting five hundred balls and just
Speaker 2: it's very concentrated, very purposeful work, very specific work.
Speaker 1: On what he can do to get better.
Speaker 2: But I did think that was interesting that Trey basically said,
Speaker 2: we had a great chat before the game today on hitting,
Speaker 2: whatever that might be, And to me, that kind of
Speaker 2: illustrates what you said, Jim, with the fans recognizing the
Speaker 2: hard work, they seem to be really you know, that
Speaker 2: is real. That's not just a guy saying the hitting
Speaker 2: coach saying, oh man, he's working really hard in the
Speaker 2: cage every day. Example of a guy really working hard
Speaker 2: and really caring about his craft on a day to
Speaker 2: day basis.
Speaker 5: And it was it was Schwarmer who said he noticed
Speaker 5: him talking and then all three of them will go
Speaker 5: out and have a great game. I mean, that's one
Speaker 5: of the great things about baseball, the accomplished veteran imparting advice, wisdom,
Speaker 5: help to a younger player who who really wants that
Speaker 5: help and really wants to succeed. I think it's a
Speaker 5: it's it's happened forever in the game. I mean, Rubens
Speaker 5: had dozens of mentors when he was playing, from Charlie
Speaker 5: Manuel to you know, Dave Hollins. I mean, I could
Speaker 5: I probably know a whole bunch of them. But uh,
Speaker 5: when a young when when a veteran who's got a
Speaker 5: you know, a batting title and a World Series ring
Speaker 5: and takes the time to you know, help a young kid,
Speaker 5: it's it's going to mean a lot to the young kid.
Speaker 4: Right it is. I will tell you I've been in
Speaker 4: clubhouses since I was a tyke, and I will tell
Speaker 4: you that there's nothing more impactful than not necessarily doesn't
Speaker 4: have to necessarily be your coach or your manager. There's
Speaker 4: nothing more impactful than some advice and some help from
Speaker 4: your teaming It is invaluable. And the fact that these
Speaker 4: guys are working with each other and talking with each other,
Speaker 4: that's the beauty of this ball club that I really
Speaker 4: really like, because when you have that sort of communication
Speaker 4: and you have that, then then you know everybody cares
Speaker 4: about each other. They're trying, they're literally working on the
Speaker 4: goal together to be the best versions of themselves. And
Speaker 4: when you have that sort of I don't know that
Speaker 4: that spree de corps, whatever you want to call it,
Speaker 4: that is so impactful to the team as a group.
Speaker 4: And that's one of the beauties. And one of the
Speaker 4: reasons why I think they've connected so well with the
Speaker 4: rest of the fan base is because I think that
Speaker 4: people know that they're trying to do everything they can
Speaker 4: to win, and it's they talk about it, but they
Speaker 4: also practice it, it seems. And I will tell you
Speaker 4: that I didn't I didn't know that story until just now.
Speaker 4: But but I'm not surprised by it because of the
Speaker 4: makeup of the of the players. But I'm also not
Speaker 4: surprised that it had immediate impact. I mean, it had
Speaker 4: immediate impact. And that's that's the most important part, because
Speaker 4: now the player says to himself, holy smokes. The things
Speaker 4: that we did to talk about, I implemented and and
Speaker 4: look I went two for three or you know, got
Speaker 4: a big base hit, or every bat was you know,
Speaker 4: way different.
Speaker 6: They're getting better and better and better. And those results.
Speaker 6: You know, we're a result oriented you know, we're in
Speaker 6: the result oriented industry. Those results are huge.
Speaker 2: Johann Rojas last eight games betting three forty eight eight
Speaker 2: for twenty three, two doubles. And here's the numbers that
Speaker 2: I think are important to walks only one strikeout and
Speaker 2: not a lot of walks, but only one strikeout for
Speaker 2: guy that was swinging and missing a lot in the postseason,
Speaker 2: so putting the ball in play, yeah.
Speaker 5: Let me just say one more.
Speaker 4: Let me just say one more thing about that.
Speaker 5: I think the other part that.
Speaker 4: Makes it a little easier for him is that people
Speaker 4: aren't focusing on him as much when the other guys
Speaker 4: are doing damage. And you know, when you got Schreber
Speaker 4: and Harper and Turner, Turner's really swinging the bat. Well,
Speaker 4: when you have those guys doing what they're sort of
Speaker 4: supposed to be doing and what you expect them to do,
Speaker 4: and then the onus and the and the pressure is
Speaker 4: taken off the guy, which was sort of like the
Speaker 4: plan anyway. The guy's not supposed to carry this team, right.
Speaker 5: So it's a perfect lineup for to carry a guy
Speaker 5: in the ninth spot and let him learn and blend
Speaker 5: in and and be dynamic defensively.
Speaker 2: So before we wrap this up real quick, one guy
Speaker 2: in the lineup that's not hit, Nick Castianos. I thought
Speaker 2: there might have been a chance that he would not
Speaker 2: play yesterday. To give him two days you know a
Speaker 2: lot of managers like to do that, give them the
Speaker 2: two days off to clear their head. Sixty nine at
Speaker 2: bats the season does not have an extra base hit,
Speaker 2: longest streak by Phillies player to start the season since
Speaker 2: Mickey Morindini nineteen ninety seven, seventy three at bats to
Speaker 2: start a season without an extra base hit. Do you
Speaker 2: give him a day off?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 3: Soon? I mean, do you think it's overdue, do you
Speaker 3: let it?
Speaker 2: He loves to play and he wants to hit his
Speaker 2: way out of it, but it's you know, at some
Speaker 2: point when does the manager need to step in?
Speaker 5: Well, I think they face a lefty Friday night. I'm
Speaker 5: looking forward to seeing their kid, Garrett Crochet throw. I
Speaker 5: watched him a little bit when he was in college
Speaker 5: on TV at Tennessee. Had an injury, but he strikes
Speaker 5: out a lot of guys as a big, big lefty.
Speaker 5: We probably would play against a lefty, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would think, so.
Speaker 5: Maybe you get him a day on the weekend. But
Speaker 5: you know, Rob, Rob has enough, you know. I think
Speaker 5: Rob is one of those guys who believes you don't
Speaker 5: start hitting by not hitting, So by not you know
Speaker 5: your way out of it. And what might be kind
Speaker 5: of a maybe a potential saving grace of Cincinnati, a
Speaker 5: place he's always been very comfortable. It's good ballpark to hit.
Speaker 5: I mean, Citizens Back Park's good ball. Cincinnatis are real good.
Speaker 5: He seems to getting a good vibe there. And I
Speaker 5: just think Nick is like a couple of hard hit
Speaker 5: doubles away from feeling confident. When he's confident, he's a
Speaker 5: totally different hitter.
Speaker 4: So I don't know if I agree with that. I
Speaker 4: was looking at I was watching Nick.
Speaker 7: On TV yesterday because I did not go to the game,
Speaker 7: and I was watching him on TV, and it was
Speaker 7: an interesting thing that I saw, like his sort of
Speaker 7: setup right now, and mechanically he does not is set up.
Speaker 8: He's so turned his right almost you know, his right
Speaker 8: buttocks buttock is almost facing the he's so turned before
Speaker 8: he's so he has to rotate all.
Speaker 4: The way around, you know, his lower half to get
Speaker 4: to the space. And I just don't know, I don't
Speaker 4: see him being nearly as direct with his path. It's
Speaker 4: very rotational as opposed to linear. So the difficulties so
Speaker 4: then like when he has to make contact. I've studied
Speaker 4: hitting for years and years and years, and I really
Speaker 4: took a pride in studying hitting, and I just think
Speaker 4: that you have to be a little bit more linear
Speaker 4: in that your bad head has to go out, not
Speaker 4: around or across, because then you will not Your margin
Speaker 4: for error is way way greater when you're more direct
Speaker 4: with your swing than when you're around, because then you
Speaker 4: have to hit the baseball right on point, at the
Speaker 4: exact point every single time instead of being more linear
Speaker 4: with your path. And I just think it just seems
Speaker 4: like he's got a long way to go in his rotation.
Speaker 4: And it's hard for me to show that to be
Speaker 4: able to make consistent hard contact. And I would have
Speaker 4: to go back and study all of this a lot
Speaker 4: of the film and stuff like that, But I don't
Speaker 4: ever remember him setting up with his literally whole lower
Speaker 4: half turned to the start.
Speaker 5: Is that because he's trying to hit the ball the
Speaker 5: other way?
Speaker 4: It may be because he's trying to he's trying to
Speaker 4: he may be trying to force himself to go you
Speaker 4: know that way right center, And I think, but I
Speaker 4: think it might be counterintuitive for him because or counterproductive
Speaker 4: because he's still he has to rotate a long his
Speaker 4: body has to rotate a long way to get to that,
Speaker 4: So you have to cheat to get there. If it's throwing,
Speaker 4: throwing really hard, so you have to start rotating really early,
Speaker 4: as opposed to being more He's it seems just like
Speaker 4: a pitcher is going east west. You'd like to see
Speaker 4: him go more north south. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Well, you're right, you're right, you're right, Chim.
Speaker 3: He probably will play tomorrow night against the lefty.
Speaker 5: I'm guessing, right, yeah right, I mean.
Speaker 3: Yeah he is. He's good. He's been pretty good.
Speaker 2: He's been like maybe the only only bright spot on
Speaker 2: the White Sox this year. This is a really bad team, guys,
Speaker 2: I mean they I gotta so I looked this up
Speaker 2: because I was like, how bad is this team offensive?
Speaker 2: They have scored thirty eight runs? Are thirty eight runs
Speaker 2: in eighteen games. There's only been twelve other teams in
Speaker 2: baseball history have scored fewer than thirty eight, thirty eight
Speaker 2: or fewer runs in their first eighteen games. That's I mean,
Speaker 2: that's just this is a historically bad start by a team.
Speaker 3: So you know, I everybody is.
Speaker 2: A big leader that puts on a big lead uniform,
Speaker 2: but you know, come on, this is uh this a
Speaker 2: team that they should be. So you got get Crochet
Speaker 2: versus Turnbull on Friday, Michael Soroka versus Zach Wheeler on Saturday,
Speaker 2: and Nick Nestrini versus Aaron Nola on Sunday.
Speaker 3: So there's three and fifteen.
Speaker 5: The Phillies go in three games over five hundred. I mean,
Speaker 5: just point this out because there was so much talk
Speaker 5: about oh, slow start, slow start, slow start again, three
Speaker 5: over five hundred. Last year, they didn't get to three
Speaker 5: over three over five hundred until June seventeenth, so they're
Speaker 5: there two months beforehand. Now you got to maintain, you
Speaker 5: got to stay there, you got to build on it.
Speaker 5: But it sort of puts that slow start in perspective.
Speaker 5: It's not as bad as it might have looked.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, they got they got a chance to make them.
Speaker 4: Hey man, make that pay. Yeah. Very rarely do you
Speaker 4: actually like sweep a team. It's hard to sweep and
Speaker 4: you're you know, it's hard to sweep a team. This
Speaker 4: sounds weird. It's hard to sweep a team you're supposed
Speaker 4: to sweep. But they did it, and that's big. And
Speaker 4: not every game was smooth, but it was pretty darn good.
Speaker 2: Right Well, Jim, you missed Ruben the other day. Gave
Speaker 2: a nice chat to the Pioneers and Pinstripes event on
Speaker 2: Monday at Jackie Robinson Day. Ruben, it was you spoke
Speaker 2: very well of your dad, obviously, and it was a
Speaker 2: great speech. But it did crack me up because before that, Jim,
Speaker 2: you weren't there. But so they had a bunch of
Speaker 2: people talk and the daughter of John Irvin Kennedy, the
Speaker 2: first black player to play for the Phillies. Phillies last
Speaker 2: team in the National League to integrate.
Speaker 3: He was the first player.
Speaker 2: His daughter comes up and she goes, I wrote a
Speaker 2: poem about my dad. This is what I want to
Speaker 2: say about my dad. She gives this great poem.
Speaker 1: My, mister baseball, my dad.
Speaker 2: She's bawling by the end of it. Her family's in
Speaker 2: the crowd. They're crying the poem. Men's people stand up,
Speaker 2: They're giving her a round of applause, and Tom's going
Speaker 2: to Tom McCarthy's m seeing it, He's like, unbelievable speech.
Speaker 2: Just I'm I mean, this is unbelievable. And now Ruben
Speaker 2: Tomorrow Junior is gonna stay. I mean, and you were like,
Speaker 2: I gotta follow this lady.
Speaker 5: This is insane.
Speaker 1: But you did a great job. You did a great job.
Speaker 4: So even even John Middleton turns over to me because
Speaker 4: I was sitting right next to him. John Millons, well, well,
Speaker 4: poor the poor guy who's got to go next.
Speaker 5: I said, yeah, John, that's me.
Speaker 4: And so, uh, it was a great day. The Pioneers
Speaker 4: and Pinstripes display that the Phillies put together on Jackie
Speaker 4: Robinson Day was tremendous. It was spectacular. It was a
Speaker 4: great honor for the players of color who have sort
Speaker 4: of been pioneered, you know, their their folks here in Philadelphia,
Speaker 4: and the way they've honored him was a beautiful mural.
Speaker 4: They're gonna do more. I talked to John Middleton about it.
Speaker 4: They're going to add to the display it's up in
Speaker 4: the Hall Hall of Fame, and John Middleton spoke really
Speaker 4: well about how fitting it was to have all of
Speaker 4: these folks honored in the Hall of Fame because it's
Speaker 4: part of the real fabric and history of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Speaker 4: So really cool, great day.
Speaker 5: After the game last night, I went outside behind the
Speaker 5: press box and I looked at it. It was great.
Speaker 5: I just I was mesmerized by I really pored over
Speaker 5: every name and face and all the copy and Senior
Speaker 5: Dad's picture and yeah, it was really neat, really great.
Speaker 5: Serge Sergier's up there.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So there's basically there's like four people that I mean,
Speaker 4: obviously there's other people involved, but it was Kenny Ayres,
Speaker 4: Scott Brandreth, it was Rob Holiday, and the Christine Negli
Speaker 4: were the four people in the front office. With the
Speaker 4: Phillies who really made this happen, and they deserve they
Speaker 4: deserve a lot of love for that.
Speaker 5: Hats off to them. Congratulations. It's really spectacular.
Speaker 3: It's very cool.
Speaker 2: Well, guys, thanks for thanks for listening to The Philly Show.
Speaker 2: We will be back next week after this White Sox series.
Speaker 2: Ruben and I will both be in Cincinnati, so I'll
Speaker 2: see you there. And then we got to get together,
Speaker 2: guys at the ballpark and get a team photo, The
Speaker 2: Philly Show team photo.
Speaker 3: We gotta get yes yes.
Speaker 1: So all right, guys, thanks and we'll chat next week.
Speaker 5: Alrighty, Smell you later.
Speaker 4: Good smiling Jim,